When You're Just Not Feelin' It

Satan's been at work. He's been trying to get at me all this week. I've had unpleasant dreams, I'm stressed about work, Christmas is right around the corner, and things just don't seem right. So what do you do when you feel like this? I prayed hard last night that God would protect me from Satan's attacks. This morning I e-mailed close friends to ask them to pray for me. And then I read Psalm 29 and 30.

David wrote these psalms after he had come through a difficult time. Sometimes it's hard to read scriptures like that when you haven't yet reached that point in a period of difficulty. But that is faith. Faith is believing that God will answer, that He will come through, no matter what suffering you have experienced.

Here are some verses I found encouraging:

"The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace" (Ps. 29:11).

"O LORD, you brought me up from the grave, you spared me from going down into the pit" (Ps. 30:3).

"[W]eeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning" (Ps. 30:5b).

I am reminded here of Dr. Green, a minister from the Oak Cliff area in Dallas, that has come to speak at our church twice. One of his sermon titles was "How Long the Night?" If you didn't hear that sermon, I recommend that you access the sermons on my church's website. Some "nights" are very, very long. As Christians, we do have the assurance that this long night on earth will end with rejoicing in our new home of heaven.

"You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever" (Ps. 30:11-12).

I'm not feeling that way today. But I have felt it before, particularly in the last few months. I know my God is good. And I know that He will bring me joy.