Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11

Seeds of the Kingdom

When Life is Hard

by Lynda Scott

“Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord; may your love and your truth always protect me. For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. Be pleased, O Lord, to save me; O Lord, come quickly to help me.”
Psalm 40:11-13, NIV

Life can be hard. It’s fine when things are going well. It’s easy to praise the Lord then. But we all go through difficult times. It might be a bad day, a bad month, a bad few months, a bad year or even a bad season. I have had them all. The year my daughter Jasmyn died I got to the end of that year and prayed a rather exhausted prayer like “please Lord, let me never have a year like that again”. It was really hard. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust God. It’s the struggle of functioning in your daily life when something’s not right. Maybe there’s something wrong with your health, a broken relationship has broken your heart, there’s financial stress, you are in a situation of physical danger, a problem with your children, or grief at the loss of someone or something you held dear. The more of these things there are at once, the more crippled you can become.

One of the most inspiring people that I find in the Bible is King David. If ever you thought you’re the only one who has hard times, read the whole story of King David’s life. The thing I like about David is, no matter what he’s going through, he comes to the Lord, and pours it all out. That is what the Psalms are. They really are a guide for us to show us that it’s okay to tell God everything. We can tell Him when we’re happy, but we can also tell Him when we’re sad and hurting. We can bring every single one of our troubles to Him. It’s okay to pour out your heart-wrenching grief to Him, or express your anger at a perceived injustice. God so readily receives us when we come to Him and are honest about our struggles.

David trusted in the mercy of the Lord. He trusted that the Lord would lead him out of, and save him from, every trouble. When he needed healing David trusted God for the healing. When David sinned, God provided forgiveness for him. David trusted in God’s divine protection. For every trouble he had, David believed that God had the answer, and He did.

So if you’re facing troubles today, maybe even troubles without number, come to the Lord and pour it all out to Him. Don’t hold anything back. Reading the Book of Psalms may help you in expressing your heart. Leave your troubles in the Lord’s wonderful hands. He will help you and restore you.

Prayer: Father God, today I am weighed down by these troubles that are crippling me. Help me to pour out my heart to You. Would You help me. I need You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Lynda Scott was first introduced to Ellel Ministries at a conference led by Peter and Fiona Horrobin in 1996 when she was miraculously healed following a devastating accident. Lynda has continued her association with Ellel Ministries over the years and has recently written her story “Lynda: From Accident & Trauma to Healing & Wholeness.” She lives in Australia with her husband Leigh and 3 children, who are all at school. She works in a local health clinic, as well as helping her husband with the administration of their beef cattle farm.

 

Sign Up Now

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.