His Work In Our Lives

March 2017 – Grace & Truth Magazine

His Work In Our Lives

All of us go through times of depression or despair. We may be dealing with sad or distressing events. Maybe our expectation of things coming up is somber. Burdens and troubles could be weighing us down to the point where they are just too much for us to bear. Along with these things, sometimes it just seems like no one really cares or is able to understand what we are going through.

We are not alone. Even the Bible records such struggles in the lives of Abraham, Hannah, King Saul, Elijah, Job, David, Jeremiah, Jonah and Paul – to name a few. Jesus, while in the garden of Gethsemane, “began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said [to Peter and the two sons of Zebedee], ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’ He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed ... Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping” (Mt. 26:36-40 NKJV).

The writer of Hebrews was led of the Holy Spirit to share other details about the Lord Jesus: “In the days of His flesh ... He offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation” (5:7-9). Applying lessons to us, we see a limitation of these things to the days of life here on earth. We need to pray with all the honesty of our hearts to Him who can save even from death itself. The Father hears the prayers of His children and He will do what is necessary for their learning, causing them to grow and be more useful regarding things of eternal value.

The cave of Adullam, the topic of this month’s Feature articles, was a time of despair for David. As you read the articles you will see how the Lord worked in his life and through it for tremendous blessing. Even better, God was glorified! The same can be true for us if we allow the Lord to do His work in our lives – even during our days of despair.

By Paul Alberts