Struggle – Pray!

I usually don’t have a problem going to sleep.  There are times, however, where the stress of life pushes in and it is quite difficult to shut off my brain.  At other times, I wake up in the middle of the night (3:30 AM) and then something pops in my mind and I struggle to turn it back off and go to sleep.  On nights like this, I usually pick up a book and I’ll read a few pages and my mind settles down and I drift back to sleep.

I’ve also learned to talk with the Lord during that awake time. He knows what is on my mind. He knows what my struggle is. It is very helpful to talk to Him about everything – big issues or small issues.

In the book of Job, there is tremendous struggle. Job complains in his prayers to God. He is obviously frustrated, but he doesn’t curse the Lord. Check this out…

¹ “Is not all human life a struggle?
    Our lives are like that of a hired hand,
² like a worker who longs for the shade,
    like a servant waiting to be paid.
³ I, too, have been assigned months of futility,
    long and weary nights of misery.
⁴ Lying in bed, I think, ‘When will it be morning?’
    But the night drags on, and I toss till dawn. (Job 7:1-4 NLT)

I think it’s important to pray through struggle.

I also think it’s helpful to find a trusted confidant to talk through the struggle with. I sometimes need God with skin on – a Christ-follower.

Struggle is nearly always miserable.  The Lord is present in our struggle, but He’s sometimes silent. I think we learn things through struggle that we might just not learn any other way. I think I learn things about me through struggle. I think I learn things about the Lord through struggle.  I was just thinking of Moses in the desert for 40 years – struggle. There are stories of struggle in scripture that are awe-inspiring. There are stories of struggle in my own community. The common thread in all of them is holding on to the hand of the Father. I need Him. I need His Presence to steady me in the struggle.

I was reminded of this passage from the book of James. Check this out….

² Dear brothers and sisters, when (not “if”) troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. ³ For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. ⁴ So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

⁵ If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. ⁶ But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. (James 1:2-4 NLT)

Pressing On!

Dwayne