Never lose your sense of Wonder!

As I was struggling with a specific issue, I prayed for wisdom and guidance. I felt checking on David at Ziklag. David is one of my favorite Bible characters. 1 Samuel 30:1-6, I encourage you to read the story regardless you know it or not.

"But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God."

As I read this passage, I remembered how David didn't let himself be ruled by his emotions of what was going on in that terrible time. He strengthened himself in the Lord and asked for wisdom what to do; the Lord told him to fight for what is his because he would recover everything.

It's not that I do not want to believe or have faith; it's not that I haven't seen God doing amazing things, but as I've seen God do great things, I've also seen plenty of evil and bad things in this world.

When things get out of shape or happen not as I expected, it's easy to lose heart. Maybe it's easy to lose heart because I never actually thought that Ziklag will happen. Or perhaps I get so bothered by the fact that God allowed Ziklag to happen.

Hope and faith are crucial. I can still operate in so-called "faith" I go to church, I still serve, always put up a mask, but without hope, I lose the Sense of Wonder, the love, the heart of my faith.

I do want to hold onto God's promises and miracles; however, still, as much as I've seen them, I've also been jaded and bombarded by the bad, evil, negative in the world, from news to people, or social media, to movies, you name it. I know you've seen and felt it too.

As I pondered on all of this, I did not get a 12 steps process or any kind of formula that will ensure that evil or wrong will never occur. It was just a gentle touch of the Lord calling to my attention to know that stealing will keep happening until there is a thief; however, there is always a way to recover everything with Him.

So I asked myself: will I allow the self-pity of "what if's "or "why Lord" to bombard my soul and guide me on paths of discouragement, bitterness, hopelessness? Or will I allow the bright light of hope to shine in my heart and strengthen me in the Lord, to help me to stand up and fight for what is mine?

I often spent days, months, and even years with the question: Why God? Why God didn't You step in, since I know You could?

Now I see that the question is not why God didn't step in. God has done His part, what am I going to do?

The crucial question is whether I will stand up, shake off the discouragement, and encourage myself in the Lord, allowing hope and faith to be bright stars in a hopelessly dark situation. For hope is drawn to me when I can see beyond the present defeat. Not accepting the compromise with the loss, not take anything less in my relationship with God than what He lovingly promised me.

I am sure it wasn't easy for David to hope in that moment of devastation. Still, at that moment, he stopped crying, questioning God, and he started fighting, and fighting, he recovered EVERYTHING!

For hope and faith are what make me smile on the inside as well as on the outside. Hope and faith are not just emotions; they promise me that smiling and laughter are just around the corner. Hope and faith assure me that God's unconditional and extravagant love is mine.

When I have hope and faith, I can trust Him. With hope, faith and trust, I just may discover with delight that my winning over my troubles and struggles is my greatest treasure, recovering everything.