Hope and Comfort · Emotional Healing

Are things going badly?

4 min read, approximately

Luke 13:10-11
“Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath, and there was a woman who for eighteen years had a spirit of infirmity. She was bent over and could not straighten herself at all.”

No one likes things to go badly. Everyone wants to succeed, improve, and see their dreams come true. Yet what happens when we go from bad to worse? What happens when circumstances move beyond our control? When we see the years pass and our condition does not change? An illness? The woman described in Luke 13 had been bent over for 18 years! 18 years living in the same misery! What would we say? Bad luck? Would we lose faith? Would we turn against God?

Many of us lose our bearings when everything goes wrong, but the Lord has given us the “map” to cross that desert and emerge victorious from misery.

What map? How? Which one? Where?

Let us see what the Bible suggests:

“This book of the law shall never depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may keep and do everything written in it. Then you will make your way prosperous, and everything will go well for you.” (Joshua 1:8)

that is:

\1. Meditate on the Bible 

Those accustomed to reading about calamities and problems will think about calamities and problems and speak of problems and calamities—a standard of defeat. But if they delight in meditating on the Word, they will read, think, and speak of promises, not illness. T****heir standard is and will be victory! 

“The good person brings good things out of the good treasure of their heart, and the evil person brings evil things out of the evil treasure of their heart, for the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart.” (Luke 6:45)  

“Rather, in all these things we are more than conquerors through the one who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)

\2. Do what the Bible tells me to do 

There is a great distance between reading the promises and making the decision to live them!

“But be doers of the word, not merely hearers who deceive yourselves. For anyone who hears the word but does not do it is like a person looking at their natural face in a mirror: they look at themselves, go away, and then forget what they looked like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, not as a forgetful hearer but as one who does the work, will be blessed in what they do.” (James 1:22-25) 

Any requirement? Faith! Will we dare to walk in faith?

\3. I will prosper, and everything will go well for me

“But without faith it is impossible to please God, because whoever comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

Amid adversity, amid misery, amid the thick of it, the Lord is waiting for us to use his Word and dare to put it into practice, because only then “will you make your way prosperous.”

“When Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her: Woman, you are free from your illness. He laid his hands on her, and she immediately straightened up and glorified God.” (Luke 13:12-13)

Jesus saw her, called her, and spoke to her. The bent-over woman let herself be seen, listened, believed, and was freed from her misery! Misery? Let us follow these points the Bible teaches us…

“The Lord answered me and said: Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, so that whoever reads it may run. Although the vision still awaits its time, it hastens toward the end and will not lie. Though it delays, wait for it, because it will surely come and will not be late. Behold, the one whose soul is not upright is proud, but the righteous will live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:2-4)  

Let us pray

Jesus, you are great, wonderful, amazing, and almighty! No illness, problem, or calamity can intimidate you. You have control of my being and keep me by your power. So now I cast aside every fear and doubt, hold on to you, surrender myself to you, and believe that with you I will once again emerge victorious! I can do all things in you, Jesus, who strengthen me. Therefore I am convinced that I will see your help, your aid, your guidance, your assistance, your support, and your glory! I believe it and hold on to it in the name of Jesus. Amen.

_**Remember to stop by the Songbook

May God continue to bless you, and may you continue to have an excellent day in Christ Jesus!