Don't Sink Under

A relative of mine sent me some poems he had written.  One of them was about feelings and thoughts during an interview which started off with the subject being hopeful of being accepted and which ended with these hopes being dashed.  I noticed that each of the three verses of the poem had a specific letter at the beginning of each line.  These letters ran in the sequence of DSU.  As I looked at these letters a sentence formed in my mind 'Don't Sink Under', followed by the words ' Don't sink under when things do not go according to your own plan.  For each of your days is written in the book of One far greater than man.'  I thought about these words and how, just as in the poem, we can feel that things may be going wrong for us because something that we hoped for and expected to happen does not happen.  Yet, how do we know that maybe our own plans were meant to fail to allow God's plans to come to pass in our lives.  Jesus' plan for Peter to walk on water was not achieved through Peter's own efforts.  It was achieved through keeping his eyes on Jesus, not on the circumstance he found himself in.  Jesus says that in the world we have tribulation, in Him we have peace, so we should not let tribulation worry us to the extent that we sink beneath the circumstance.  

Trust
Do not worry, do not fear
let your heart be still
For who on earth of mortal man
can always know God's will
But this we know, who worship Him
by faith shall live the just
For then we see the power of
The One in whom we trust

' You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon You, because he trusts in You.  Trust in the Lord forever for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.'    Isaiah ch.26 vs 3,4

The more we trust in the Lord the more our faith in Him will grow.  What is faith?  Is it not ' the substance of things hoped for?

HOPE

CAUSE FOR HOPE
Psalm 142 says that when our spirit is faint the Lord knows our way, that when we cry to Him saying that He is our refuge, our portion in the land of the living, and ask for deliverance from an enemy too strong for us, He will deal bountifully with us.

STRENGTH OF HOPE
Hope does not cease to be because we are weak in faith, unable to believe or fail to hold on to what God has spoken. It is merely hidden from our view by shadows of our frail humanity.  Hope is eternal, as God is eternal.  Its fire cannot be quenched, though ashes of mortality be cast upon its coals when floods of fear and pain block our vision of God's power. Yet still its embers, burning bright, may be rekindled as breath of love divine once more fans flames of hope within the heart of man, when written word and Spirit mind recall the plan and purpose of creator God and His Son.  Then shadows sinister and cold recede and disappear, as soul of man unites with love of God, and conquers once again that which seeks to cause doubt.

SOURCE OF DOUBT
An 'enemy too strong for us' can be many things.  Sickness, loneliness, debt, jealousy, covetousness or guilt are just a few examples.

DEALING WITH DOUBT
If we are afraid of an enemy our fear will usually cause us to run from it, and it will give chase until we tire of running and it will overpower us.
When Jehosaphat was told 'A great multitude is coming against you from Edom' we are told; 'He feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, acknowledging His saving power, recalling former help for Israil from Him, and asked Him to help, admitting that they were powerless against such an enemy.'  So too, we who are spiritual Israelites, though we fear, may set ourselves to seek the Lord in the same way that Jehosaphat did, and ask for help.  The Lord's answer to Jehosaphat through the prophet was 'Fear not and be not dismayed at this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's'.   Will the answer not be the same for us?

Oh hope eternal, flame of God, disposer of all strife
With fuel of power, Spirit borne, create in me new life
Bring change of mind in circumstance, when all around is night
Cause doubt in heart to be dispelled by brightness of Your light
Oh hope eternal, love divine create in me new heart
That line of safety, Spirit cord, might never break apart