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Have you ever wondered in THIS life, how dependent ARE we on situations, systems, arrangements, relationships, and mechanisms that are in place in our lives?  We have relationships that are here one day…gone the next.  Jobs and finances that are here one day…gone in an instant due to economy.  Visions,  dreams , and plans that we are working on one day…and then they  are “unplugged”  or “short-circuited” with the words of a person in a position of authority…or the stroke of a pen!  Here today…gone tomorrow! Often, suddenly, and without warning!

Blows to the stability of our lives.  Dismantling of the socio-economic structures that are in place around us.  While we have some things “in place”…we don’t realize how dependent we are upon them…until they are instantly….GONE! And then we see how fragile things really are.

And the disappointment of it all! How to deal with the emotional upheaval and re-organization of things we were counting upon and the loss of things we were planning in the “light” of.

Yet will I REJOICE in the Lord!  I will JOY in the God of my salvation!

In the Old Testament, Habakkuk  knew something of this when he penned…”Though the fig tree does not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vine.  Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; Though the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls…YET will I REJOICE in the Lord.  I WILL JOY in the God of my salvation!”

“The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills!”  Habakkuk 3:17-19

I was meditating on this truth last Fall….AND THEN…SUDDENLY, the “heat and pressure” of the HOT IRON bore down on my life, as my good “part time” job suddenly came to a screeching halt…in the MIDST of a very productive period! Lives were being touched.  Relationships were being formed…and SUDDENLY…lightning struck!  Funds dried up, and the loss came…without warning!  Within my being, there must have been some “wrinkles” of depending upon material things, mechanisms, and concrete expectations He wanted to “press” out of me!  But because I had been “there” before, I quickly realized the situation for what it was.

One temptation was DESPAIR!  Such a state is NOT the way for God’s people; for it is laced with FEAR…the opposite of FAITH!  Such “tests” are times to yield yourself to His heavy iron of “heat and pressure” and simply and purely begin to PRAISE the Lord in the midst of the situation!

YET will I REJOICE in the Lord!  I WILL JOY in the God of my salvation!!!

This is God’s antidote for the hurt and disappointments that come with such losses! He “understands”…and He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but He is also mindful of how crucial it is that we OBEY HIM in the face of “tests and trials”…if we want to PASS them and get on with HIS agenda for our lives!!!

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.  For as the rain comes down , and the snow from Heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;  It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

“For you shall go out with JOY and be led out with PEACE; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.  Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”  Isaiah 55: 10-13

We belong to a God who IS our Provider, our covering, our Source, our Husband…our everything!!! He is not ignorant of the situations of our lives and He has said in His Word that “ALL THINGS work together for GOOD to those who love God and are called according to His purpose,”  Romans 8:28

SO….SETTLE IT!  “Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart…and lean NOT to your own understanding”. Proverbs 3:5

This is the action of one who has chosen to follow Him in full surrender…one day, one step at a time as situations – good and bad – present themselves to you.  That done, you will be in a position to REJOICE in the Lord and JOY in the God of your  salvation!!!

Then…regardless of what comes or goes, you can confidently say…”IT IS WELL…WITH MY SOUL!”

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