Feeling Weak and Defeated?

"Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, Be strong, do not fear;

your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped."

Isaiah 35:3-5 (NIV)

Have you ever just felt defeated? Beaten up by life's situations that just catch you off guard? That bad news you just got? The girlfriend or boyfriend who just broke up with you? Did you not perform the way you hoped in the track meet? Is it that nagging pain in your body that just doesn't go away? Have you been feeling weak and weary about trying to do the right thing all the time? For the past two months as I battled a horrible infection in my body and had to deal with the everyday situations of life that sometimes catch me off guard I must confess I grew feeble handed and felt weak knees. As the days went on I actually felt beaten up. My body tired from battling this leg infection, my spirit tired from battling spiritual attacks of the enemy, and my mind tired from everyday struggles in life. In the midst of this infection and pressure of life I began to grow weary, tired, and defeated. I began to feel hopeless because I had focused so much on my situation, on ME and not the Word. Sound familiar to you?

You may be just tired of a situation you're going through physically, or worn down by the emotions of a problem at school, or maybe you're depleted spiritually from fighting in battle and pouring out to others. I think all of you can relate to one or more of those areas in your own life, or see someone going through this. It is while were in these valleys at the bottom looking up at the top, where it seems getting there is just too difficult and we don't think we have the strength to go on, God says to us:

"Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, Be strong, do not fear your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."

God will give us the strength when we are tired, even when we feel we cannot even make one more step forward in the situation we are in. He will be there to encourage us, pick us up, and do battle for us. But we have to make the choice to strengthen our feeble hands and knees that give way in times of trial.To yield to His Spirit and not our own. Our spirit is willing but our flesh is really weak. We have to maintain our hope in the Lord, not in our situation or its outcome. The enemy and our own fleshly desires gets us ensnared in a web of sin, but our God is bigger than those problems. He will come with a vengeance against the enemy of our souls and fight this battle in the Spirit and bring us out of that valley. He is promising us this here in the scriptures.

The question today is do you really believe that? Or do you think what you're going through is too big for God to handle? God wants to do this,He wants to deliver you from the darkness because He is an amazing father. As a dad, there is nothing more amazing to me then to be able to help my son Markie when he cries out to me in the middle of the night, when the darkness is all around him, and he is scared because of a bad dream.. to pick him up into my arms and tell Him it's going to be ok, Daddy's here. Maybe that's what God wants to say to you today, it's going to be OK…Daddy's here. There is nothing more encouraging to people then to see God do something that seems impossible for man to do. To see the sick healed, relationships made whole, bondage of sin in lives broken. It's the stuff we pay to see in the movies, makes us cry in real life, and brings chills when you read about it. When we decide to walk in faith, even when the world comes crashing down around us, and KNOW that God is in control. It is then God is glorified the most because we have put our HOPE in Him and He does those very things we long to see.

Are you weary today? Are you feeling like you're going to quit? Don't quit! Don't give up hope! Don't fall down and grow weary!… listen to God's Word… HIS PROMISE. He will come to save you, and in doing so many blind eyes shall be opened and the deaf shall hear and your faith and hope shall be a testimony to those who are also weary, lost and dying inside.