Today's devotional from Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest" is on the subject of Despair. Let's read...
From "My Utmost for His HIghest" by Oswald Chambers
February 18th entry
"Taking the Initiative Against Despair"
"Rise, let us be going" (Matthew 26:46)
"In the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples went to sleep when they should have stayed awake, and once they realized what they had done it produced despair. The sense of having done something irreversible tends to make us despair. We say 'Well, it's all over and ruined now; what's the point in trying anymore.' If we think this kind of despair is an exception, we are mistaken. It is a very ordinary human experience. Whenever we realize we have not taken advantage of a magnificent opportunity, we are apt to sink into despair. But Jesus comes and lovingly says to us, in essence, 'Sleep on now. That opportunity is lost forever and you can't change that. But get up, and let's go on to the next thing.' In other words, let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him.
There will be experiences like this in each of our lives. We will have times of despair caused by real events in our lives, and we will be unable to lift ourselves out of them. The disciples, in this instance, had done a downright unthinkable thing - they had gone to sleep instead of watching with Jesus. But our Lord came to them taking the spiritual initiative against their despair and said, in effect, 'Get up, and do the next thing.' If we are inspired by God, what is the next thing? It is to trust Him absolutely and to pray on the basis of His redemption.
Never let the sense of past failure defeat your next step."
We all have regrets in our lives over things we have done, things we have done wrong or things we didn't do. And it is easy to drown in those regrets and despair. Over the course of my life and Christian walk I have come to know that God has a plan for us no matter how we may mess it up! As Dr. David Jeremiah said on the radio this morning, even though we are Saved - we will still sin and make mistakes because we are imperfect humans. That doesn't mean we lose our Salvation - but it does affect our fellowship with God. Dr Jeremiah says when we make mistakes then we go to God, repent and repair the fellowship. And we can do that because our fellowship with God is "relational".
Two very smart men with words of wisdom! Next week we will read about "Taking the Initiative Against Drudgery". I am sure we will all be able to relate to that one!
Beth
From "My Utmost for His HIghest" by Oswald Chambers
February 18th entry
"Taking the Initiative Against Despair"
"Rise, let us be going" (Matthew 26:46)
"In the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples went to sleep when they should have stayed awake, and once they realized what they had done it produced despair. The sense of having done something irreversible tends to make us despair. We say 'Well, it's all over and ruined now; what's the point in trying anymore.' If we think this kind of despair is an exception, we are mistaken. It is a very ordinary human experience. Whenever we realize we have not taken advantage of a magnificent opportunity, we are apt to sink into despair. But Jesus comes and lovingly says to us, in essence, 'Sleep on now. That opportunity is lost forever and you can't change that. But get up, and let's go on to the next thing.' In other words, let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him.
There will be experiences like this in each of our lives. We will have times of despair caused by real events in our lives, and we will be unable to lift ourselves out of them. The disciples, in this instance, had done a downright unthinkable thing - they had gone to sleep instead of watching with Jesus. But our Lord came to them taking the spiritual initiative against their despair and said, in effect, 'Get up, and do the next thing.' If we are inspired by God, what is the next thing? It is to trust Him absolutely and to pray on the basis of His redemption.
Never let the sense of past failure defeat your next step."
We all have regrets in our lives over things we have done, things we have done wrong or things we didn't do. And it is easy to drown in those regrets and despair. Over the course of my life and Christian walk I have come to know that God has a plan for us no matter how we may mess it up! As Dr. David Jeremiah said on the radio this morning, even though we are Saved - we will still sin and make mistakes because we are imperfect humans. That doesn't mean we lose our Salvation - but it does affect our fellowship with God. Dr Jeremiah says when we make mistakes then we go to God, repent and repair the fellowship. And we can do that because our fellowship with God is "relational".
Two very smart men with words of wisdom! Next week we will read about "Taking the Initiative Against Drudgery". I am sure we will all be able to relate to that one!
Beth
