Psalm 18:6

  ⁶In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry                  came before him, into his ears. 

What was the most distressful moment in your life when you anxiously surrendered that by your effort you have lost all hopes to keep on? You did your best and exerted all possible solutions you can think of but nothing has changed. You gave up.

Someone was placed in palliative care and medical experts gave not less a year to live. As genuine believer of Christ, the person welcome the idea of dying but still enjoyed the last moment of living on earth together with loved ones. Months passed by, the person has still health issues but has gladness of heart until last breath.

Failure of health has plagued people in advance years, but death has no respect of human being, young or old, rich or poor. Health issues, physical or mental health can be distressful. So how could Christ our Lord help us resolve distress? On our human effort, we are limited but we pray for the Lord to strengthen us overcome distress. Let’s learn from the testimony of Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Scholars suggest that Apostle Paul had physical problems. Others say that his mission team has financial troubles. Still others suppose that it was harassment wherever he preached the gospel of Christ. Distressful personal, family, school or work-related issues can be moments for us to prove the sufficiency of the grace of God. Then we testify on how the Lord help us overcome our difficulties.

Lord Jesus, increase my trust in you.

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