Stop Only Looking for God at End of Your Rope
"I'm at the end of my rope."
We have all said "I'm at the end of my rope". We have all felt the fear of just barely hanging on. We have all felt like what little sanity we have have left is about to slip away. However, how we get to the end of our rope is varied and complex.
Sometimes it is our jobs that drive us there, or may be it is just a random event such as a blown tire. Maybe it is worrying about having to live from paycheck to paycheck. Quite frankly, my children have been helping me find the end of my rope. They do a good job at it too.
It is at these time that we are at our lowest, that anxiety kicks in and we start looking for a way out. We look this way and we look that way trying to find relief. Then when we cannot find our way out, we cry out to God "Help! I do not know what to do!" If God does not answer, we continue to seek him until we find the answer we need. Even King David said in Psalms 61: 1-4:
Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.
Do you know what the best thing about being at the end of your rope and your searching for God is? When God shows up. You what can be the most hurtful thing? When God shows up.
God Showed Up
So let me keep this simple as possible. It was not until February 1st, at 1:00 PM when I started work on tonights TND. In other words, I only had 5 hours left until the publishing deadline and I was at the end of my rope. I did not know what I wanted to type, I did not know where to begin.
Quite frankly, I had too much work to do at my school. Also, I was a hard time dealing with my children and trying to keep them happy. Frankly, just last night I passed out in my bed from total exhaustion still wearing my clothes from work. I was at the end of my rope, and my rope was frayed. I was slipping
So I began to ask God to help me. I asked him what would he have me speak on tonight. I began watching Bro. Ronnie's message "How to Attack Anxiety" hoping for an idea to speak on (Please watch that message by the way). I began to look at things on the internet, I tried everything hoping for a bit of inspiration. Still a nervous wreck, I prayed to God one more time and said to him "I'm at the end of my rope, please help me". Guess what, he showed up.
He did not show up physically, or with bright lights and and loud sounds. He showed up on my computer screen as the following scripture:
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Revelations 22:13
Then he showed up as a small reproving thought. "I am at the beginning and the end of your rope. You should have looked for me at the first, instead of at the last."
Talking about a range of emotions. God showed up at the end of my rope. He was there waiting to help me. He was there to help me not the way I had hoped, but the way I had needed. I am happy that I have a topic to talk about, but I am wounded that it was done through a reproof from God. But according to Psalms 12: 1
Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.
I must take his reproof as he intended, which is a way for me to grow. Other wise I shall remain brutish, or more simply put spiritual dumb and never grow.
So Lesson Learned
I am happy that I have something to speak on and that I know is from God. However, I cannot help but wonder what God could have done, if I had not waited until the last minute to work on this TND. I think back to times I waited and simply procrastinated before coming to God about a problem. Although I cannot change those things, I can now learn from them
So the whole moral of tonight's TND is instead of looking for God at the end of our rope; we should look for God at the beginning. We need to look for God and ask for his guidance at the start everything we do. If we do, we will have his help not only at the end of our ropes, but at the start and everything between.
