‘Give ear, Lord, and listen.
confront it with no shield throw up no earthwork against it.
he shall not enter this city. It is the Lord who speaks.
One of the toughest periods in my life took place in 2006, after I had been working in my company for about 2 years. Soon after I joined the bank, a misunderstanding took place and the environment became hostile between some colleagues and myself. Things came to a head when I was due to be promoted, ironically to manage the same team which I was having the misunderstanding with.
At the point when the difficulties at work arose, I had been very active in church, my cell group as well as a church ministry. I was frustrated, and felt that God had abandoned me. I wondered why God had allowed me to go through these difficulties.
The main way I handled this was to pray even harder, reflecting on the possible reasons behind the whole dismal chain of events. Finally, unable to come up with an answer, I ended up just lifting it all to Him, and praying for understanding and deliverance.
Ultimately, it turned out that the whole series of events, while painful to go through, was important for me. The whole experience, ultimately, turned out positive for me.
In the first reading of today, Hezekiah, king of Judah, experienced doubt, fear and confrontation with the Assyrian king Sennacherib. The latter derided and attempted to cast doubt on God. Rather than lamenting and worrying, Hezakiah instead brought this difficulty up to God, praying and asking for deliverance, and asking for victory. The Assyrians were ultimately defeated when the Lord struck down one hundred and eighty five thousand men from the Assyrian camp in one night.
Let us learn to be like Hezekiah, to lift all our challenges to our Lord, no matter how daunting and difficult these challenges are.
Prayer: Father, please give us strength to meet all our challenges in our lives and to have unfailing faith in You.
Thanksgiving: Thank you for always knowing what is best for us and for loving us.