Lord, I Am Stuck!نموونە

Lord, I Have a Heavy Heart

Did you lay before the Lord your grief, fears, worries, dreams, desires, agendas, control, disappointments, heartaches and heartbreaks, burdens, insecurities, religion, and rituals you trust instead of the Lord? A heavy heart is far too much for us to carry. Jesus said, “Come to me” (Mt. 11:28). It may take several days or weeks to entrust your burdens and cares to the Lord. Lay everything before Him, and ask Him to remove the barriers, obstacles, or hindrances. The Lord will show you the way to a deeper, intimate, and fruitful relationship with Him.

One huge obstacle is spiritual blindness. There are many symptoms of our sin that we may see, but we frequently do not see the root of our sin. Our remaining sin is so much a part of us that we are so familiar with it, we don’t even recognize it. We have enough awareness of our guilt that we hide, hide, hide and cover, cover, cover! However, we view things from a human perspective—the surface symptoms and the justification for them, instead of seeing our sin as God sees our sin. We want to ask the Lord to open our eyes! The gospel of John describes how the darkness hates the light and our fallen humanity avoids the light: “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (Jn. 1:5).

I think of my past sin of covetousness and materialism. It had such a stronghold on me. I was desperate for the things of this world that I thought would give me worth, meaning, and pleasure. I knew the Word of God and memorized it, but I did not have ears to hear. Matthew 6:19-20 says, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth ...” My sin was such a part of me that I could not respond to God’s Word in this area. I felt inadequate and worthless inside, so I looked for anything to give me worth. If I had taken God at His Word, confessed my sin, and asked Him to grant me repentance, I could have been free. But I did not want to see my sin as sin. I just wanted to ease my pain. Buy more stuff! It was my “go-to” instead of Jesus.

What is in your life that is your “go-to” when you want to dull the pain, escape, or find comfort?