Beyond Desolation: What to Do When You Have Nothing LeftSample

Let’s first start with this reminder. If Jesus can turn water to wine and raise His own dead body back to life, He has the power to to turn your desolation into joy and fulfillment again.

As a counselor, I know that simply understanding “why” something is, rarely stops the pain. However, becoming aware of what’s at play can shed valuable light.

We’re going to look at three conditions that create desolation. Notice as we go, the one thing they have in common– a mindset that shifted a few degrees away from truth due to exhaustion.

Here’s the first: living with ongoing affliction.

If you’ve had to persevere over something not in your control (e.g. an illness, deficit, perpetual loss, injustice), your journey is one of long suffering. Your depletion is understandable. Your desolation feels like a life sentence and I’m sure you’ve come close to giving up many times.

The relentlessness makes it incredibly hard to remain hopeful. Your perseverance often goes unnoticed, adding to your silent suffering.

Consider Gideon. He’s been in battle after battle for a long time. He’s gone through a lot, accomplished much, yet there is still more to conquer. As a result, he is bone-tired. In Judges 8:4, we find a powerful phrase depicting how he’s holding on.

“Then Gideon and the 300 hundred men who were with him came to the Jordan (river) and crossed over, weary yet pursuing.”

Can you relate? Do you feel you have nothing left to give yet somehow you keep (barely) showing up? You are weary yet pursuing. That’s a big deal.

Although your circumstance may not change, you always have a choice regarding how you want to approach your future.

As Oswald Chambers said, “The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings like eagles, but a life of walking without fainting.” May I encourage you to be like Gideon. Keep moving forward at a sustainable pace, weary yet pursuing (​Isaiah 40:29, Hebrews 10:36, James 1:12).

**If your desolation stems from feeling stuck, or going in circles, tomorrow’s message may be the very thing you need to hear!