June 19

Sometimes we have to work at faith. Sometimes we have to make a concerted effort to be steadfast in hope. The burdens of life can weigh us down and make us doubt. There is an old adage that says, ‘Never allow yourself to doubt in the darkness what God has shown you clearly in the light,’ but we do let ourselves doubt.

The enemy of our souls, the evil one who comes to steal, kill and destroy is attendant to our fears and frustrations. When he sees them, he pounces upon our anxiety and attempts to use it to rob us of the strength we gain by reflecting upon God’s faithfulness. The enemy of our souls wants us to feel abandoned and forsaken so he endeavors to make us forget all the Lord has done for us in the past.

Psalm 77:6 tells us what we must do to counter the enemy’s onslaught against our foundation of faith—our recollection of all the times we have been delivered from prior trials. It says, “I will call to remembrance my song in the night. I commune with my own heart as my spirit makes diligent search.” We must require ourselves to reflect upon those past dilemmas from which the Lord delivered us.

We are not told here to think about the times of joy when we have sung the praises of the Lord, but the times when Jesus has given us a song in the darkness, in the night of our distress! When we are in the throes of trial, we tend to focus on the immediate problem, but if we will indeed stir up the past, the times stored in our hearts and spirits that remind us of His faithfulness, we will renew our present hope!