Did You Hear...?

It was a tough tennis match. I lost the first set. Even though it was only a club tournament, I wanted to win. During the break between sets I overheard my opponent’s parents say, “Hurry up and win this next set so we can go out for lunch.” What? In their eyes I had already lost!

It was a done deal and they wanted to move on to something more enjoyable. I had a choice –  give in to discouragement or rally my resources.

Indignation fueled my thoughts as I took to the court for the second set. I attacked every serve with a vengeance. It was exhausting but oh so satisfying to end up in the winner’s column after two more sets.

Every day we are assaulted with negative words – catastrophic reports of news at home and around the world; a friend or family member’s well-meaning comment that wounds instead of encourages; a doctor’s prognosis that paints a bleak picture of our future health; or a job evaluation that makes us wonder, do they really know how hard I have worked? Most of us hear at least 30,000 words a day. How many of them are positive and uplifting? How many engender fear, worry or anxiety?

A synagogue ruler came to Jesus, desperate to find a cure for his dying daughter. He fell to his knees pleading for Jesus to come and lay hands on her. Jesus was his only hope, a hope that was shattered when men from his home arrived and announced, “Your daughter is dead.” 

Dead? If only I had come sooner, he must have thought. If only that woman with the issue of blood had not interrupted Jesus. Maybe my daughter would still be alive! But Jesus had one more card to play.

“Overhearing but ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear; only keep on believing (Mark 5:36, AMP).” Jesus pursued death with a vengeance and restored the child's life.

What have you heard recently that hijacked your hope? What situation are you facing right now that seems impossible? Does God have a different perspective? Whose words are you focused on?

  

Are you seeing your circumstances through the Lord’s eyes or man’s? Sarah laughed in disbelief when she overheard the Lord say to her husband Abraham that she would bear him a son at the age of 90. Seeing through the eyes of man is a very limited view indeed.

“You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You (Isaiah 26:3, AMP).”

Why not ask the Lord for His truth about your circumstances? A simple prayer like this, “Lord, show me Your truth about ______” could breathe life and peace into what seems hopeless right now. Ask God to help you see your situation through His eyes. Then sit and listen expectantly. Replace what you have heard from man with what the Lord tells you. Declare His words over your life and watch the impossible become possible.

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