“The wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him” (Eccl. 8:5-6).

Right now, my trouble lies heavy on me. And in the midst of my trouble, I pray for a wise heart. I want to know the proper time and the just way in this. I have despaired at times. But I have been comforted by remembering that God knows what is happening, he has allowed what is happening, and he can enable me to serve and please him in the midst of it. And, although I have missed this point up till now, he has allowed this trouble to lie heavy on me for my sake, so that he can take me deeper, draw me closer, make me stronger, open my eyes wider. How can I doubt his gentle, faithful care for me? And so I want to allow this trial to drive me to him, to lean more heavily on him, to learn to let him live in and through me.

And that is when I realize how much of my life is lived in my own thinking and power. I get along pretty well without him. But pretty well (according to my own or the worlds evaluation) falls far, far below God’s mighty power and eternally outpouring of joy and fullness.

“Thank you, Lord. Yes, I thank you, Lord, for this trial. Thank you for freeing me from myself and my small thinking and my mediocre living. Thank you for pushing out of my limited self by giving me more than I can handle. What a freedom!”