I believe we were created on this Earth to have Relationship with God. In Genesis 3:8 it describes God walking in the Garden with Adam in the cool of the day. Abraham was also called a friend of God. David was a man after God’s own heart. So with all this relationship business in the Bible it makes sense that God both speaks and listens to us like any normal relationship. Too often Christians view communication with God as a one way ticket and use God as a type of Santa Claus. We don’t spend enough time listening to Him or at least I don’t. This communication becomes even more muddled with sin in our lives. I know when I have sin in my life it acts like radio interference. I try to hear from God but I can’t hear from him clearly like before. The noise sometimes drowns God’s voice or sometimes the enemy comes in and mimics God’s voice taking me off the path. Both issues happen to me. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman very soft spoken. I hear God the clearest when I have a pure heart and am living in righteousness. I feel like I’m finally becoming that person that God designed me to be again after many months/years of compromise. God is listening to me but I also know that I am suffering in part because of the consequences of my sin. God always forgives the repentant heart but sometimes the ramifications of that sin linger. (See my life as a reference.)
So I’ve been doing a lot of crying out to God. I’m alone so I don’t have many others to talk with and even if I did, they’d get tired of me complaining about being lonely all the time. So as I was praying last night, I got a very strong impression that this next week would be a very difficult week for me. I was to double down on my prayer and routine in order to not fall into temptation again and self-medicate to ease the pain. So then my mind started to wander. What does tough week mean? Will I get into a car crash? Will I run out of money? Will something happen bad at work? Will my relationship with my children be damaged? Will I get sick? Will I be discouraged? I didn’t know what to think, but I knew if God was going to give me a heads up about it, I could certainly overcome it. In fact he was giving me the tools to overcome it. I’ve had these types of “Early Warning Signals” before in my life from God. The struggles indeed happened and I was able to endure until the storm passed. So I forgot about it and I went to sleep.
About halfway through my day, a spiritual heaviness fell upon me. It was like a forty pound wet blanket weighing down my spirit. It was a mix of despair, depression, regret, loneliness, and just coldness. I was completely isolated even though I was surrounded by people. I knew because of the heads up I received not to lash out. I quietly endured, careful not to make things worse for myself with negative reactions to others I might come across. I just had to endure it. It was so intense I forgot about the warning until about 10 minutes before I started writing this blog. I tried to do the healthy things I do to cope when I’m down. I had a vigorous workout at the gym. I tried to sing out praises in my car even though my spirit was breaking. I could barely get the words out. And I prayed…and I prayed. Now I’m doing the thing that helps me the most recently, this blog. This is just good therapy for me. If I can help others through my pain and loneliness I feel like it’s not for nothing. There can be good that comes out of everything. All things work together for good, even week long struggles. Just by writing this my spirit is lifted a bit. 1 day down and another 6 to go hopefully. I felt as if next Monday would be the breaking point for the heaviness. So now that I got advance warning, I can prepare for the storm and not suffer the undue consequences that one would normally experience. I won’t drown or get washed out to sea. I can fortify my defenses and ride the storm out. The storm/heaviness not catching me by surprise. I wish I could say I look forward to the next week, but I can’t. I can just endure and survive. So why does God allow these storms to happen? Why can’t I just pray it away? If he can warn me about it, can’t He also flick his wrist and make the heaviness dissipate? I don’t know Why. Sometimes we never find out the “Why” question. I just know that God cares about us and our happiness. He won’t always remove the storm right away, but He’s giving me the strength to endure it nonetheless. If I can maintain my peace and joy through the midst of the heaviness all the better. For those of you reading this, thank you for walking this journey with me. I hope you can be inspired through my struggles and ultimate triumph. I was a bit disappointed to learn “This too shall pass” is not in the Bible. So I asked Chat GPT for help. I learned from Evangel College and Twila Edwards “That All Truth is God’s Truth.” So if it is truth then it is of God. Here’s what Chat GPT had to say about heaviness and “This too shall pass.”
The phrase “This too shall pass” does not appear anywhere in the Bible.
However, the idea behind it — that suffering, hardship, and even good times are temporary — is expressed in several biblical passages. Here are a few verses that convey that sentiment:
2 Corinthians 4:17–18 (NIV)
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”Psalm 30:5 (KJV)
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”1 Peter 5:10 (NIV)
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
The saying “This too shall pass” actually comes from Persian and Jewish wisdom traditions, and it became popular in English through folklore and later through speeches and sermons.
OK, Rick talking here again. It’s interesting that four reference verses I share are on my God’s promises sheet which I recite nearly every day. God knew what this week would be like for me, and he threw me a life saver to keep me afloat. “This too shall pass!”
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