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PROGRAM D-7756
Are you in a place right now where you feel like you’re holding on for dear life, and you just don’t know what’s going to happen? Maybe your job is being eliminated and you’re facing the trauma of finding another one. Or it might be that your marriage is on the rocks and you’re not sure if it will survive. Could it be that a prodigal child is breaking your heart, making very bad choices and wandering far away from God? Or you’re facing a financial crisis which looks like disaster to you? You might say you’re just holding on while you’re on hold.
Sometimes life just seems to be full of almost daily and unending situations where we simply have to wait—things aren’t moving like we think they should. So, we’re frustrated and exhausted from holding on while we’re on hold. There is hope for you, even while you’re holding on.
I must confess that holding on and being patient never comes easy for me. Think about Job in the Bible. Talk about holding on when he was on hold, nobody has ever endured more than Job did while waiting for God to move. It wasn’t easy for him either. Listen to his cry for help:
Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for. What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze? . . .Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again.
His words may express your heart today. Like Job, you may be saying or thinking: Why hasn’t God granted my request? I don’t have any strength left to keep holding on. After all, I’m just flesh! I’ve lost hope and I’ll never be happy again.
For most of us, this feeling of hopelessness takes the form of what Thoreau called “quiet desperation.” You keep going, you keep saying the right things and maintaining a semblance of normalcy, but on the inside you’ve truly given up. You’re going through the motions of a marriage or a job; you’re making people think everything’s okay, but in reality, you’re emotionally detached; there’s no more fight left in you, and you’re almost at the place where you really don’t care.
I want to share three simple truths that will help you hold on when you’re on hold.
