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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.
And you know, it’s not only these more traumatic things, but life 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.
When you think of someone in the Bible who was on hold, you most likely think of Job. Talk about holding on when he was on hold, nobody has ever endured more than Job did while waiting for God to move. In Job 6 he says:
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? (Job 6:8, 11-12).
And in the 7th chapter, he goes on to say:
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope. Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again (Job7:6-7).
His words may express your heart. Like Job, you may be saying or thinking: Why hasn’t God granted my request? I don’t have any strength to keep holding on. After all, I’m just flesh! I’ve lost hope and I’ll never be happy again.
If that’s where you are, I have words of hope for you when you’re holding on.