When I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God.
Psalm 73:16-17
You see what Asaph is saying: “Here I am struggling with my problems. But my questions and struggles are part of something much bigger.”
It’s a great thing to have personal faith, but behind your faith there is the faith. Behind your little struggle to believe, there stands a great company of men and women through the ages who have faced the same questions and the same struggles, and God has brought them through. That’s what Asaph saw when he went into the sanctuary.
This is one of the great blessings of being part of the body of Christ, the church, which has been around for 2,000 years. There is nothing in your life that God’s people have not faced before.
There are no questions in your mind that have not been asked before. People have lived and died on God’s promises for more than two millennia! “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful” (1 Cor. 10:13).
You never know what ministry you may have to others simply by the fact that you have endured so much and you didn’t give up. Don’t underestimate the importance of staying the course. You are showing the rest of us what it means to persevere.
The encouragement of God’s people is one of the means that God uses to strengthen us when we feel like giving up. That’s why you should never withdraw from God’s people when you are discouraged.
Is there a member of your church who has encouraged you in recent days? What if you chose to go to church, in the middle of your struggles, for the benefit of others?
