Overcoming Set Backs, Disappointments and Hurts

Psalm 51:17, Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.

How deep does the pain go?  A few years ago someone asked me how my heart was?  My reply, “I don’t have a heart anymore, it’s in too many pieces.”  Perhaps you can relate to that very statement.  Your heart has been crushed and there is simply nothing left.  Satan would love for you to believe there is no hope, no getting better, not a chance you’ll feel joy and happiness again.

John 10:10, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so they can have life. I want them to have it in the fullest possible way.

So if the last part of this verse is a promise, a promise that you enjoy life in the fullest possible way, then why isn’t that happening.  We know the first part of the verse is true, you are experiencing that right now.  You feel the hurt because Satan has stolen from you, killed your joy and crushed your heart.  So how do we make it to the second promise in this verse, the promise of having life given to us in it’s fullest possible way?

King David in the book of Psalm felt the heaviness and hurt we are discussing today.  Psalm 119:28, My soul melts from heaviness; Strengthen me according to Your word.

There is life in the Bible.  Satan tries to make us feel so hopeless that we no longer want to spend time in the Word, right?  Yet, David makes it clear that he can be strengthened according to God’s Word.  Satan loves for us to give up reading our Bible.  He knows that is where we’ll find life again, healing, joy, happiness and yes, receiving life in the fullest possible way.  Often we just need to be reminded that we need to get back to God and the power of life that only He can provide.  I love the first verse that says, “Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.”(The Message)  Your shattered heart has already been seen by the creator and He is ready to love on you and bring back the life that you lost through  your set back, disappointment and hurt.

Psalm 139:16-22,  You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body;  You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.  Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!  God, I’ll never comprehend them!   I couldn’t even begin to count them—any more than I could count the sand of the sea.

Wow, this verse gives me so much encouragement and here is why.  God is not winging it with your life.  Your life is not an after thought to the creator.  He was watching from conception.  He has all of your days planned out.  This verse talks about God thinking about us so much so, that His thoughts toward you would be like counting the sand of the sea.  Why would He think so much about you?  Because He is crazy about you.  Satan would love for you to feel like God has abandoned you.  That is so far from the actual truth.

The battle that we talk about on this blog is very real.  Satan is battling for your very heart.  If he can keep you in a world of hurt, he wins.  Nehemiah 8:10, Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”   There are times of grief, hurt, disappointment and set backs, however if we allow Satan to keep us in that world of hurt, we’ll begin to lose the fight.  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8,  ¹ To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: ² A time to be born,  And a time to die;  A time to plant,  And a time to pluck what is planted; ³ A time to kill,  And a time to heal;  A time to break down,  And a time to build up;  ⁴ A time to weep,  And a time to laugh;  A time to mourn,  And a time to dance;  ⁵ A time to cast away stones,  And a time to gather stones;  A time to embrace,  And a time to refrain from embracing;  ⁶ A time to gain,  And a time to lose;  A time to keep,  And a time to throw away;  ⁷ A time to tear,  And a time to sew;  A time to keep silence,  And a time to speak;  ⁸ A time to love,  And a time to hate;  A time of war, And a time of peace.

The key word in this verse is “season.”  A season is for a period of time.  It’s normal to feel all of the emotions that Solomon talks about in Ecclesiastes.  However, when we get stuck in a season, it becomes a stronghold in our life.  Satan will use that as an anchor so we will never be used of God again.

Philippines 3:13-14, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Most of us have heard this verse before, but it’s great to be reminded of gold nuggets in scripture like this.  We all need to be encouraged to get back up and begin to move forward.  To allow God’s healing to impact our life.  For most of us this is a journey, something that doesn’t happen overnight.  Each day we’ll begin to feel more of God’s life in us.  There is hope.  The best is yet to come.  2012 is your year.  I love the following quote because it’s so true.

“Don’t be discouraged.  It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock. – Author Unknown

I would love for you to pray this prayer today.  Lets take the first step of moving forward together.  “Lord, the hurt goes so deep, the setback so devastating and the disappointment so paralyzing.  Thank you God that you care.  That you have seen my shattered heart.  Restore to me my joy, heal my heart and help me to move forward again.  I trust you with my hurt today.  I believe that 2012 is my year and that I have Your favor.  Restore to me what Satan has stolen and thank you for life in the fullest.  I praise your name.  In Jesus name, amen.”