Proverbs 24:14 So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

      I have been in quite a few conversations lately with people who have been struggling with their faith and have said things like, “I just don’t know what to do. I’m not sure what God wants of me. I can’t seem to get what God is trying to say to me. I’m suppose to know the Lord’s voice but I can’t hear Him for the noise in my life. What do I do? 
      I think God has disowned me. I think I have lost my salvation I cannot feel God’s love. I feel like heaven is laughing at me and I’m just a punchline to some holy joke.” That last one got to me personally because I was lost for words for this very hurt and bruised person.      
      I reckon I could have stated some of the standard platitudes, but I felt I would have been disingenuous because I have had some of the same questions in my own heart. I realised that these thoughts and feelings are a battle for our faith.1 Tim. 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 
      We will come through these doubts, frustrations, and tribulations. John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. 
      During these dry times the last thing anyone wants to hear is “Let go and let God,” or, this one always gets me, “God is trying to teach you something, brother.” Am I that pathetic of a person that I just never get what God is trying to teach me? 
      King David is going through a rough time of doubting and says in Psalm 73:16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. Thank God for His written word we can lean into during these times of shaky faith. 
      During difficult times I think of what Peter said when I am going through my spiritual uncertainty. John 21:3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing. Here are some well-seasoned disciples who were asking the same questions after Jesus was absent from their presence. 
      Peter had a family to take care of and all he could think of doing was what he knew. When you don’t know what to do, do what you know, and since Christ is the great Shepherd, He will come and find you.       
      The next day Jesus is on the seashore with a fire of coals, with fish cooking, and He says, John 21:12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus came looking for His Disciples and that is the peace we can have in Christ. Knowing that the Lord will find us and bring us back on the path of righteousness. This is a great comfort during times of battle and doubt.
     Judges 6:13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. Gideon gets to the point of what is on his heart. If the LORD is with us, then why is all this rubbish happening in our lives? Why have I not had a prayer answered in ages? 
      If God is with me, then why does everything I touch turn to garbage? I’ve named it and claimed it. I read five steps to receiving, ten steps to getting, and taken another twelve steps just to make sure – and nothing works. What’s with that? If God is for me, then why are things the way they are? Gideon had a good question. If we are honest we have been asking the same thing in our own lives.
      The LORD says to Gideon. Judges 6:16 And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. My faith is built up with this story in that God came looking for Gideon. There was nothing special about Gideon’s family. Judges 6:14 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. 
      Gideon says, “I’m the least in this family.” Yet God found him working in fear and doubting his salvation and purpose. However, God found Gideon doing what he knew, to get by with what he had, and God met his needs and turned him into a leader. 
      My admonishment to the readers of this blog is that you do what you know and that is to trust God will come and find you right where you are. He will love you fully right there, warts and all. 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
    Judy Garland said, “Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of someone else.” God has made you who you are. There is no one else like you. God knows our address and what our needs are right now. Let Him find us trusting in Him. In Jesus name, I pray this verse over everyone who reads this. Eph. 3:20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Amen!