HE WILL DELIVER YOU

“And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men approached the king, and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.” So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.”’

-Daniel 6:14-16

King Darius was tormented with finding a way to save Daniel from being thrown into the lions den. He struggled with this burden until time had run out and he had to follow through with the commitment he had made by signing the decree. Only after his own efforts had been exhausted did King Darius surrender Daniel’s fate to the Lord, knowing only God could save Daniel now.

So often, when I am in a tough place, usually by my own doing, I find myself struggling to find a solution. This struggle creates stress and anxiety in my life; and as long as I struggle with this burden, the stress and anxiety grows, sleep evades me, food becomes my comfort and my family avoids me as I become more and more difficult to be around. When we try to carry our burdens alone, we fail miserably. We cannot deliver ourselves or others, only God can deliver us. Our only true option is to turn to the Lord for help, but we must first come to the end of ourselves and surrender it all to God. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Our first instinct is to “solve” our own problems; to come up with our own “solutions” and it is only when we have exhausted all other options that we finally take it to the Lord and surrender it to Him. We know that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13) and we can do nothing without Christ (John 15:5), yet we turn to our flesh for answers rather than taking it to the Lord immediately. We rely on our own wisdom and knowledge to “logically” find a solution, but if we were truly looking at things logically we would know that we cannot find the answer in and of ourselves. We willingly choose to struggle under our burdens until the weight becomes too much to bear and then we offer it up to the Lord. Wow, think of the stress, the anxiety, the sleepless nights that could be avoided if we took everything to the Lord in prayer first; if we surrendered all our burdens (big and small) immediately to the Lord how much more peace we would have and how much lighter our burden. I challenge you to take everything to the Lord in prayer today and notice the rewards.

COACH'S CALL TO ACTION

• What is the burden are you carrying?
• How long are you willing to struggle under the weight of that burden?
• When will you seek the Lord and cast your burdens at His feet?

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