BREAKTHROUGH

After posting last night God reminded me of a time when I was clearly struggling with things. It was during the first year I was a Christian and I was still having many issues with things of my past. This particular week depression had seemed to come out of nowhere and hit me hard. On Sunday I decided not to go to church because getting out of bed seemed almost impossible. When I finally did I started talking to God and asked Him what the problem was? Why was I feeling this way? At that point I picked up my Bible and opened to a place I had not read before.

Job 22:21-23 (New King James Version)

21 “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace;
Thereby good will come to you.

22 Receive, please, instruction from His mouth,
And lay up His words in your heart.

23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;
You will remove iniquity far from your tents.


Verse 21 and 23 really stood out to me. The Hebrew word that translates to "acquaint yourself" sometimes means yield. Basically He was telling me I was to yield to Him.Then God told me to get rid of cd's and books that I had. To me these were not bad things but immediately I knew I had to get rid of them. So I did. Almost instantly the feeling of depression left me.


When God reminded me of this last night I wasn't sure why. I read the passage, left my Bible open to it, and then went to bed. I was thinking how lately things just hadn't been the same. The desire that was within me where I just couldn't seem to get enough of reading God's word wasn't there. When I would read it, it seemed that I got nothing from it. This was bothering me. Obviously this isn't a good problem to have. So, I asked God to help me to feel about it the way I used to. This morning I got up and read the passage again in a few translations. The difference was I read the rest of the chapter and the study helps for those verses. This is what He wanted me to see this time.


Job 22:26-28 (New King James Version)

26 For then you will have your delight in the Almighty,
And lift up your face to God.

27 You will make your prayer to Him,
He will hear you,
And you will pay your vows.

28 You will also declare a thing,
And it will be established for you;
So light will shine on your ways.


In one of the study helps it says for verse 26;


The Bible says that delighting in God means eagerly anticipating your time with Him. It means experiencing joy as you open His book and read what it says to you. It means feeling the thrill of hurrying to obey God's will. Delighting in God is savoring His love and His comfort and doing everything you can to keep delighting in it. It's the greatest joy God offers you this side of Heaven.


I had been missing that. Somehow I didn't know how to get back to where I had been. It seemed that even though I had been praying and asking God to help me to feel this way again...it wasn't working. So God took me back to a point in time where He showed me before what to do. This time He showed me different things in the same passage. A friend recently reminded me that God lets you get out of His word what you need for the time you're in. This is so very true. In reading this morning things seem to be good again. Writing this was also good. I believe I have had a breakthrough in my "God Block."