By Doug Creamer
Turn to the Word
My wife used to work as an elementary school librarian many years ago. She read and talked about many children’s books. Some titles I don’t remember, others just stuck with me. I remember one that I thought was great: “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”
Have you ever had a day like that? I felt like that was the kind of day I had last Friday. Now, please understand that we did not have anything tragic happen. It just wasn’t a good day.
When my feet hit the floor that morning, I thought it would be a good day. I always think every day is going to be a good day. I was wrong that morning. It seemed everything was stacked against me. I ran into problems and nothing worked out. Everything was going south. I tried over and over to turn my day around, but then something else would go wrong.
By dinner time, I was thoroughly discouraged. It’s hard to get me discouraged, but it does happen. Why didn’t anything work out my way? We ordered some food for dinner and I went to get it. I didn’t even want to turn on the radio. The upbeat music from KLOVE would just rub salt in my wounds.
I turned on the radio anyway. The music began to help. Then one of the announcers read the verse of the day. It was from Isaiah 43. I was familiar with the verse and part of the chapter. I determined that I would read it before I went to bed. We had dinner and watched a light-hearted romantic comedy, which helped to lift my spirits.
When we were finished with dinner and the movie, I went and found my Bible. I opened to Isaiah 43 and began to slowly read and re-read down through verse four. I meditated on the words and the promises contained in them. I personalized it and read the promises with my name in them. I thanked God for His promises and reminded myself that these were promises for me.
I am not telling you that I did cartwheels before bed, but I am telling you that God’s word and His promises to me began to turn my stinking thinking around. When I put my head on my pillow that night, I told the Lord that while things did not go in my favor, I knew that I was standing in His favor and that was good enough for me.
That chapter of the Bible talks about walking through the raging river and walking through the fire. Just because we ask Jesus into our lives does not mean that every day is going to be a great day. This chapter teaches us that we are going to have to walk through the fire…did you catch the promise there? God’s promise is that we will make it to the other side AND it also says that God will walk WITH us to the other side. We are promised that we will never have to walk through anything alone.
I can tell you that on Saturday and Sunday the scales started to tip back in my direction. I know why, because the favor of God is on my life. God is going to allow me to walk through difficult and trying days so I can learn that He is right there with me, helping and supporting me each step of the way.
I believe there are three things that can turn bad days around. The first is always prayer. We have a loving Heavenly Father who is always on our side and ready to send us the help we need. Second is His word. God’s word is full of promises that will help us face every situation that comes our way. The third is being with other believers. I know God can use our brothers and sisters in Christ to help lift us out of the pits. We all stumble and fall and need a hand to lift us up.
I want to encourage you to look into God’s word and discover the promises that He has made to you. When we have bad days, we need to remind ourselves that God is with us. He has promises that will help us get through those bad days. There is a song we sing at church that has a line that says, “my God only knows how to triumph.” You are going to see the victory, hang on to His promises. He will get you through to the other side.
Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com
