Don't give up! Your Surrounded!

Do you ever feel like your surrounded? I love the scenes in the movies when the good guys get surrounded and some how they come out on top. You maybe thinking well, life is not like a movie. True! But let me encourage you a minute to not give up even when you are surrounded.

Psalm 56 is a cool one to me when looking at the back-story. David is surrounded by his sworn enemies the Philistines at Gath. He knows sorrow, terror,
turmoil, doubt, and fear. However, he knows someone greater than all this too - he knows Jehovah! He gets out and gets through giv
ing God all the credit.

Listen to a little of his thoughts:1 O God, have mercy on me, for people are hounding me.My foes attack me all day long.2 I am constantly hounded by those who slander me, and many are boldly attacking me. 3 But when I am afraid,I will put my trust in you.4 I praise God for what he has promised.I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?

There are two kinds of trials that come in our lives primarily. One is a trial of correction. These are trials that hit our lives because of needed discipline and direction in our lives. We don't like these times, but when honest we know we deserve these times. Then there are trials of perfection.

Trials of perfection come in our lives when God desires for us to grow in specific ways that only come through adversity. We don't like these either while going through them. But we are encouraged to approach these times with joy (James 1:2). Why joy? Because once we come through the pain process we gain His glory plan.

Think about it this way. This week in the 8th grade class I work with we will test some solar ovens the students have made. We will place them in the sun and test if there is an increase in temperature. The way we test them is one of the happiest days in our life. We do this by placing inside it one graham cracker, one piece of chocolate, and one marshmallow. We do not how long it will take to heat these up. We will take 30 minutes; some will be perfectly melted, some lukewarm, and some needs more time. But all will be a sweet treat.


We do not know how long our trails of perfection will last in our lives. We have no idea the temperature necessary to gain the desired result. But we can have joy because we know that the result will be sweet. So don't give up! You are surrounded.