Step/Week 2, Day 2 – Hope and Sanity: Damage Limitation
May 6, 2020 1007
“Problems far too big for me to solve are piled high than my head. Meanwhile my sins, too many to count, have all caught up with me and I am ashamed to look up” (Ps. 40:12, TLB).
You are sitting in the cab of a fully loaded truck at the top of a mountain pass and as you start your cautious descent down the mountain, there is a loud bang and all your hydraulics have just blown out. You have no brakes and the big truck starts to accelerate exponentially down the mountain.
Even as you begin to weigh up your options every solution diminishes in its chance of success because of the speed that has gathered, as you’ve thought about your options and possible actions. You may have jumped clear without injury 3 seconds ago but now the odds are cranking up against you. What to do? I’m out of control! I can’t control this situation!
As each option becomes a none starter you realise that you are stuck here for the ride and can at best only hope to survive the crash at the bottom. This example of the runaway truck is like every moment spent in denial. Why? Because each moment spent in denial increases your chances of getting damaged, in some cases very seriously and even with fatal consequences. Entertaining denial also limits your opportunities to get better. We no longer have to stay in this spiral of powerlessness, which when we are honest about the choices that we have made, we can see a real insanity in choosing the very things that cause us harm.
When we’re out of control, when our problems seem insurmountable and our sins are too many to mention, we need not despair. There is hope, hope to be found in God. Look up towards God; seek Him out and He will come to you.
The sooner we realise the powerlessness of our situation and surrender to the only healing power in the universe, God, the sooner we can seek His power to apply the brakes on our lives and save us from a disaster of our own choosing.
– Graham Hood
Personal Reflection: Have you ever felt like you’re in a runaway truck with no brakes? Have you ever wondered why the same fixes you apply never seem to work anymore? Is it time to follow a different path—a path that leads to God and His limitless power? Look up and away from your problems. Seek out God and put all your hope in Him!
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