I’ve been doing a lot of travelling recently—at least a lot for a guy who normally sits at a desk or a Starbucks to work. One of the great difficulties I have when being away from my wife and family for a long period of time (this morning I leave home and will be away for up to 12 consecutive days) comes in the form of mopiness.
Feeling sorry for myself and focusing on where I’m not rather than where I am.
Because it’s so easy to start feeling like a sad sack when I’m gone for a long period of time, it’s no surprise these words from Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled are so encouraging to me:
Do you feel your will is weak? Do you feel your energy is low? He will come to you; he will strengthen and energize your feeble will; he will enable you to resist temptation. He will take you above the obstacles and difficulties, he will empower you—that is what he has promised to do. He is life, and he will awaken you to life and a knowledge of God and fill you with his power. He will lead you along the journey so that, whatever your circumstances, you will be able to say with the apostle Paul, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. . . . I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:11–13). A branch that is in the vine and experiencing the power of the living Christ is alive with life itself.
Where we are weak, Christ is strong for us. And where we are tempted to sin—whether by feeling sorry for ourselves or some more blatant sin—he will enable us to resist temptation. If that’s not encouraging, I don’t know what is.
