ANGUISH

Romans 9:2—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

Luke 22:44—And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

There will come a time in your life when your heart is surrounded by sorrow and the light of life seems remote, flickering against the howling wind of affliction. In times of tenebrific anguish, it is important to realize that you are emotionally at a much deeper level than most who are around you. This heightens the possibility that they will not understand what you are experiencing. If you are in a prolonged state of anguish, many will tire of your depressed condition and suggest you need to quit feeling sorry and move on with life. Misery may love company but not for long.

There is hardly ever an easy solution to anguish. But there is always a course of action that proves right. It is the spiritual heart-cry. When life does not make sense and pain seems intolerable cry out to God. Tell Him what you are facing. Let Him hear the full measure of your pain. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 118:5, "In my anguish I cried out to the Lord, and He answered by setting me free."

If your child came to you in distress would you stand indifferent like an Arizona cactus? God, our heavenly Father, delights in responding to His children. He will give you the strength you need to go through your time of anguish. He will set you free! He knows something about anguish. He was in both gardens.

Inspiration

Anguish comes from a word meaning to press tightly, to strangle, and the idea is not a bit too strong for the things people are going through.—Oswald Chambers in The Servant as His Lord