“I know that this is not what you normally hear, but I want you to count the cost of serving Me when you are in the dark valley, not from the mountain top. Mountain top commitments fade when times get difficult. When you have nothing to offer, when there is no escape, when you have come to the end of yourself and still commit to serve Me, I know you mean it. That is when I change you. That is when your heart becomes more like the heart of Jesus. Never be afraid to go to the place of needing Me. Each time I drive you to the end of yourself, it is My love in action. When I am all that you have and I am needed for your next breath, I will be there for you. You can trust Me. That is when We can really talk.”

Psalm 3:1-6 AMP

1) Lord, how they are increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.

2) Many are saying of me, There is no help for him in God. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

3) But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

4) With my voice I cry to the Lord, and He hears and answers me out of His holy hill. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

5) I lay down and slept; I wakened again, for the Lord sustains me.

6) I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about.

Isa. 38:17 NIV

Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

Unless we really understand that everything God does is for our good, we will never be able to communicate with Him properly in times of anguish. Usually in those dark places, we begin to accuse God of being unfaithful and question His promises, instead of releasing our desperate need of Him and crying out for help.

We forget that He has taken us to those places, so that we finally come to the end of ourselves and He can get to our real need - more of Jesus. What we say and how we act toward Him in those desperate moments reveals our true heart. At that time, He either releases His compassion and changes us or allows us to remain there until our need of Him is more powerful than anything else.

We spend so much time trying to prove that we are getting better and becoming more Christ-like, when our Father is working to get us to acknowledge that we are bankrupt and in need of Jesus. When we do acknowledge our need, He can change us.

 Do what it takes to make me whole, Lord,

Jim Corbett