A Room Must Have A Door

 "Though the fig tree may not blossom,
 Nor fruit be on the vines;
 Though the labor of the olive may fail,
 And the fields yield no food;
 Though the flock be cut off from the fold,
 And there be no herd in the stalls-
 Yet will I rejoice in the Lord,
 I will joy in the God of my salvation.
 The Lord God is my strength;
 He will make my feet like deer's feet,
 And He will make me walk on my high hills."     Habakkuk 3:17-19

    I know what hard times are.  I know hunger even to the early
stages of malnutrition.  But the worst hard times of all are when we
are working and striving as hard as we can and things still go wrong. 
To experience the feeling of hanging onto the edge of a cliff by only
the fingertips.  To feel trapped in a bottle with someone holding the
lid on.

    In my ministry, I run into so many others who are hurting and feel
like they have been closed in a room without doors or windows.  Many
have been there so long that they not just believe there is no other
way, but that their prison cell is the whole world.

    Jesus suffered Himself on the cross and felt the weight of our
sins so much that He felt utterly alone and forsaken.  It was then
that He cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?"

    There is, however, good news for hurting people.  There is a way
out.  Jesus knew the way out and led the way for us.  He believed God. 
He believed that God, His Father, did not want to leave Him there.  He
believed after all the suffering was said and done, there was nothing
but good in store for Him.  He knew that the suffering was only a door
to the righteousness of God.

    I too, found the same thing.  When I took my mind off of my
problems and started to look to God, by calling on the name of the
Lord, though all seemed lost, the suffering became for me a door.  A
door that once entered, has become far more than I ever dared to
believe possible.

    The key is just as the prophet Habakkuk wrote in the above verses. 
Even though our fig trees do not blossom, and our fields and orchards
do not yield a crop or our flocks and herds are lost from the barns. 
In other words, everything is going wrong in our life.  Then let us
come to the Lord.  Even though we are be sad, we can rejoice.  By
taking refuge in our God, we will find the strength to continue on. 
To not give up so that in His time, He will make our feet like deer's
feet.  Feet that do not stumble over rocky ground and can hold to the
path through the densest thickets or the narrowest cliffs.  We can
then walk on God's high places without fear.

    The message then is to those who are still caught in their traps
of despondency.  There is a door that leads out.  Though you might not
be able to see it, it is there nonetheless.  It only requires that we
come to God by following the way out that Jesus showed us.  By
following Jesus, we too can find real life and not be swallowed up by
defeat.  Then we can all know that Jesus was already there at the door
knocking and waiting for you and I to just open it.

Frank Cooke