Deliverance Is for the Desperate

“Then He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.’” Luke 8:48

I am usually one of the first people among those I know, often with a lot of, sometimes misplaced, optimism, to put clothes out to dry.

In England!! 

There’s a permanent ground socket in my lawn that holds the rotary airer. The joy of washed clothes dancing in the wind, even in a drizzle, warms my heart.

But this year, my life seems to have fallen apart. My garden is overgrown, and that overgrowth seems to reflect my life. I haven’t even started tackling it. I’m not even sure where to begin.

Somewhere in all that overgrowth and tangle, I’ve “lost” the socket where the rotary airer stands. March has marched on, it’s April now. My clothes are still being dried in the dryer, for which I’m thankful for. But still, the socket is nowhere to be found.

My son mowed the lawn, and all of us looked for the lost hole. Maybe it got filled in. Maybe the grass covered it. But it seems to have disappeared.

Today, I had yet another idea. I knelt on the grass and started running a metal rod across the area, hoping it would hit the metal pipe of the socket. But I realized that I was only ruining the already pitiful lawn.

And suddenly, it all felt just like my life. Confusing, difficult, and as though every effort I made only made matters worse.

Shamelessly, I put my hand on the ground and wept.

Wept in desperation . Wept in helplessness .

I said, “Lord, give me a sign. Show me the way. I am desperate. In this overgrown mess, show me that You can still make a way. I’m tired.” My heart was sinking and tears were falling on the ground.

I pressed my palm down harder .And my ring touched metal.

As you can see in the picture, the socket wasn’t buried. It wasn’t overgrown. It was right there all along, just waiting to be found. A quiet sign of God’s voice in my desperation. 

Deliverance is for the desperate.

Sometimes we make God our last resort. The final port of call after all our optimistic, well-timed, well-meaning human efforts have failed.

But somehow, Jesus was whispering to my heart, " I’m right here. Even when you don’t see it, or feel it, or believe it ,I am here."

Jesus is in control.

So if you’ve been trying to do something, or get somewhere, or find something, and you feel stuck or lost and when you become desperate, put your hand in the hand of the One who stilled the waters.

“Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends.” —George Müller