HANDLING HEARTACHES

  In the book of Job we find a man with multiplied sorrows.
In Ezekiel we find a man who lost his wife. David was a
man who certainly had his share of burdens. In fact,
throughout the Scriptures you will find both men, women,
and even children who have heartaches.  Are they there by
accident? Or does God have something He wants us to
learn from all of these examples?

1. God Has a Purpose --------------------- The first thing we
must realize is that everything in the Bible is there for a
reason. Everything there is for our growth and advantage.
God never does anything without a motive, and it is up to
us to find out what that motive is.  The good news is that
the Holy Spirit is on our side, and He wants to not only tell
us what the lesson is but help us accomplish the objective
that God has in mind.  Knowing this, we can  proceed to
step two.

2. Look for the Biblical Example ---------------------  God has
someone in the Scriptures who has gone through a similar
problem. Sometimes they are mentioned by name,
sometimes not. Sometimes they have whole chapters
devoted to them, sometimes only a verse or even just an
implication. Yet there is always an example for us to
follow.  You may have a Biblical example come
immediately to mind, or you may have to search for hours,
but it is there.  Read Psalms.  David knew loneliness.  Are
you worried about impending disaster? So was
Jehoshaphat. Have you had your heart handed back to you
in little bitty pieces? Have you given your absolute trust to
someone and had them disappoint you? Are you facing a
financial setback, wayward children, a husband who has
left you, a wife who isn't loyal to you and won't support
you, terminal illness with nothing but extreme pain ahead,
or friends who have turned on you and won't even say hello
when you pass them in the hallway at church?  God has
examples and remedies for all of these and many, many
more. Find the Biblical example for your situation, and
search out the principles that God has for you to learn.

3. Seek Godly Counsel ---------------------  The Bible teaches
that the obtaining of counsel is a path to wisdom. (Proverbs
12;15, 13:10, 19:20)  Go to your preacher or godly men or
women who have been proven to be wise. DO NOT GO
TO YOUR PEERS. Remember the bitter lesson of
Rehoboam.  (II Chronicles 10) This is so important. Most
of the time we want to go to our friends, but this is not
wise. 

4. Obey the Holy Spirit  --------------------- After you have
received godly counsel, obey it! This may sound like a
needless point, but if the counsel that you get isn't exactly
what you want to do, you might not do it at all. Spend
hours in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to give your pastor
the wisdom for the right answer, and then simply put your
faith in what God has told him. This way, you are not only
obeying your preacher, which you are expected by God to
do, but you are obeying the Lord.

5. Encourage Yourself in the Lord  --------------------- Now
some of you are going to  say that this sounds like
humanistic philosophy, and it almost could be. But let's see
what the Bible says. In I Samuel 30:6 we find that David
and his men, after coming back from an answer to prayer
that God had given them, find their village burned and their
families taken captive. David's men then blamed him for
their woes. But David ``encouraged himself in the Lord his
God.'' (I Samuel 30:6) If David had just encouraged
himself, that could be humanistic.  But David had a God to
whom he could turn.  In your situation, you can do the
same. Are you trying to serve the Lord? Doesn't the Bible
say that God loves you?  Isn't God well aware of your 
dilemma, too? Of course He is. He knows your problems
better than you do. He also sees the future and knows
exactly what will happen tomorrow. 

6. Learn and Live  --------------------- Notice that I didn't say,
``Live and learn.'' First, learn the lessons that God has for
you in this heartache. Learn them so that you will know
what to do the next time you have arising sorrows. Learn
them so that you can help others. If you do not learn them
now, you will have to learn them at a later time, for you
will find that life is a series of mountains and valleys.
There will be mountaintop experiences, and everyone loves
to have them. But there will also be many, many valleys.
What you do with these valleys will determine your true
spirituality. What you do with the heartbreak you have now
will determine how strong your heart will be later   don't
have a hard heart, but a strong one. In a way, it is similar to
welding. When two sections of metal are properly welded
together, the strongest point of the whole piece is the weld
itself. When God sends a broken heart into your life, it isn't
to destroy you, but to make you stronger. You may think
that you are the only person in the world going through this
sorrow, but you aren't. All of God's people go through deep
valleys. Even the Master had griefs and sorrows. Look at
Isaiah 53:3.  And because He was ``a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief,'' He can help you to carry yours.

  Remember that God loves you with all of His great heart
and isn't trying to hurt you.  Just ``trust in the Lord with all
thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.''
(Proverbs 3:5)