We like to throw these pity parties for ourselves a lot of times. Maybe you don’t, maybe it’s just me…but I doubt it.

We like to think that our problems are so big, and so grand, and we have it so hard, and that life, simply put, just sucks. Trust me, I get it. I know. I’ve been there, you’ve been there, he and she and we’ve been there.

We focus on this one thing, or maybe the buildup of things that have happened to us and we dwell on it and we let it eat us alive and we start believing this lie that we’re not good enough or we won’t make it out alive or maybe that life just isn’t worth living anymore… See how far we go?

We go from something like “Nah man, I don’t think I can go out tonight I just paid my rent and my funds are running low” to “I HAVE NO MONEY!!! I”M LITERALLY GOING TO DIE. MOM AND DAD PLEASE HELP.”

We go from “Dang! 1/2 a tank-need to use that brake a little more” to “I guess I’ll have to WALK to work because I don’t have enough gas to go anywhere!!!!”

You get the picture. And have you realized yet when you face one of these problems it’s all over your social media or your texting your life=problems to your group message.. Like it’ll magically get fixed. (side note)

………Do you see how petty our generation is? I say “our” because I’m the chief of living like this. I’m so over-dramatic with my life-problems that it’s become ridiculous. I really hope you can relate and I hope and pray I’m not the only one like this.

How about REAL problems in life? (Sorry if that offends you, but money and gas should be the least of your worries.)

How about real problems like, “My cousin and her unborn child were murdered”, or “My mom died of cancer”, or “I was raped”.

Hitting home yet? – Now I promise with all of my heart I’m not trying to offend you, I’m not trying to anger you, and I’m not trying to make you feel like whatever you’re facing is no big deal- because it is. Please let me finish. Keep reading, I’m begging you.

Your problem IS a big deal, whatever it is, big or small. It really is.

Let me share with you part of Isaiah 53:

“…he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Now whatever you believe in, whatever you put your faith in, if you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I ask you with all of my heart that you read this next line at least 3 times.

Your problem is SUCH a big deal that Jesus willingly endured whatever it is. He became acquainted with grief. He knew grief. He was one with grief. He had relations with grief. He was fluent in grief. He endured all grief. Whatever you’re facing in life I guarantee you Jesus has experienced it ten-fold.

Before He was put on the cross we spat in His face but what we did not realize is that the punishment He so willingly took was OURS! It was mine, it was yours, it was ours! All of it!

Please know that whatever you face today, or tomorrow or ever again in your life, Jesus has already experienced it. He has felt that pain and don’t think for a SECOND that He doesn’t see or know that you are hurting. He felt it for you. I’ve never met anyone that so desires to have a relationship with me that they would die and endure all the pain the world can muster up JUST SO HE CAN KNOW YOU!

God is unchanging and I believe that with all my heart, but what you have to understand is that God RESPONDS. He responds to it all! However, His response may not be at all what you have in mind for your life, especially not for your “right now”.

I can’t encourage you enough to not give up. Don’t throw in the towel. We spend so much time sweating over the problems we faced yesterday and today and worrying that they’ll become tomorrow’s problems and we’ll carry it forever and ever. Today’s mercies are for today. Tomorrow will bring mercies of it’s own.

Now let me share this image with you and maybe it will pretty much sum up everything that i’ve probably butchered trying to explain:

 

You’re at the edge of the pit. The bottom of the pit is real bad. You look around, make sure no one is looking at what you’re about to do because you think “although the bottom of the pit is horrifying it HAS to be better than what I’m dealing with right now. I’m tired of this” While you’re looking around you see a friend who just got a new car, and you see a friend who just got engaged, and you see a friend that has announced they’re having a baby, and someone else just got a promotion at work. You see that everyone else is living it up. And you just simply…aren’t. You scream at God one last time like He’ll fix it all just because you’re mad and hurt and yelling at Him. No reply. (Yet) You jump. Now while you’re falling you’re realizing “Man, I really thought God would catch me or save me or something” and then you scream, because you’re falling into a pit. Duh. You hit bottom. You’re insanely beat up, barely surviving. Suddenly, when you’re in this vast pit you realize how far you’ve fallen.

 

You see, life is the pit. Sometimes in life, God has to allow us to fall all the way to the bottom so that we can realize how small and petty we are…And how absolutely HUGE He is. Bottom line- It’s really not about you. It’s not about me. We’ll never know pain as He does. We’ll never be one with grief.

Understand your size, so that you can get a glimpse of God’s.