The Pity Party……

“Psalm 88: 14 Why, O LORD, do You reject me? Why do You hide Your face from me?…”

I had a short Pity Party today, not a very long one. It involved some tears, a few reeses’ peanut butter cups, 2 cookies and some staring at the wall for a time. Nobody was impressed, certainly not me. I had my reasons. Many of my friends would say they were good reasons. But that doesn’t change the fact that pity parties do not help.

After awhile I looked up some meme’s under the category “Pity Party” and was amazed at what I saw. Apparently, hundreds and thousands of people besides me have had one, chastized others for having one, or sat around inventing meme’s about them. I even found a song about it.

By the time ate the treats, walked around, and read the meme’s, Having a Pity Party didn’t seem like such a hot idea.

See, I like to write about overcoming. I love to share how I’ve overcome so you can overcome.

But there are days even I have a struggle doing that.

Elijah had one of those days, when he prayed to die. “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” 1 Kings 19:1-4.

I’m sure a lot of great theologians have talked about why Elijah got that depressed. He isn’t here to tell us, so I”m going to guess having Jezebel threaten to kill him after he did a big Faith showdown on Mt Carmel (and saw victory) was just too hard to take. I think He must have realized at that moment there would always be trials, for the rest of his life.

That’s kind of how I was feeling today, tired of trials, day after day, fighting the fight of faith and wanting to just give up.

It’s not what we should do, but we just feel like doing it, sometimes.

The truth is, we CAN give up if we want to. You have that freedom. LIke the child who lays down in the store, refusing to go any further because they can’t have the cereal they wanted, we can choose to pout for a time. We look silly while doing it, we get nothing for our efforts, and God is not impressed.

I kind of picture him saying, “Are you done now?” (Looking at me with concern and hope that I’m over it.)

Yes, he loves us so much! (He really does). When we are ready to talk about how to really solve things permanently, make some changes that lead to different outcomes, and learn to be more content within ourselves, God is going to be right there with great ideas for us. “Father, forgive me for settling for a pity party when I could have had your wisdom sooner……

“I ask you to give me wisdom on what to do next Father God. Help me make choices that lead to fruitfulness, Happiness, Joy and laughter. In My heart, I know this is what you want for me. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

By the way, God showed up- and had another assignment for Elijah.