Here’s the first sign that you need God…
1. I feel like something is missing.
Pharaoh – the ruler of Egypt – forced the Israelites to work to build his kingdom. But the nation of Israel was destined to help build God’s kingdom. Since they weren’t doing what they were put here on earth to do – they lived with a sense that something was missing.
All growing up I absolutely was obsessed with playing basketball. I went to special camps, joined special teams, entered and won free throw shooting contests. I practiced year round. Neither snow nor rain kept me from practicing. I was really into basketball. But when God started calling me into the ministry, playing basketball started to feel really empty – whereas it used to be really fun and fulfilling for me. I took that feeling of emptiness as God letting me know that I was supposed to be doing something different with my life. Similarly, when I went off to college I really got into playing the drums. I tried to be as dedicated to playing the drums in college as I was with playing basketball in high school. But even though initially it was really fun, this too began to feel empty. I took that feeling of emptiness as God letting me know that I was supposed to be doing something different with my life.
In the same way – if you feel empty on the inside, that’s God letting you know he has something different for you. This is God’s way of calling you out of the life you’re living into the life He has for you. You were created to have a relationship with God. Apart from a relationship with God, you’re always going to feel like something is missing in your life. And that feeling of emptiness is God’s way to telling you that you need to begin a relationship with Him.
Let’s move on. Here’s the second sign that you need God…
2. I feel hopeless.
If anyone ever felt hopeless, the Israelites felt hopeless. For four hundred years they were slaves in Egypt. Generations came and generations went – and nothing ever changed. An Israelite must have thought: My grandparents were slaves. My parents were slaves. I’m a slave and my children will be slaves too. It seemed to them that nothing would ever change. Things felt hopeless.
I’m so thankful for the hope I have through God. Romans 15:13 says that God is the source of hope and that he fills us to overflowing with confident hope when we put our trust in him. I’ve experience this many times. When we started the church, all the obstacles piled up and looked like an impossible mountain to climb, but I overflowed with hope that God would make it all work out. We are now entering our eighth year of ministry at New Day. Several years in it seemed impossible to ever have full-time staff that would also work on New Day all week. But I would dream of the day when the entire second floor was full of full-time staff. We now have an entire second floor office filled with full-time staff. When Kristin and I couldn’t have another child for five years, I overflowed with hope that we would have, not one more child, but two! Barre came a year and a half ago and our fourth is coming in September! You see, no situation is hopeless when God is in the mix!
- Maybe you feel hopeless about your marriage situation.
- Maybe you feel hopeless about ever getting married.
- Some of you feel hopeless about ever having children.
- While others of you feel hopeless about the children you have.
- You may feel hopeless about a financial situation or about an illness.
- Maybe you feel hopeless about a situation that just looks like it’s never going to change.
Well being hopeless is actually a very dangerous situation to be in. You see, when we feel hopeless we get discouraged. Discouragement without relief can turn to depression. Depression without relief can turn to bitterness (you become bitter at life and at those you blame for your bitterness) And bitterness without relief can lead to suicide (for those who have given up hope completely). The average person can survive about 3 minutes without air, about 7 days without water, and about 40 days without food – but no one can survive without hope. You need hope – not because you’re going to die tonight, rather because you’re going to have to wake up tomorrow. You need hope to cope. If you don’t have hope that’s a sign that you need God.
Let’s move on. Here’s the third sign that you need to come out of the life you’re living…If you’re taking notes…
3. I feel weary.
At one point, when Pharaoh was angry with the Israelites, he decided he would stop providing them with the straw they needed for making bricks. Pharaoh said: Continue making the same quota of bricks you’ve been making, but we will no longer provide you will straw. This put the Israelites in an impossible situation. They could barely keep up before. Now they were drowning in Pharaoh’s demands. They were burdened down and weary.
A couple weeks ago Kristin was sick and I had to leave work, come home and take care of her. One by one the kids got sick and I had to take care of them too. I did all this on top of my work, which I did from home that week. At the end of the week I was feeling tired…But I never got weary. You see, there’s physical tiredness and then there’s spiritual weariness. These are two different things. Being tired is a physical issue. Being weary, on the other hand, is a spiritual issue. When we’re physically tired we just need sleep. But when we’re weary no amount of sleep will help. You could get twelve hours of sleep a day for a whole month and it wouldn’t make any difference whatsoever because the issue is a spiritual one, not a physical one.
If you feel beat up by life, broken, run down…you’re weary and that feeling of weariness is God’s way of telling you that you need God. So what do you do if you’re feeling how I’ve described today? What do you do if you feel like something is missing, if you feel hopeless, if you feel weary? Well as I’ve been saying – these are all signs that you need God. So the only thing to do is accept God’s invitation to enter into the abundant life Christ died to provide for you.
If you need God why not click here to learn more.