My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. Psalm 73:26

 

Mike loved to hike. You’d find him on a trail in all kinds of weather…that was until he got sick. Doctors think it started with a tick bite. These tiny insects can carry an infection-causing bacteria that spreads to joints, hearts and the nervous system. Mike couldn’t remember getting bitten by a tick, but months of chronic illness had turned into years. He’s prayed for healing, others have prayed for healing, but God hasn’t granted it. “This is discouraging,” Mike admits, “but like it says in scripture, God keeps carrying me onward.”

 

“On that day I called you, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased,” is the passage Mike refers to (Psalm 68:19). Mike says with certainty: “I don’t know why God allowed that tick bite, but I do know He’s with me.” Mike’s faith echoes the author of Psalm 73 who wrote: “My health may fail, my spirit grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever” (Psalm 73:26).

 

Are you facing illness that seems to have no end? Where is God on your hardest days of pain and discouragement? Scripture tells us that, “…each day he carries us in his arms” (Psalm 138:3b). The picture of God carrying us is a tender one–reminiscent of the word picture God gives in the Psalms of us as His sheep. God chose sheep as a metaphor for us because He knows we can’t care very well for ourselves, we’re vulnerable and when injured, we need His strong arms to move us anywhere other than our place of despair.

 

On the hardest days of pain and discouragement, on the days God doesn’t give the healing you long for, He always gives Himself.