A cure for futility

What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? — Micah 6:8

I once heard interviews with survivors from World War II. The soldiers recalled how they spent a particular day. One sat in a foxhole; once or twice, a German tank drove by and he shot at it. Others played cards and frittered away the time. A few got involved in furious firefights. Mostly, the day passed like any other. Later, they learned they had just participated in one of the largest, most decisive engagements of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. It didn’t feel decisive at the time because none had the big picture.

Great victories are won when ordinary people execute their assigned tasks.

When followers of Ignatius (1491-1556) endured periods of futility, he always prescribed the same cure: “In times of desolation we must never make a change, but stand firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which we were the day before the desolations.” Spiritual battles must be fought with the very weapons hardest to wield at the time: prayer, meditations, self-examination, and repentance.

Perhaps you sense you’re in a spiritual rut. Stay at your assigned task! Obedience to God — and only obedience — offers the way out of our futility. — Philip Yancey                                

When comforts are declining,

He grants the soul again

A season of clear shining

To cheer it after rain. — Cowper

READ: Micah 6:6-8

If you sense your faith is unraveling, go back to where you dropped the thread of obedience.

The Bible in one year:

• 1 Chronicles 1-3

• Proverbs 24:23-34