A close friend of mine was having a ‘wobble’.
Too many Zoom meetings, colleagues getting stressed out and fractious, to say nothing of home life in general.
Can certainly identify with this, after all we’re living in a situation that has challenged a lot of the ways we’ve being living our lives. All of a sudden, but with no end in sight. And no time to think it out, as we’ve get on with coping.
Sometimes we’re ok, but then a few things go wrong and we realise we’re not.
I was thinking about this very early one morning when this verse came to mind:

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
It’s Philippians 4:13 – a very familiar verse.
I’ve heard people use that verse to make out that we can do anything that we want as God will help us.
If that were the case, then it’s not very helpful – in fact it can make things worse, as it implies that we ‘should’ be coping by being able to do everything. Yet more pressure.
But the ‘all things’ in that verse is not referring to tasks.

Look at the context of the verse.

It’s all to do with contentment.

Being content in any and every circumstance.

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.(verse 12)

Paul is saying here that he’s learned how to ‘do’ hunger, plenty, abundance and need. And that he’s learned the secret of how to be content.

What is that secret? It’s being in him (that is Jesus) who strengthens him.

How does that work?

Back in the Old Testament there was a time when David wasn’t having a great time. While he and his men had been out chasing Philistines, the Amalekites had been and raided Ziklag (where he’d been staying), burnt it to the ground and taken all the women & children captive. On top of that, his people were talking of stoning him.
What did he do?
David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.1 Samuel 30:6

But how did he do that?

A few chapters before that, David was having another bad time. Saul, the king, was trying to kill him and had been for a while. In chapter 23, Saul’s son Jonathan (David’s closest friend) met with David to ‘strengthen his hand in God’. Does it say how? Yes – this time we see what it is that Jonathan said to David – ‘Do not fear … You shall be king over Israel’.

What he was doing here was reminding David of the promise that God had made to him.

And there’s the key. To look to the God and promises that he has given us.

There’s a well-known verse in Isaiah 40:31
Isaiah 40:31    they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength
and this is related to the Word of God
Psalm 130:5   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope
Sometimes we can do that on our own, sometimes we need a friend.

I have found myself having to do this on many occasions – at times when things aren’t going well; maybe I’ve let someone down, or someone’s let me down; perhaps I’m feeling overwhelmed, or maybe it’s simply that things aren’t going the way I thought they would.

So having a ‘wobble’ is something that happens. The issue isn’t how to stop them – that’s simply not possible. What’s important is knowing how to deal with them.

Wait on the Lord; Lean on his Word.

And along the way I’ve learned the value of a good friend.