I wonder if you have suffered a loss. Maybe your husband just left you. Maybe one of your children passed away in a tragic drunk-driving accident. Maybe your teenager ran away. Maybe someone you love committed suicide. I want you to read the next few words carefully and slowly.
God is still the God of what’s left.
You may not feel this to be true, but if you hold onto your faith, God is going to use the rubble, the tears and the heartache for a greater purpose.
Amos 3:12 (NKJV) paints a great picture, though when you first read it, it might seem strange: “As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out who dwell in Samaria – in the corner of the bed and on the edge of the couch!”
A beautiful allegory is being painted in the first part of this passage. A lion had devoured a lamb. And the only thing left for the shepherd to salvage was two legs and a piece of an ear. It did not matter how broken the lamb was or that what was left seemed hardly worth the trouble; the shepherd fought for what was left. To him, the remains were significant. They mattered. They had purpose. They were worth redeeming.
If you are hurt, weighed down by trouble or struggling through family conflict, it is not over. You may not have what you used to have. Your life may look different. But you are not finished.
If you still have an ear to hear and a leg to stand on, you can stand on God’s Word. You can find hope in the promise that “though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would increase abundantly” (Job 8:7 NKJV).
When hell tries to decimate your relationships with your loved ones, it is easy to let bulldozers come and topple the broken walls that are barely left standing. But stand up and fight for what is left.
You may look at your family today and see a war-ravaged home. Fight for what’s left.
If you’re still hurting from a divorce that you desperately tried to stop, fight for what’s left.
If one of your children was killed in a horrible accident, fight for what’s left.
If a senseless tragedy has tried to steal all hope in your heart, fight for what’s left.
Did you know the walls Nehemiah built are still standing today? This is how important it is to fight for your family. Fight. Pray. Fast. And keep doing it. If you do not give up on your family, your walls will stand for generations. Fight for what’s left, and God will fight for you.
Talk again. Pray again. Try again. Forgive again. Reach out again. Go to dinner again. Refuse to give up. Refuse to allow depression and worry and anxiety and frustration to overcome. Fill your valley with prayer. Fill it with praise. Fill it with Scripture.
The miracle is not found in what was lost. The miracle is found in what you’ve got left.
Jentezen Franklin appears this Monday and Tuesday on LIFE TODAY. This is an excerpt from Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt by Jentezen Franklin. Copyright ©2018 by Jentezen Franklin. Published by Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Used by permission.
