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Devotions

At Your Wits’ End

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

“Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end” (Psalm 107:23-27, NKJV).

In this psalm, the place referred to as “wits’ end” is a ship's deck in a storm-tossed sea. Giant waves carry the ship up to the heavens and then drop it down to the depths. Powerful winds toss it back and forth so that none of the sailors can find their sea legs. They stagger across the deck like drunken men.

The ship’s sails are tattered and ripped, and wave after powerful wave crashes onto the deck. The sailors have to struggle just to hold on. It appears to be all over for them, and they are in total despair. They are helpless, vulnerable to the power of the elements, unable to stop the storm, powerless to save themselves.

These sailors have come to a place called “wits’ end.” This condition afflicts all Christians at one time or another. It simply means, “Having lost or exhausted any possibility of perceiving or thinking of a way out.” In short, there is no escape, no help or deliverance other than in God himself!

“Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so he guides them to their desired haven” (Psalm 107:28-30).

When did the storm stop for the sailors in Psalm 107? When did God bring them into their desired safe haven? First, the sailors came to their wits’ end, giving up on all human hope or help. They said, “There is no way we can save ourselves. Nobody on earth can get us out of this!” Second, they cried to the Lord in the midst of their trouble, turning to him alone for help. Beloved, that is the key to making it through our storms.

The No-Name Infirmity

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?... O my God, my soul is cast down within me” (Psalm 42:5-6, NKJV).

Scholars aren’t certain who the writer of this psalm is, but we do know for sure that something is bothering him. His soul is deeply disturbed, and he can’t explain why. This psalmist is on fire for God. He pants after the Lord the way a deer pants for water (see Psalm 42:1), thirsting after the Lord, yearning for intimacy. He asks, “When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42:2).

We never do learn what the psalmist’s infirmity is. Have you ever experienced this kind of unexplainable melancholy and unexpected, unnamed spiritual blues? You’re doing just fine and have no known sins in your life, but one day you wake up with a disturbance deep in your soul. Some kind of depression has come over you, and you can’t put your finger on it.

I have good news for you. This is an infirmity of the righteous! It strikes only those who hunger after Jesus. We are not to be afraid of such an infirmity because the Holy Spirit has a part in it.

I have experienced enough of life to know that a time comes when this happens to every Christian. We mustn’t try to figure it out because we can’t. As far as we know, the psalmist never did get his “why” answers. 

I believe this strange infirmity is “the sighing of the Holy Spirit” within us. He is letting us know what it feels like to be without God, to be on our own without comfort, hope or guidance. He allows us to experience just a taste of such an awful, horrible condition because our bodies are his temple, and he has been sent to prepare us a chaste bride to Christ. He knows what it takes to keep us unspotted for the bridegroom. 

Most importantly, the Spirit knows how important it is for us to cry out to God for daily strength and power. We simply cannot stand in this time unless we are intimate with the Lord, trusting in him fully and constantly fleeing into his presence. These sighings in our spirits are reminders of where our true source of power and hope lies!

Not Just Turning from Evil

Gary Wilkerson

If we’re not careful, we can learn how to live with things that aren’t good for us. Maybe it’s even a pattern of sin that we’ve gone along with for 10 or 15 years. We tell ourselves, “This is just the way it is.” 

We might be caught in a lack of zealous hunger for God’s Word, lack of passion for the things of God, a deadness in our hearts. We can turn from those things.

Turning like that is very good. It takes away things in our hearts that don’t belong there. If we stop there, though, it leaves an emptiness in those spaces. Jesus told a parable about this, saying, “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person…it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first” (Matthew 12:43-45, ESV).   

It’s not enough to turn away from dead things in our lives. When we turn, God wants us to turn away from evil, but he also wants us to turn toward him. The Holy Spirit is not just about taking bad things away from us then leaving us empty. He wants us to turn away from idols, but he also wants us to turn toward something better. 

If we’re willing to stop and listen, we can hear God saying, “I want to change something in you. It’ll turn your soul from lukewarmness that comes from wandering away from your first love. It’ll put fresh fire and wind in your spirit.” 

We can respond, “God, do a work in my heart. Revive and awaken my soul within me. Don’t let me continue to be stuck in the same patterns of sin, drifting through life, missing your gifts and plans for me.” He will make a new hunger and passion stir in our heart so we don’t miss out on his presence in our marriage, our family, our work. This is how a move of God begins. He will transform our churches and communities, but he starts first with turning individual hearts.  

Praying with Honest Hearts

Claude Houde

I was sitting with Pastor David Wilkerson. We were preparing together for a meeting that would begin in a few minutes and be for a multitude of pastors, leaders and believers from the four corners of Quebec. 

As an interpreter, I always insisted on having this time of preparation and prayer with the guest preacher. There are sometimes such big differences in translating a word from one language to another that it has always seemed essential for me to “review” the message with the speaker. It must be said that Pastor Wilkerson always made it easy for me. I had the privilege of being his interpreter dozens of times in Quebec and Europe. He always had a detailed and powerfully inspired message typed out. He would share with me what he felt he had received from God in prayer for the people gathered. I was frequently deeply touched and even cried while preparing with him before meetings.

That evening was a little different, though. After reading what he had written, Pastor Wilkerson said, “This is not the right sermon. Since I arrived in Quebec, I have been fighting in prayer against a fortress of unbelief. We must bring a message about faith. Let us pray!” A few minutes later, the pastors organizing the event entered the room where we were and found David Wilkerson prostrate, anguishing in prayer. 

As he interceded for Quebec, I heard him confront more than seventy-five years of unbelief with prophetic words, groans and declarations of faith that will forever remain engraved on my mind and heart. 

I invite you to kneel with me at the feet of our Lord and intercede for your own life, for your spouse, your children, your calling, your ministry, your church and your destiny. Like Christ’s disciples two thousand years ago, let us stop pretending and recognize our need for God’s intervention. Let us pray with honest hearts. Lord, increase our faith! 

“The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:15-16, ESV).

Claude Houde is the lead pastor of Eglise Nouvelle Vie (New Life Church) in Montreal, Canada. Under his leadership New Life Church has grown from a handful of people to more than 3500 in a part of Canada with few successful Protestant churches.

A Religion of the Face

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

When we allow Jesus to be Lord of all—when we cast all our cares upon him, fully trusting in his Word and resting in his love—our appearance should undergo a deep change. A quiet calm should begin to radiate from our face. Scripture gives us many examples of this: When Hannah laid down her burden, “. . . her face was no longer sad” (1 Samuel 1:18, NKJV).

When Stephen stood before hostile, angry men in the Sanhedrin, [they] “. . . saw his face as the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15). Stephen stood among unbelievers with the shine of Jesus Christ, and the difference was clear to all.

I am convinced that we have a duty to let our countenance speak of God’s faithfulness in our lives. The problem is that our facial features and body language often say just the opposite. Many believers’ faces say, “God has failed me. He doesn’t care for me anymore. I have to carry all my burdens and problems alone because God doesn’t come through for me.”

You may not consciously say such things to yourself, but they will show on your face. I want to show you from God’s Word that what you are going through is not new. 

Someone else has been exactly where you are. “My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; my soul refused to be comforted... I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed... I am so troubled that I cannot speak... Will the Lord cast off forever? And will he be favorable no more? Has his mercy ceased forever? Has his promise failed?... And I said, ‘This is my anguish’” (Psalm 77:2-10).

Yet the psalmist eventually comes out of his trouble with his happy countenance restored. Why? It is because, he says, “I cried out to God with my voice . . . in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord” (Psalm 77:1-2).

If this describes you, I beg you to do this: Today, this very day, get alone somewhere with the Lord and open your heart to him. Tell him you are at the end of your rope, that you can’t take it anymore, that you’re ready to lay it all on his shoulders. Have it out with God!