Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Joseph Perry

Do you feel that you’re living in an uncomfortable situation?

I was driving to work this past week when I decided to listen to the news on the radio. A man was talking about all that was happening in our nation and our world. He said, “I don’t know how you all feel, but right at the moment, I feel like I’m living in an uncomfortable situation. I feel like I’m in some type of bubble and I can’t get out, and I don’t know what to do while I’m in this place that I am in.”

If the truth be told, there are a lot of people who feel as though they are in a uncomfortable situation. They have not expressed it, but they are.

Life can deal you some strange, stressful situations. Life can make you feel very uncomfortable at times. In I Kings 19:9-13, we focus in on God’s servant Elijah. We see him hiding in a cave with a calling on his life from God. He had an issue that was causing him to be under pressure. Life was getting a little difficult. It seemed as though life had put him in an uncomfortable situation. He was suffering from a brief period of depression. He had worked hard for the Lord. He was doing everything he thought he could do to push the work of the Lord forward; however, sometimes the service we give can stress us out. Sometimes being depressed and under extreme stress can make you feel worthless, feelings of being lost of direction, or having a loss of purpose in life. How was it possible for this man of God, this servant of the Lord who had just witnessed the power of God on Mt. Carmel in destroying the false prophets of Baal now to hide himself on Mt. Horeb in a cave? Life for him had gotten so uncomfortable that he now wants to be decommissioned. He wanted to be taken out of service for the Lord. Elijah felt it was too much for him to handle.

Has life ever made you want to give up? Has it ever made you feel you couldn’t take it anymore?

Living in an uncomfortable situation is doable when you know that you are not alone. You have to remember that you are not alone in whatever situation you are in. The Lord is always there to strengthen us for our journey. Living in an uncomfortable situation can allow us to realize that we could be in that situation for a purpose.

Living our lives is not always about us, but in so many cases it includes others. That’s what Elijah has to realize, that he was called out to serve, and sometimes life will in fact be uncomfortable. If I had the chance to call in to the radio station and talk with the man who felt uncomfortable, I would tell him he’s not alone. For if God’s eyes are on a sparrow, then you have to know He’s watching over you.

The Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Perry is pastor of St. Mark AME Zion Church. Contact him at josephp134@gmail.com.