My Message to Anyone Who Feels Lost, Confused, Empty, or Hopeless
This is the answer that gnawed at my soul for years.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Everything I ever needed to know about reality is right there in the first sentence in the Bible: God created the cosmos. Once a person identifies the creator who violently forced the universe to exist, he is on a collision course with clarity and purpose.
On the other hand, without knowing who put us here, we are lost and destined to live in mind-boggling confusion. When we don’t know how we got here or why we’re here, we’re in deep trouble. The reason I know this to be true is that I spent the first three decades of my life ignoring the most important question a man like me could ask: How can I explain my existence?
The bad news is, before someone asked me that question, I never consciously thought about it. But it was there in my subconscious all along. I realized that later during that first moment of clarity when I heard about Jesus. It only took me a few seconds to recognize the source of my obsession with the consumption of pleasure. I had been hopeless, and out of my hopelessness, I had consumed whatever my flesh desired in the vain hope that it would satisfy me.
Sadly, everything I did before I met Jesus left me more empty and more disillusioned than I was before. Satisfying the cravings of my flesh never worked for me. And from what I know about human nature and the spiritual battle that we’re all engaged in, consumption of pleasure won’t satisfy you either. This is why we’re continually wanting more and more of it. It never fills us up.
The good news is, once I realized that I’m the product of the mighty work of God, I found the answer that had been gnawing at my soul for years. In that one simple sentence (God created the heavens and the earth), I knew in an instant that it’s no accident I’m here. I’m a man who was created by God, living in a universe that he created, and I bear his image. When he said, “Let us make man in our image,” I somehow began to share traits with him.
Whether he would admit it or not, even the most committed atheist would have to agree with us that our being here on purpose is far more meaningful than being here accidentally. If the Bible’s account of creation is correct, almost no one would argue that life is absurd. And if the naturalist’s view of creation is correct (that we are here by chance), no one could seriously argue that life has any meaning at all.
So, I go with the account that puts God at the center of creation. A god with an infinite past and future is the only explanation for our existence that makes sense to me. But there is another reason I go with the God explanation of the universe. I just look at creation, and I know that God is real.
David said as much:
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
—Psalm 19:1-2
I may not see God with my own eyes, but by looking at the work of his hands (creation), I know that he is real. And knowing that he is real gives me confidence that I will see him in person.
Although Job did not yet know about Jesus, he had confidence that the God who created him would not allow death to be the end of him. He said:
And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
—Job 19:26
This is the hope of resurrection from the dead. This is the promise of God that the six-foot hole waiting on me isn’t the final word on me. Even though decay eats away at my flesh in the grave, I will still see God in my resurrected flesh.
And this is my motivation for pursuing the God who really is there. I don’t pursue a relationship with God because of my fear of hellfire. I pursue resurrection because I want to see God. In the flesh! In person! Face-to-face! My desire for the God who made me is greater than all my other desires combined.
I live for that day, and as a result, I have an eternal purpose that outweighs everything.
Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
—2 Corinthians 4:16-18
I too tried to fill the void with other things. No amount of willpower could stop me. Lies Satan whispered were, you aren’t good enough, your are a failure, how could God love you? How can you think he will forgive you? It was only when I cried out and asked God to do for me what I wasn’t able to do for myself that the insanity stopped. It took a commitment and work, and there were days that I wanted to return to what I knew because being sober was familiar.
Asking for help came in an answer from the Holy Ghost. I was waiting for a opening to an inpatient drug treatment center. It was late afternoon and outside was a raging summer thunder and lightning storm. The wind had picked up and the sky turned dark. I’ve always like these storms. I had laid down for a rest. I was hanging onto sobriety by my finger nails. I was afraid. Afraid of hurting my family again. Letting my children down but mostly, I was afraid of dying. I seemed to put myself in situations where, as a woman, I shouldn’t have. I was afraid of treatment. I prayed. I told God how afraid I was. I told him I didn’t know if I could do this thing called life. After all, I had attempted suicide and it was because of that attempt I was where I was. Initially I was placed in a Psychiatric facility because back then it was illegal to try to take your own life in the state that I was living in.
With the storm raging both inside and outside, this is my testament. I felt a calm, a peacefulness unlike anything I had ever experienced in my life. I heard “I’m here” not audible to my ears but as if it resonated with the calming of my being.
I have 18 years clean. My grandchildren have never seen me drunk or high! God let me know that if I trusted Him he would guide me. The glory is his. Not mine.
I share this today, to give others strength, courage and hope. If you ask with all of your heart, mind and soul, He too can do what you cannot do for yourself.
I learned a long time ago that we may never know what we say in an AA meeting or church or even to the strangers we meet, that could be instrumental in helping another seek God and become another living miracle.
Thank you for sharing your struggles with everyone. It made it easy for me to share. You too are an inspiration to so many. Myself included. 🙏
God morning Mr. Robertson. By the grace of our Lord, I came across you a few years back and have been hooked ever since. I miss the Phil in the Woods episodes but I still watch them over and over and over. Listening to the Lord through you has been such a blessing and I am thankful for you!!
God bless and be with you and your family. Thank you!!