Orientation, Disorientation, Re-Orientation

Weeping may tarry for the night,
    but joy comes with the morning. (Ps 30:5b)
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When I was a boy, I had a fantastic three story tree house complete with ropes and ladders. One day I had the brilliant idea to erect a pulley lift that, through hoisting, would pull me on a seat up into the tree house above. All was well, like I said, a brilliant idea! Part way up my maiden hoist I realized, however (being a hefty lad), that the strength of my arms was not adequate to match the engineering of my pulley system. I let go and fell—flump! It was the first and only time I have had the wind knocked out of me. I lay there for some time until I came too and was able to go back to my play.

That story is a very simple description of the believer’s journey through life. There are times when all seems to be going well: well at work, well with the wife, well in our relationship with Jesus. Then suddenly, our world is turned upside down, by death, illness, succumbing to temptation, etc. However, through looking to Jesus, in time, life usually finds some sort of equilibrium again, and ultimately light always returns.

In studying prayers in the Bible and in Christian counselling, this process has been called: Orientation, Disorientation, Re-Orientation.

One Bible scholar notes 6 types of prayers found in the Old Testament offered to God by people who are disoriented:

1. Lament (cry out “why God”)
2. Imprecation (calling for justice)
3. Penitence (confessing wrong)
4. Vows (offering some type of vow in response to the situation)
5. Confidence Prayers (asserting trust in the midst of hardship)
6. Thanksgiving Prayers (hoping so much in what God will do you thank Him even now).

For anyone who has ever lived we know that sometimes we find ourselves there in the pit. How do we find our way out of disorientation? This is not about theory but practice.

The following suggestions are offered as ways of preparing for or walking in faith in the midst of disorientation (in no particular order):

1. Build up your faith in the good times so that it may withstand the bad.
2. Remember that we live in world where sin and death and darkness is our present reality. Don’t confuse future promises with the present reality. Our hope is not in this life but the next.
3. Repent of anything you may have done to contribute to this.
4. Humbly trust in God’s sovereign goodness (Ro 8:28, 31; Heb 13:5); there is great peace in Providence.
5. Hope in God and not the things of this world.
6. Don’t confuse facts and feelings. Trust the character and promises of God. Abide in His word.
7. Don’t be afraid to pour your heart out before God, this is not a sign of weakness but great faith.
8. Cheer your soul through godly music as David did for Saul.
9. Like the stone memorials of old, remember His past faithfulness to you.
10. Remember examples of other saints who have walked through the valley of deep darkness.
11. Remember that joy always come with the morning, even if that were the light of His presence after having been martyred.
12. Ask believers to pray for and with you, you needn’t walk alone.
13. Share in fellowship with God’s people, this makes our joy complete.
14. Seek out wise godly counsel.
15. Wait upon the Lord, be patient (Isa 40:28–31).
16. Remember faith is a gift given not a work possessed.
17. Remember that it is not great faith we need but trust in a great Saviour.
18. Rest in the fact that ultimately it is by His power and not ours that we, and even our faith, are kept.
19. …

In Pilgrim’s Progress, pt. II, when Christiana and her children come with Great Heart to the valley of the shadow this is what he says of this fearful thing:

This is like doing business in great Waters, or like going down into the deep; this is like being in the heart of the Sea, and like going down to the bottoms of the Mountains; now it seems as if the Earth with its bars were about us forever. But let them that walk in Darkness and have no light, trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon their God. For my part, as I have told you already, I have gone often through this Valley, and have been much harder put to it than now I am, and yet you see me alive. I would not boast, for that I am not mine own saviour, but I trust we shall have a good deliverance. Come, let us pray for Light to him that can lighten our Darkness, and that can rebuke not only these [fiends], but all Satans in Hell.

One thing is sure, we will face disorientation in life. I am always amazed by the Psalms that almost always, even after expressing disorientation in a variety of ways, end in faith and hope. Allow the Psalms to be the guide of your heart through disorientating experiences. Pray through them. They will express and align your heart to the Father and lead you from darkness into His glorious light.