When everything around us seems to be going wrong and our life is crumbling at the foundations, we lose sight of God’s goodness because we are shrouded in the feelings and thoughts created by our circumstances. Personally, I struggle to see God’s goodness when things aren’t going the way I think they should be. Every Christian has this struggle at some point in time. We forget that when we signed up to be a part of God’s army, we really were signing up for an army. There will be battles to fight, giants to face, and dreams to lay aside. God did not promise that life would be easy: He told us to take up our cross and follow him.

Perhaps we need to be reminded that it was not without reason that Isaiah called Jesus “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Follow Him down the path that he took — a path that was paved with pain, suffering, heartache, trial, temptation, frustration, and even death. If we take His path we will surely experience all of these things.

However, if we stick to the path laid out for us in scripture, trusting in Him, God will reveal to us His goodness, His grace, and His love. He promised to pick us up when we fall, to carry us when we have no strength, and to lead us to a glorious finish and a new beginning. Because of His goodness, I can’t wait to pick up my cross again tomorrow, even though it seems heavy. If I am in His will, He will help me carry it.

The thought haunted him during the watchful nights and into the disruptive early morning barrages. His prophecies against the king and for the invading army had finally landed him in jail, and from all appearances he was going to stay there until the city was overtaken. This was not how he’d pictured a successful ministry.

But God really was speaking to him — every prophecy he’d spoken was either evident or was being fulfilled at that moment. Prophecy continued: God told the man that his cousin would arrive shortly to sell him a piece of property.

It was too much. Chosen of God and in prison? Buying land he’d never see? It felt like he was completely out his place, a failure, citizen of a crumbling nation. The prisoner — Jeremiah was his name — could no longer accept his own prophecy.

You can see it plainly in Jeremiah 32:8, “So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.”

Jeremiah did not accept the word at first. He didn’t accept the word until Hanameel showed up in the prison courtyard. I think he just couldn’t. Thoughts, emotions, and spirits all tried to convince him that this was not the truth. Prison was the wrong place for this. No one wants to be in prison. Through prophecy, it’s already sure that the beseiging Babylonians will conquer Judah. The prophecy didn’t make sense: he was sure never to see that land. It was just too much to accept.

But those are feelings. The truth was that every other prophecy had been proved true. Jeremiah knew how to hear from God. The problem he had was believing God when it felt like God had brought him to nothing.

I think we tend to do the same thing today. We feel like something is not right or that our situation is beyond repair. We feel despondent and unproductive, even when Truth shows us that everything is going according to plan. What’s the solution? Accept the word that God has spoken. Don’t wait for Hanameel to arrive before you can believe.

Have you ever felt like Jeremiah did? What ways have you accepted the word of God? Share some hope in the comments section.