We all move through life at different speeds as individuals to cope with life. Some fast,
some slow. Some conscious, some unconscious, and some on autopilot. Autopilot is the state I have been in lately and maybe some of you have too. So, how did we get here? A constant theme I hear
within Christian circles is that we, as believers, always start from victory, but does that statement
ever feel true when the outside noise of life and our issues seem too hard to bear?
Personally, at times it’s hard to see the victory when I feel like I have lost the race before it even began, feeling defeated before the battles that each day brings. Then, there is the constant feeling of emptiness that my soul has felt amidst what’s been going on in my life.
I think these factors and others are why living on “autopilot” seemed so enticing to the naked eye, it presented itself as a great way of dealing with life, an easy way out for me in my time of distress. In my simple fleshly mind as of late, I’ve tended to think and operate on autopilot because life seemed to be
more tolerable this way, the loudness of life’s problems seemed less loud, and I was able to just
numb myself to all of the things I don’t want to feel or think about. I was able to cope with life.
But that’s just what the enemy wants from us, especially as believers. He wants us distracted,
doubting God and all that God is and believing the lies he tells us (Genesis 3:4 NLT). But what if
amidst all the numbing that I and maybe some of you have longed for, we numb ourselves to
God as well? The Bible mentions these things about the devil’s plots against us:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have
life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV).
“Be alert and of a sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour“(1 Peter 5:8 NIV).
The thing about life is at times it’s fun, amazing, beautiful, and much more. But at other
points, it can feel like the exact opposite of those things. Life features many things that will have
us question, Lord where are you? Have you forgotten about me? This side of life we all currently
reside on features events, instances, and feelings that will have us distraught and discouraged.
Leaving us paralyzed to move forward, and doubt the belief that there is an option of us coming
out of this mindset. The physical realm of our life journeys can truly feel difficult to say the least,
thus affecting our spiritual man in the process. I tend to think non-believers have it rough because whoever and wherever their hope resides, it’s meaningless because of the non-Godly
foundation on which their hope is built. But our foundation as believers is stronger and
more real as the Bible mentions (Hebrews 6:19 NKJV). But what if you have lost the belief in this
internal hope, what do you do? Where is your hope as a believer found? In the end, we are either
trusting and leaning into God, the world, or ourselves (Proverbs 14:12 ESV).
If I’m being honest, I have allowed my own cup to run empty when it came to my hope in
God. The waiting for the things I had put before God, the side effects that my life’s trials and
tribulations brought, and the silence that my prayers produced became too “loud” for me to bear.
Point blank period, I had become weary. In my weariness, the world and its ways
had become my medicine again and not God. I sought to live my life on autopilot to deal with
my issues, then trust and give my issues to God, and see what God had for me, to see if He could
save me. Yet, the Bible reminds us that He is close to the broken-hearted and low in spirit
(Psalms 34:18-19). Recently, God helped me come up from my pit of despair, living on
auto-pilot and outside of Him. I won’t sit here and say I’m out of the woods just yet or all of my
issues are gone, but I had a moment of hope that the world couldn’t give me. I felt that touch
that reminded me of who and what God was and what the world wasn’t (Lamentations
3:21-23). How are you getting through this life? Where is your hope found?
