The disheveled man had been washed up on a small, uninhabited island—the sole survivor of a shipwreck. Every day he prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. And every day he scanned the horizon for help, but to no avail. Eventually he managed to build a little hut out of driftwood where he could store his few possessions and get some protection from the sun and rain. At least now he somewhere to call “home.”

One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived back to find his little hut in flames, smoke rolling up to the sky. Everything was lost. Stunned with disbelief, grief and anger, he lifted his face to the sky and cried out, “God! How could you do this to me?”

Eventually he fell into a fitful sleep on the sand. Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island. It had come to rescue him!

“How did you know I was here?’ the weary man asked his rescuers.

“We saw your smoke signal,” they replied.[1]
You too may be distraught with the way things are going in your life. You have been shipwrecked. And now your hut is burning to the ground, and everything you treasure seems to be slipping from your life. But, friend, remember you still have God. And He knows right where you are—even on your deserted island in the middle of nowhere. Don’t lose heart. In the midst of your pain and suffering, God is still at work. Your burning hut may be used by Him to signal help from a source you never thought would come to your rescue.

Many times the writer of the Psalms was in a situation where he despaired of any human help. Yet he knew he could count on God. He wrote, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26). Hang on until help comes.

[1] Adapted from http://intentional-christian.org/?p=221 , author known.