When
we face negative circumstances in life, God's Word gives us a new perspective. Roman
soldiers conscripted Jewish people to walk a mile with them in order to carry
their burdens. Jesus told the Christian Jews to walk two miles with them
instead, in order to exhibit a living testimony of God’s love (Matthew 5:41).
As
sinners we are burdened with a load of guilt that is impossible to bear alone
(Psalm 38:4). Jesus is our ultimate burden bearer. He refreshes the weary and
satisfies the despairing soul (Jeremiah 31:25). He wants us to cast all of our
cares upon Him, because He always cares for us (Psalm 55:22; 1 Peter 5:7).
God
adopts Believers into His family, so we will continually enjoy having someone
to go the extra mile with us. We can help one another when anxious thoughts
burden our hearts, because a kind word always cheers us up (Proverbs 12:25).
Jesus
tells us to lay our burdens down and to take up His yoke instead, because it is
easy and light (Mathew 11:30). When we come to Christ, it is effortless for us
to trust Him for our eternal destiny. However, trusting Him in the daily
drudgery of life is a bit harder.
We
believe God is able, but we struggle with believing that He actually wants to
meet our earthly needs (Mark 9:24). When we pray, God’s answer is not always
what we really want, but we eventually see that He continually works out
everything even better than we desired.
Rather
than to apprehensively make our requests from a place of discouragement and
fear, Paul instructs us to thank God in faith for His eventual answer to our
prayers (Philippians 4:6). These negative concerns cause anxiety and worry to
form in our soul, which affects our spirit and body as well.
However,
when we place our cares in the heart of God, we trust Him to work out all the
details for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28). With large issues and small, they
are all the same to our Daddy God. If we request His help, He is delighted to
be there for us.
Prayer:
Father
God, as we view our earthly needs through the lens of eternity, we find that
fewer issues really bother us anymore. We discover an excitement and expectancy
in each new morning, anticipating what You have planned for us. We no long
attempt to control life, because we know that You care about every aspect of it
that pertains to Your children.
Jesus
told us not to even worry about what we will eat or wear, but to seek Him and
His Kingdom instead. When we do, this attitude opens the door for You to shower
us with blessings (Matthew 6:25,34). Remind us to keep our faith in Your
faithfulness during times of deprivation and trouble. This change in focus
allows us to breathe deeply in the midst of turmoil, and to joyfully maintain our
confidence in You, our living Lord (Hebrews 4:11; Galatians 5:16, 25; Romans
8:14).
Thought
for the Day:
In
these troubled end times, I always thank God that He gave us another normal day
to experience life, because someday, maybe soon, we will wake up to a collapsed
economy, chaos in the streets, governmental indecision and general insecurity
in every facet of life; however, when this happens, we can look up, because
Jesus promises that our redemption is very near.
-
Luke 21:28
