Devotional 4-12-11

Worry, Worry, Toil and Trouble

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.” (Psalm 118:24 NIV) But, how can you do that when you feel like every time you take 2 steps forward, the world knocks you back 3? We can sometimes feel overwhelmed with worries and grief as David did when he wrote, “Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.” (Psalm 31:9 NIV)

Do you sometimes lay awake at night thinking of problems, running different scenarios through your mind? I do, and because things never turned out the way I had planned I started playing a game with God. I think of every possible way a situation could unfold--plan A, B, and C. God inevitably comes up with D! I am definitely not in charge! There is something very freeing about that. I don’t have to have all of the answers. All I have to do is my best. But, what about the things I can't do anything about? Most of my worries seem to be about things I have little or no control over. I worry about other people. It is easy to have all the answers for someone else--so much easier than dealing with your own problems! But once again, I am not in charge. I can’t make someone else do something they don’t want to do. The only person I can control is myself, and I need a lot of help from God to accomplish that! Why would I even think that I have all of the answers for someone else? All I can do is love them, support them, and offer their problems up to God. Again coming to that realization is very humbling and freeing.

David gave us the answer when he wrote, "But, I trust in you, O Lord,...my times are in your hands,...Let your face shine on your servant, save me in your unfailing love.” (Psalm 31:14-16 NIV). We are to humble ourselves before God, admit we don’t have the answers, give the problems and the worries to God to solve. Instead of telling God what needs to happen, tell Him you don’t have a clue what to do and ask Him to show you the way. In other words trust God to be in charge. Then thank Him for all of your many blessings. All too often we let our worries over shadow our blessing.

Humble yourself, trust God, and thank Him for your blessings. Then you can truly rejoice and be glad in the day the Lord has made because He is in charge!

Margaret Williams