Tag: worry

Categories
Christian Living

Waiting on the Lord can be Scary. You need the Faith of Moses.

Yes, waiting on the Lord to come through can be a time of anxiety and fear. But do not worry – He always answers. (Though His answer and timing will not always be just what we were expecting.)a photo of an old clock reminding us of waiting

In Exodus, we find that Moses led the people out of Egypt. But Pharaoh determined that He would not allow his slave labor to slip out of his hands so easily. So he gathered up his army and pursued the people.

It is not clear whether God had shared with Moses how He would rescue the people, but even before it occurred, Moses trusted that God would keep His word.

Here is part of the story from Exodus 14:

The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his horsemen, and his army—chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea.

The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

Even though the people had recently seen ten amazing miracles of God’s remarkable power, they are now unwilling to trust that God could keep His promise of rescue. They had hoped that God would come through, but they are now doubting that He will.photo of lifesaving float that is used for rescuing those in trouble

Moses spoke up showing his faith, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you….”

And in the next moments, God parts the Red Sea, lets the Israelites escape, and destroys Pharaoh and his army.

But that’s how God took care of the Israelites more than 3000 years ago. What about my waiting on God today? Can I trust Him to come through for me with my problems and worries?

God has promised that He is with me. And therefore He tells me that I do not have to fear. So why is it that I still doubt? Why am I so similar to the fearful Israelites, when God has been faithful to take care of me through so many difficult situations in the past?

A Prayer for us today: “God, forgive me when I worry. Give me the faith of Moses, so that even before You show Your might and power, that I trust in You and in Your amazing ability to take care of my every need. Help me to be faithful, even while I am waiting on Your answer. Amen.”

What has helped you maintain faith (and eliminate worry) while you were waiting on God’s answer to come?

[If you would like to have future posts delivered right to your inbox, simply click here to go to our contact/subscribe page and sign up.]

Categories
Relationships

Living Everyday In the Intensive Care Waiting Room

Many of us have had to spend time in an Intensive Care Waiting Room.

Knowing a loved one is behind those closed doors fighting for life.

Waiting with expectation for each of those 15-minute visits when the hospital staff opens the doors to let us see our loved one for a brief moment.

icu waiting room sign with hours of visiting posted

A pastor wrote about the ICU waiting room:

I have spent long hours in the hospital intensive care unit… watching with anguished people… listening to urgent questions: Will my husband make it? Will my child walk again? How can I live without my companion of thirty years?”

The intensive care waiting room is different from any other place in the world. And the people who wait are different. They can’t do enough for each other. No one is rude. The distinctions that divide people in society melt away. A person is a father first, and any other distinctions are less important. The man without a job loves his wife as much as the successful business owner loves his, and everyone understands this. Each person pulls for everyone else.

In the intensive care waiting room, the world changes. Vanity and pretense vanish. The universe is focused on the doctor’s next report. If only it will show improvement. Everyone knows that loving someone else is what life is all about.

Could we learn to love like that if we realized that every day of life is a day in the waiting room?

Life is like the Intensive Care Waiting Room, and yet we often fail to remember this. Life is full of struggle and pain and difficulty. But instead of an illness or injury that has us struggling for physical life, our real struggle is one of the spirit. Temptations and sin pour into our lives leading to worry and anxiety that chokes out our ability to breathe. And yet, we fail to realize that every one of us walking this planet are struggling in much the same way.

Therefore everyone needs to pull for everyone else.

Loving others is what life is all about. Let’s stop being divisive over secondary matters. Let those less important things melt away. Let someone know that you love them and are pulling for them today.

Categories
Christian Living

Problematic Worry

What’s got you worried today? Anxiety is such a problem for so many of us, and it is a bigger problem than we realize. Certainly Corrie Ten Boom was right when she said: “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.”

Worry is sin in that it is a lack of faith – it is the sin of pride turned sideways. It indicates that we believe our situation is somehow more special than anyone else’s and that God isn’t big enough to handle our special situation. We don’t have faith that He is able, so it is lack of faith and pride that leads us into the sin of anxiety and worry.

“Faith ends where worry begins, and worry ends where faith begins.” –George Muellerman seated on a bench in deep prayer or worry or both

With so many of us worried about today – worried about something at work, worried about a relationship problem at home, worried about a decision we made in the past, worried about the future, what can we do?

We can give it to God. We want to give something to God that blesses Him, but “Paul warns against any view of God which makes Him the beneficiary of our beneficence. He informs us that God cannot be served in any way that implies we are meeting His needs…. But isn’t there something we can give to God that won’t belittle Him to the status of beneficiary? Yes. Our anxieties…. God will gladly receive anything from us that shows our dependence and His all-sufficiency” (John Piper).

When we lose all our anxiety by trusting Him fully, then we become fully dependent on Him! Give your anxiety to Him today and trust His promise to take care of you.

Remember – “God’s answers are wiser than our prayers.” Therefore we should certainly pray, but when the answer comes and it is not what we expect, remember that God’s foolishness is wiser than man’s wisdom, so trust His answer even more than your request.

With so many struggling with this issue, what advice would you give on how you keep your anxiety level down and your faith in God up?

“You can no more outgrow your need for God than you can outgrow your need for oxygen.” (unknown)