Young Jesus was missing for three days, a painfully long time for a mother and father who were searching for him but had no idea where their child was. There was one other time when He calmly laid in the tomb for three days. In both situations, His loved ones were thrown into a panic. There was no faith evident in either of these situations.
Is this our response in a crisis?
While we run around like a chicken with its head cut off, Jesus watches and calmly waits for us to remember that God is all sovereign, all-powerful and all present. Then He says to us, “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness”.
Over the years I have learned that the things I fix my eyes, mind and or heart on may become my reality. As a result, I have concluded that my focus needs to be squarely on the WHO (Jesus) and not the WHAT (circumstances).
I believe the seeds of faith are planted in trials God places in our life and that’s one reason He says, “consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds”.
So, what does that joy look like?
It could be that during our trials we have more faith and trust in Him as we begin to give up our fruitless struggling. It could be that our Lord uses trials to forge us into sons and daughters who are a bit more like Jesus.
The joy I experience in my trials stems from the knowledge that my Heavenly Father loves me so much that He gave me this trial in order to draw me closer to him.
He tells us in Romans 8:28 “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”.
When you worry about this or that, you are essentially telling God that you don’t trust him. After all, if you trusted Him completely, would you worry about anything?
God tells us “do not fear.”, “do not worry.” or the equivalent over 360 times in the bible. I encourage you to listen to Him. The next time you start to worry about something, pause, ask God to take it from you, and let it go.
In Christ,
Bill