This series will take us through the month of November and is intended to be a devotional that encourages us to be grateful, even in times when being grateful is difficult.
Be cautious of what you fear; what you fear you will worship, and what you worship reveals what you trust.
Last week we celebrated the truth of living with a God who understands all we go through. Because God understands what we go through, our emotions and thoughts, He never leaves us where we are—He makes all things new. This week we celebrate that the God who is understanding is also trustworthy with our lives. God is intentional aboit every circumstance and situation that transpires in our time here on Earth. Do things happen outside of God’s will? All the time. Murder, abuse, heartbreak, stress, disease, these are all enemies of God and they do not exist in the Kingdom of Heaven. Though we live in the midst of a battle between recreation and destruction, God takes the cruelties of life and molds them together for His glory and our good. God is not punishing those who trust Him; we have an enemy seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8) by killing, stealing, and destroying, yet it is God’s will that we have a full life and that we live that life to the full (John 10:10).
Life is full of fearful moments but God does not want us to be afraid of them. The command to not be afraid shows up 365 times in Scripture, which means there is a “do not fear” for each and every day of our lives. We are not to fear the mindset of those who do not know God, we are not to fear the troubles that come in this world, because fear drives us to appease what we are fearful of. In ancient times when drought would come upon the land, people would hold rain ceremonies to appease the rain gods because they feared they offended them, therefore, there was drought. Whenever there is drought famine is sure to follow and the people would hold feasts to summon the gods of corn, wheat, and barley. These people trusted in things that kept them in perpetual fear and what ultimately did not work. When we worship anything other than the living God we lose our perception and our sensibilities. We lose that image of Godness we were created to enjoy with Him. We become like what we worship.
God is not looking for worship, but worshippers (John 4:23). Whatever we worship we tend to reflect. Whatever we worship when times are difficult and days are dark as night, that is what we trust. The things we trust should be able to do things we cannot. The things we trust should be able to get us out of what we sometimes get ourselves into. Money runs out eventually. Power and prestige are vain. The rich young ruler and Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were all rich. They all had wealth. But Jesus meets them differently. The rich young ruler He told to sell all he had and give to the poor, yet with Mary and her siblings He never told to do the same. Why? The rich young ruler was fearful of being without material things, therefore he idolized his own abilities, and trusted in what he had. His riches became his stronghold. Mary and her siblings did not have the same heart issue. Their trust was in Yahweh their God. Being rich is not a problem, but trusting in wealth is a snare and keeps us from the Kingdom.
Nahum 1:7 is one of my favorite Bible verses: “Yahweh is a stronghold in times of trouble; He knows those who trust Him.” I recite this verse every day and remind myself that God is my stronghold—nothing and no one else—God alone. I hide in Him when I become afraid and when I do, His peace washes my mind and heart clean from what terrorized me. I combine this verse with one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 91:2, “I will say of Yahweh, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’” I combine these two verses together and pray them every day as one of my anchoring prayers. The psalms are rich with reminders of God’s faithfulness. No matter who wrote what psalm, they all point to the reality that we can trust God. On days that went pretty well and on days that I feel were the worst, I praise Him on both because He is worthy of my trust. When I think I can handle things, I still trust Him. When life gets too heavy, I trust Him even more. Today, I pray you will reflect on how the Lord has shown up for you in the past. Write them down and worship Him for what He did. Then watch that worship turn into a praise for what He’s about to do. Next week we’ll look at why there’s reason to be thankful even when we experience loss.
Until next time, continue to stay guided by grace,
Tra
Guided by Grace 