Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions (25 page)

Looking back, I believe his difficult life, lived with an attitude of forgiveness, gave God more glory than someone who has a great life but is never content. Our suffering does not please God, but when we have a good attitude in the midst of suffering it pleases and glorifies Him. Having a good attitude while we are waiting for God to bring justice into our lives makes the waiting time more bearable.

We live in a fallen, broken world. But in the midst of it all, Jesus is beautiful and He is a God who brings justice. Life isn’t fair, but God is. He heals the brokenhearted and their wounds and bruises. We may not know why things happen the way they do, but we can trust that God knows and in the end He’s going to sort all things out. It’s so amazing that even in an unfair world we can know His love, forgiveness, and mercy. When we are sad and emotionally distraught, one of the very simple yet profound things that can help is this: to look at and be thankful for the good things we do have, rather than dwell on the injustices we’ve suffered. You might think,
I’ve heard that a thousand times!
But are you doing it?!

Many people are treated unjustly; they do not deserve the pain they experience, but I am so glad that even when I go through ugly, painful things, I do have Jesus in my life to help and strengthen me. Through His guidance we can be burned but not become bitter. We may feel angry, frustrated, discouraged, or depressed, but we do not have to let any of those feelings control us.

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illpower can be a powerful tool in the hands of a determined, disciplined individual. It can help you confront any problem you have and adjust your lifestyle. However, willpower only takes us so far and then we always run out of our own strength.

Now, what happens if, instead of turning first to willpower in your time of need, you turn to God? God releases His power into you and enables you to go all the way through to victory. Now you’re energized for positive change, but willpower does not get the credit for our success, God does.

Jesus said in John 15:5, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” This is one of the most important and most difficult lessons we must learn if we want to enjoy the life Jesus died to give us. When we turn to anything or anyone before God, He is insulted and is obligated to let us fail so we will realize that “except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it” (Ps. 127:1).

We must learn to let God do the heavy lifting. Let Him supply the ability to energize our choices. We can choose to exercise or stop overeating, but our choice alone is not enough for complete victory. Willpower and determination will get us started, but they’ve been known to quit in the middle and leave us stranded. God never quits in the middle.

There are some people in the world who claim to be a self-made success, but if we follow their lives all the way through, they usually end up falling apart. God has not created us to function well without Him, and the sooner we learn that the better off we will be.

Start by asking God to get involved, to do the heavy lifting. Continue on with God and finish with God. What should we do when the burdens in life seem too heavy? Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28
NIV
).

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here are many practical ways that you can trust God with your burdens on a daily basis. Here are five I want to suggest you apply to your life because I’ve seen the difference they can make.

Ask.
You will be amazed at what a huge difference it makes to directly invite God into your life to help solve your problems. It’s astonishing how few people actually try this—even Christians! You need to take the time to quiet your mind and open it to God as you ask for His wisdom.

Attend Church.
Some people manage to maintain very special relationships with the Lord for years without any support. They are few and far between. Most of us find that the weekly boost of prayer, Bible
study, community, and sacred space we get at church gives us a far stronger bond. If you are struggling for ways to make contact with God, and you haven’t tried church yet, don’t put it off anymore.

Attend a Support Group.
Support groups exist for a variety of problems, from alcohol to drug addiction to overeating. If you work best when you can share your struggle with others who are going through the same thing, then I encourage you to seek out one of these groups.

Begin Each Day with an Affirmation.
First thing when you wake up in the morning, before all the busyness of the day comes flying at you, take a moment to renew your vows to God and refresh your spirit with His strength. This will give you the mental and emotional peace that is the foundation of success.

Pray in Moments of Doubt.
No matter who you are, you will find moments when your determination weakens. When you get that feeling, don’t quit, but don’t blindly bull forward with the activity, either. Step back, take a moment, and call on God to come to you and carry you through.

I
find the Psalms written by David very interesting because he was not reticent about telling God exactly how he felt. But he also followed up by stating that he was trusting God to be faithful to keep His promises and would even remind God of something He had promised in His Word:

If I paraphrased the above in today’s language, it might sound something like this:
“God, I am hurting so badly, I feel like I am going to die. How long will You wait before You do something for me? Do You want my enemies to say that they’ve won? God, I have trusted in You and will continue to do so. Let me see Your face even in the midst of my trouble so I can be encouraged. I feel lousy, God, but I will rejoice and have a good attitude because of Your salvation and Your promises of love and mercy. I will sing to You because You are good.”

I believe it was spiritually and even physically healthy for David to express to God how he really felt. It was a way of releasing his negative feelings so they could not harm his inner man while he was waiting for God’s deliverance. He trusted God with his deepest, more intense feelings—and so can you. I’ve noticed that David frequently said how he felt or what his circumstances were and then he said,
“But I will trust God. I will praise God, who helps me.”

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obody likes being tricked. We don’t like false advertising, phony small-talk, or fake relationships. In our world, people often put on a plastic smile and tell everyone they’re doing fine while inside they’re falling apart. It’s all an illusion.

As Christians we often believe we should feel better than we do, or that it is wrong to feel the way we do, so we hide our feelings from everyone. Sometimes we try to hide the way we really feel from ourselves. We pretend to have faith while we’re full of doubt. We pretend to be happy while we are miserable; and we pretend to be in control and have it all together, but at home behind closed doors, we are totally different people. We don’t want to admit that we are living phony lives, so we stay busy enough that we never have to deal with things as they really are. We may even bury ourselves in church work or spiritual activity as a way of hiding from God. He is trying to show us truth, but we would rather work for Him than listen to Him.

God just wants us to be honest and real. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking all your feelings are wrong. Being a person of faith does not mean you will never have negative or ungodly feelings. We will experience feelings that need to be dealt with, but we can always exercise our faith in God and ask Him to help us to not allow our feelings to control us. The Bible says we live by faith and not by sight (see 2 Cor. 5:7). That means we don’t make decisions based on what we see or feel, but according to our faith in God and His promises to us.

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he Bible teaches us to be prudent, and that means being good managers of all our resources. Yet there are times when God gets rather extravagant with those whom He loves. Sometimes in an effort to not be wasteful we can become downright cheap and stingy. Some people are especially that way with themselves. I know people who are generous with others, but their general attitude toward themselves is that they can do without. They say, “I don’t need that,” or, “I can do without that.”

But I believe they are depriving themselves because they don’t feel worth the cost of the indulgence. In trying to avoid wasting anything they’ve been given, they’ve missed out on what God wanted to do for them.

Perhaps we can learn a lesson from Jesus. He was nearing the time of His suffering and death, and He went to Simon’s house, where a woman named Mary came up to Him and poured expensive perfume on His head as He was reclining at the table. Since He was at the table I am assuming that He either was or had been eating. When the disciples saw what she did, they became indignant, saying,
“For what purpose is all this waste?”
They talked about how the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor.

Jesus replied by telling them not to bother the woman, because she
had done a noble (praiseworthy and beautiful) thing for Him. Jesus said what she had done had helped prepare Him for the trials ahead (see Matt. 26:6–12). The perfume she poured out on Jesus was probably worth about one year’s wages, but her extravagance certainly blessed Him. The love she showed to Him helped give Him the strength He needed to face the upcoming days of persecution, trial, suffering, crucifixion, and death.

In this particular instance, Jesus was saying that for this time and occasion He was worth the extravagance, or what the disciples saw as “waste.” Don’t live a reckless, wasteful life, but do remember that at times you are worth a little extravagance!

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here are some things you should keep between you and God, but some things must be brought out into the open. I have an example from my own life that may be helpful. When I was twenty years old—and that was a long time ago—I stole money from a company I worked for. The man I was married to at the time was a petty thief, and he convinced me to write some payroll checks since I was the payroll clerk, and we would cash them and quickly get out of town. I am not blaming
him because I should have said no, but there are times in life when we let people we love talk us into things that go against our consciences. When we do, it always ends up badly.

We did cash the checks and leave town, but eventually we came back, and sure enough there was an ongoing investigation about the stolen money. I was questioned, told more lies, and escaped being accused of the crime. My husband cheated on me with other women, stole property, and eventually was arrested and went to prison. We got a divorce, and many years later, married to someone else and about to enter the ministry, I knew that I had to go to the company I’d stolen from, admit my theft, and pay back the money. Wow! What if they had me arrested? I was so frightened, but I knew I had to obey God. I could not go forward until that thing from my past was confronted.