Do you have hope?
It’s time, beloved, to surrender and believe you can give Him all your cares and trust Him to be faithful in your life. It is time to hope again.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV
“Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!” Psalm 17:1 ESV
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 ESV
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 ESV
Growing up in church, I have known the reality that I can give God my fears, trust him with the outcome, and hope in him. It wasn’t until recently, however, that I accepted it as a reality in my heart to live by. The Spirit of God has been pressing on me for years to give up what I call “self-protection.” For me, self-protection looks like always having a plan for when the next thing might go wrong. It manifests as fear when I am captivated by overwhelming and obsessive thoughts about how each situation might be painful. When I do this, I accept, and even expect, that the most painful outcome will be inevitable. My rationale is that we have a God who wants to prune us so it’s unlikely that any “good” outcome will happen because people fail and because God will want to use this or that situation as a trial to teach me.
Until God redirected my thinking, I thought that with all these ruminating fears I couldn’t ask God for my hopes or desires because I needed to accept his plan. It’s not good to ask too much from God right? And if I acknowledged my fears then I would have to face them. That would mean I could not ask God or share my heart with Him and instead, I’d have to conjure up my own strength, stuff the hurt down and accept that life is hard. I could manage. The thing is that I couldn’t and could never manage. None of us can manage the brokenness of this world or even the depths of our own hearts by ourselves.
Recently Abba reminded me of my tendency to fear and to self-protect. “Wow,” I thought, “you’ve exposed this in me for years God and I haven’t given it to you. How do I do that? How do I trust you!?”
That is when he led me to the verses above. “Payton, you have to trust me with your anxieties. I want to know them! I care for you. I don’t want you to simply tell me them but I want you to let go of your control and trust that I am good and I have good plans for you.”
“And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 ESV
Furthermore, he reminded me that it is inevitable for me to experience disappointment and pain in this broken world. The fragility of human nature will fail us and we won’t always get what we want because our wants do not always align with His perfect will. We are not letting go to get what we want, but rather trusting in what He does have and receiving it in His timing is good. He reminded me that He, and His plan, remain good regardless of the circumstances.
What all of this boils down to is perception. When I rightly perceive the nature of God then it is easy to trust him with all of my anxieties. It is easy then for me to lay all of it down at his feet and walk in hope, knowing his plan is good and never returns void. This is faith that despite the outcome of situations in life, God remains faithful and true.
The final question then remains: “How do I get to a place where I rightly perceive the father so that I can trust him and cast all my cares on him?” It’s simple.
Abide.
To abide is to learn about Him. To learn Him is to see Him rightly. To see him rightly is to trust Him.
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8 ESV
Your Nature - Kari Job
https://youtu.be/tmNN4A9rjqQ?si=YWozBPk1h-Un8FmQ
