Sinking By Our Struggles

Or Floating By Faith?

 

 

Tryon Edwards added - "Anxiety is the rust of life, destroying its brightness and weakening its power. A childlike and abiding trust in providence is its best preventative and remedy."

 

We must see worry as a poison which instantly works to destroy us and our relationships. Or it can act as a rust which slowly eats away at our testimony for the Lord and our spiritual strength and power to live above the troubles of this life.

 

What is the solution? "A childlike and abiding trust in providence."

 

"Trust and Obey, For there is no other way

 To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey!" 

 

The Scriptures instruct us on how to counteract this destructive force in our lives -

 

1 Peter 5:7 says - "Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you."  

Philippians 4:6 says - "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."  

1 Corinthians 7:32 adds - "But I would have you without carefulness..."

 

"Care" in the Scriptures refers to the anxious, perplexing, disquieting, distracting, distrustful, and excessive thoughts that trouble our minds. We are taught in God's Holy Word to throw all of our cares upon Him. In other words, we are to resign all of our troubles to His unfailing and enabling wisdom and power.

 

These anxious thoughts are assignments of the devil to distract us from fulfilling God's will for our lives. They are assignments meant to get our focus off of Him and onto ourselves and our insufficiencies or lack of resources. They are meant to cause us to sink in despair when we should be floating by faith.

 

Why should we cast all of our cares upon the Lord? First of all, because He cares so much for each one of us. He regards and notices our needs...is interested in our situations...and has the grace and strength to see us through each problem and the power to turn things around for our good and His Glory. Bless His Holy Name!

 

The Scriptures tell us to - "be careful for nothing..."

 

Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!

 

God means what He says and says what He means. When He said that we are to - "be careful for nothing," that is exactly what He meant. Nothing is to disturb us or to steal our peace and joy in Him.

 

In fact, it is the duty of every Christian to live without care - "But I would have you without carefulness..."

 

This is our testimony before this ungodly and wicked world which seeks to live independently of God and His watchful eye and care  - 

...We are no longer our own

...we are dependent upon the Lord

...He will see see us through the problems of life

...we are overcomers in this life

...we are more than conquerors

...we are victorious through Him

...all of our needs are met according to His riches in Glory which are by Christ Jesus our Lord

...we have found a better life - a life of abundance and peace

...we don't ever have to worry again

...God has all the power and resources in heaven and in earth to tackle any problem or situation that comes our way.

 

Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!

 

We are "anxious for nothing" simply because we have the common sense - by the grace of God - to throw all of our cares upon Him in prayer. We pray...supplicate...remember His lovingkindnesses and tender mercies...call to mind all the instances in the past when He always came through for us...take comfort in knowing that He is the same God now as He was then - the God of the Mountaintop as well as the God of the valleys Who makes a way where there seems to be no way. Whatever is wrong in our lives, He  makes it right. Hence, we cannot help but offer Him our gifts of thanksgiving and praise as we make our petitions known to Him.

 

Our testimony to this world is - "Our Father knows what we need. So we will stand by and watch Him provide."  

 

Thank you, Lord Jesus! Thank You for Your Faithfulness! Great, Great, Great is Thy Faithfulness! All I have ever needed, Thy hand has so graciously provided! And we believe and therefore continue to speak that You will provide again and again as the needs present themselves.

 

In Matthew 6:25-34, the Lord Jesus spoke to us about the cares of this life that would plague our minds and distract us from His Divine Providence. He instructed us to "...Take no thought for your life..."(Matthew 6:25). In other words, live without carefulness. He ended His discourse by placing our focus not on the needs that are around us but on our Heavenly Father Who is well able to meet every need - "...for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things"(Matthew 6:32).

 

As he did with Eve in the Garden of Eden, Satan desires to convince us that God is holding out on us. Perhaps this is why the anxious thoughts come in the first place. We really don't believe that God will come through for us or that He cares about our predicaments or situations that we are facing. Perhaps men have failed us in the past, and we just assume that He will most likely react in the same fashion.

 

The Lord Jesus knows our weaknesses. So He gave us several examples in His discourse to show us how our Heavenly Father cares so much for such little and seemingly insignificant things. How much more will He care for you and me!

 

"Behold the fowls of the air..." - These little creatures do not labor or make provision for their future - "...they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns..." They simply trust God to provide for them - "..yet your heavenly Father feedeth them..."(Matthew 6:26).  

 

Then the Lord Jesus asks us a very pertinent question - "...Are ye not much better than they?" (Matthew 6:26)  

 

Do you believe that today, O Christian? Do you believe that as a son or daughter of God - redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb - that you are much better than "the fowl of the air"? Then know that your Heavenly Father - Whose eye is on the sparrow - is most definitely watching over you this day and working on your behalf to supply all of your needs and bring you forth victoriously.

 

"...Consider the lilies of the field..." (Matthew 6:28) The kings of Israel wore white robes, yet they were never clothed in such elegance as the "lily of the field." Why did God give the greater beauty to something that was soon to die? Perhaps because He wanted to get a point across to us that if He did all that for something so fleeting as the lily, how much more will He be mindful of the needs of  His children Whom He loves and cherishes so dearly?   

 

God clothes the "grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven..." (Matthew 6:30). The people of the East used dry straw or grass, withered herbs, and stubble to heat their ovens made of clay, brick, and plates of iron. The "grass" is so short-lived and seems to be of no significant value, yet God provides for its sustenance. How much more will He take care of us - who are His precious children through faith in Jesus Christ?

 

The questions we must ask ourselves today are - Are we sinking by our struggles or floating by faith? Have we allowed the enemy of our souls to use the "cares" of this life to distract us and take our focus off of our Heavenly Father and His faithfulness to supply whatever we need today? Are we fearing and fuming? Are we gaining anything by doing so? Or is it just making matters worse for us?

 

Oh! God desires that we live without care. All we have to do this day is cast all of our cares upon Him and then stand back and watch Him provide the breakthroughs which we need.

 

He cares for us! He really, really does! We can count on that!

 

Worry is a poison and a rust that destroys and eats away at our peace and stability in Christ.

We can show this old world that we have been delivered from this destructive force - that by faith, we are floating on top of our struggles and not sinking beneath them. 

We know that we have a Heavenly Father Who watches over us...cares for us...and is only a prayer away.

Therefore we "cast" all of our cares upon Him and live our lives in this world "without carefulness."  

 

Oh! What a blessed Life we have in Jesus!