Worry - Finding Peace in Difficult Times - Part 3

Wouldn’t it be nice if all we had to do was think happy thoughts and all of our worries would vanish

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. If we want to live a life not orchestrated by worry, we have to learn how to pass along all of our concerns and difficulties to God.

God cares about you and your future. He will never leave you. It’s not as simple as thinking happy thoughts, but it is possible to let go of our concerns and difficulties.

Letting go is a process. We have to begin to understand this. Worry doesn’t go away just because we want it to.

We have to give it away. Let me show you...

1 Peter 5:7 NKJV

7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

One of the benefits of our relationship with God is the privilege of letting Him take care of our burdens.

Now just like last week, in order for God to take care of our burdens, we have to fulfill the conditions of verses 5-6, humbling ourselves and being submissive to one another.

But now to verse 7. The word translated “care” means “anxiety, the state of being pulled apart.”

When circumstances are difficult, it is easy for us to be anxious and worried; but if we are, we will miss God’s blessing and become poor witnesses to the lost.

We need His inward peace if we are going to triumph in the fiery trial and bring glory to His name.

Dr. George Morrison said, “God does not make His children carefree in order that they be careless.”

According to 1 Peter 5:7, we must once and for all give all of our cares—past, present, and future—to the Lord.

We also have Deut. 31:6

Deuteronomy 31:6 NKJV

6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

The thing is, God doesn’t do it all for us.

Some people give God their burdens and expect Him to do everything! It is important that we let Him work in us as well as work for us, so that we will be prepared when the answer comes.

This verse tells us God will go with us. He does what only He can do, and leaves up to us what we can do. Our job is to trust and obey.

But as I said earlier, letting go is a process.

It goes away through a process that takes active involvement. Part of the process is learning to take things at face value.

When events unfold or God gives us a peek into our future we have a tendency to add to it or to take away from it. If God shows us that we are to get a new job and as we think of the possibilities we end up adding that it’s going to be a six-figure job.

Maybe, God calls someone to be a teacher at a school with a bad reputation and they get scared and proceed on to work at a school they’re are comfortable at, taking away the bad reputation part. In the Old Testament God warned the Israelites that they were not to add to or take away from His law. He knew what they needed and told them to take the laws at face value, not adding to or taking away. This is a great example for us when God speaks to us we are to take it at face value.

When we start focusing on the end results and the what-if’s it scares us and can even consume us.

It can make our motives impure, causing us to run after the promise instead of the Promisor. Instead of focusing on the end results, we have to learn how to take one step at a time.

When we focus on the next step we focus on God and what He is speaking and wanting instead of what we are wanting. With each step we trust that He is in control and that His strength is enough to get us through whatever lies ahead. He will show us the next step, and then the next, and then the next. And that is how our trust in God grows.

What is God telling you in life right now? Walk one step at a time towards God’s direction, being careful not to add to or take away from what He has told you.

Let me close with this verse from the Psalms… this is actually the verse Peter quotes from 1 Peter 5:7...

Psalm 55:22 NKJV

22 Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.