When your life turns upside down, where do you find comfort? Many people I know head straight for the chocolate. Some dive into a book. Others watch television or movies. Some turn to alcohol or drugs. The responses are as varied as the individuals.
When our lives go wrong, most of the time we try to escape it, usually because trying to fix it is beyond us. And focusing on everything that’s wrong is depressing.
But while the chocolate is good and the book or the movie may distract us for a while, when they’re done, the problem will still be there. And maybe alcohol can help you forget for a little while, but when you wake up in the morning, nothing will have changed . . . and you’ll have a hangover.
When life starts circling the drain and nothing seems to be going right, there’s really only one thing we can do. There’s really only one person we can turn to. And that’s God.
Today’s passage is Psalm 94:18-19.
18 I cried out, “I am slipping!”
but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.
19 When doubts filled my mind,
your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
Any comfort we try to find on earth is going to be temporary. And even if it’s some solution we’ve concocted, usually it won’t work. Or it will only work for a little while until the situation gets worse.
Ultimately, it’s God who has to solve the problem. Granted, any solution He provides will be temporary too because Earth isn’t going to be around forever, just like we won’t be down here forever either. But His solutions not only solve the problems we’re facing today but also the ones we’ll face in the future.
Now that’s not saying His solutions always make sense. On the contrary, most of the time His solutions are more confusing than the problem! But do you want a God you can understand? I don’t. If I can understand God and know what He’s going to do and know how He thinks all the time, is He much higher than I am? No. God has to be bigger than me so that He is big enough to solve not only my problems but also the problems of everyone on Earth.
And He already solved our greatest problem and that was sin. We are no longer bound to sin. Those who follow Christ have a choice whether to sin or not. We don’t have to be controlled by our desires and our selfishness.
But what about sickness? What about hunger? What about financial instability? What about the economy? What about all the little pesky daily troubles we encounter?
God says He’s got it covered. And if you trust Him, you can take comfort in that. Because God isn’t going to tell you something if it isn’t true. You just have to get to the point where you believe Him.
And while most of what God does doesn’t make sense, there’s one thing you can always count on. And that is God’s unfailing love. No matter what you do or where you go or where you’ve been or where you’re headed, God loves you. He always has. He always will. And there’s nothing you can do to make Him stop . . . because there’s nothing you did to earn it in the first place.
God loves you. And if you are a Christ follower, God is working everything out for your good and for His glory. When you slip and fall, He’ll be there to catch you. And when you are full of doubts and uncertainties, just look back at all the times He’s helped you, all the instances where He has been present in your life. If He’s ordered your steps this far, He isn’t going to stop now.
Always Peachy 