Word for Today, Tue, 15 Jun 2004: Trust in the Lord, Do Not Fret
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Dear friends,
I originally wrote this message nearly two years ago.
My circumstances are a little bit different. I've had a job for
the past two years. The only problem is that the job helps me to
earn less than half of what we need to pay our fixed monthly
expenses. We cut down quite a bit, too, because before June
2001, I had a high paying job in the fast moving supercomputer
industry. In 2002, I was doing part time software product
support. Last year, I did substitute school teaching. Last
summer, Larry Davies gave me part time work to help him edit the
Sowing Seeds of Faith prayer list (I still do that). This year,
I worked in the local school district as a paraprofessional
educational assistant. More specifically, I helped students with
attention and behavioral problems get their work done and helped
them participate in class.
God has been good to me, very good to me. I haven't been doing
what I had hoped to do or what I expected to do, yet we've been
getting by.
We're at another crossing in the road. The school year has
ended, the summer is about to begin, and I need to look for
something a bit more permanent that can actually support my
family. In my humanity, I sometimes worry, yet when I look back
over it all, God has been faithful to us. We've never missed a
meal and we still have a home. Many who pray have lost their
homes. I count that as a blessing.
Do pray for those who struggle to make ends meet. Pray for my
family, pray for others who struggle, too. If you can help
someone you know, do so, even if it's only by sending them a note
of encouragement. I can tell you that the many notes I've
received over the past three years have often been what's helped
me to make it through particularly trying days.
If you struggle with employment or you are struggling with any
other issue this day, perhaps a failed relationship, perhaps some
secret sin, perhaps a failure to do something that needs to be
done, or perhaps simply neglecting your relationship with your
creator, it is time to discuss your issue with God. If you've
done wrong, confess it to God and then go and make it right.
Then you will experience peace, even in the midst of struggle. I
know, I've been there ... recently!
Yours in Christ,
Brian
____________________________________________________________
Dear friends,
I got a message from a friend this evening. She knows that I've
been looking for permanent work for quite some time and that I've
been actively searching, yet waiting on God for the job, place,
and situation that God wants me to be in. So when my friend saw
this message, she sent it to me.
I can take the time to edit this message and pass it on to you
because I am waiting for my dear wife to make it home safely from
work... she just started a new part time job herself!
I can wait on God expectantly, yet I can still pursue a career
path, and measure the options I have available to me against the
standard of balancing family needs, income, the chance to share
who I am (and my source of hope) with others.
This is all about whom I shall trust. The Bible has a well known
passage in Proverbs 3:5-6 that says "Trust in the Lord with all
your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all of
your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight."
Psalm 37 says this, starting in verse 3:
3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord ;
trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret-it leads only to evil.
9 For evil men will be cut off,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.
11 But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy great peace.
I believe all of that, and I don't have to worry about anything.
Your Brother in Christ,
Brian
Waiting
Gail Rodgers
-------------------------------------
He stood at the window waiting. All day he waited. Three years
old and the promise of Grandma and Grandpa arriving consumed
him. I could not distract him to play or to color or to ride his
bike. He was waiting. His child mind could not comprehend the
eight-hour drive. I knew the time would go faster, be more
enjoyable and maybe even productive if he left the window. But he
waited, and it seemed to be agonizingly long!
I realized that I am often like that with God. I know He will
eventually arrive with the answer to my prayer. I know I can
trust Him for an answer to my circumstance, my question or my
longing. And I wait. I wait for the answer, and sometimes it
seems agonizingly long.
Sometimes when God's answer seems to take too long I find myself
beginning to lose heart. Trust in my God may even waver. ("Are
they REALLY coming, Mommy?")
And then God speaks. His Word touches my heart and He tells me
what to do. He tells me how to wait.
"Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage and He shall strengthen
your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord." Psalm 27:14.
Suddenly I realize I am not waiting on the Lord. I am simply
waiting on an answer. And waiting on an answer is so empty, as it
consumes me to distraction from other things God would have me do
or focus on. His Word tells me to be strong, to wait on Him for
my strength. Wait on Him, not simply on an answer.
So I turn from the window, from the waiting on the arrival of my
answer. I lean on Him to draw courage and strength. I ask Him to
point me in the direction of what He wants me to do today and my
waiting changes. It changes from anxious, distracted waiting to a
more productive waiting. Waiting that says, "I can trust you
with this, Lord. Help me now to be renewed in my strength and to
focus on accomplishing what is in front of me today."
Are you waiting today for God's intervention or His answer? Do
you feel suspended over a cliff wondering if you will fall?
Change your waiting. Stop waiting for the answer, trust God with
the timing, and start waiting on God to strengthen you to do what
He has set in your path today. Days, weeks, even months and years
can be wasted if we put our focus on the waiting and not on our
God.
Today you can have a heart that draws strength from the God of
the universe, in spite of the question marks punctuating your
life. Pick up the task in front of you and wait first on your God
for courage and strength as you wait for His answer.
Gail Rodgers draws from her own life experience in her roles as
wife, mother of three, business woman and as a pastor to
women. She has a passion for discovering and sharing how the
Scriptures apply in very practical ways where we live and walk
each day. She resides in Alberta, Canada with her family.
=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
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