This tweet by Timothy Keller resonated with me. Just so much truth.
Worry
We all do it to some degree or other. We know worrying is not productive. "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?" (Jesus in Matthew 6:27) If we are going through something in our lives and we begin to worry, we know to pray to Him about it. My women's group has talked about this a lot. We pray for God's help, for His intervention, we are honest with Him about our worry. Please Lord help us with this. Help us to have peace about the situation. Help us to submit to your will. Please Lord help us. A peace will engulf us. But for how long?
We crawl into bed that night and think about our situation. We start worrying. We pray and give it back to God asking for His help.
The next morning we take all of that worry back. Pray again. And throughout the day our minds come back to the situation and we worry again.
It is a constant back and forth with worry. We say we believe God hears our prayers. We say we believe God is in control of our lives. We know He has the power to change our situation. We know that if we have prayed about the situation that He will intervene in our best interest. And yet we continue to let worry creep back in.
Worry is us not trusting God. It is that simple. It is about not relinquishing control to Him. We think if we worry enough that somehow on our own might we can come up with a solution to our problem. We think we can control our lives better than God can. We may really not think that consciously, but our worry indicates we think that on some level in the recesses of our mind.
Either we trust God or we don't. Our worry is sin and we need to nip it in the bud as soon as we start doing it. We need to stop and immediately pray. We need to learn to trust Him with it all.
If you are worrying about something, get control of it. Stop. Give it to God. Trust Him. He will get it right.
Be anxious for nothing, 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 comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6,7
Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
Bitterness
It truly is thinking God got it wrong.
You are out of work and can't find a job. You pray about the interview you just had. You don't get the job. You let bitterness creep in.
You worry about the decisions your child is making and you pray about it. They continue to spiral downward. You let bitterness creep in.
Your loved one gets terminal cancer. You ask God why? You pray for healing and it doesn't happen. You let bitterness creep in.
Something horrific happens to you and you get angry with God.
Does God get it wrong because what you pray about doesn't happen the way you think it should have? Is God unloving, uncaring, unmerciful? Never!
Honestly, we can't answer why bad things happen to us. We often can't see the goodness in any of it. Sometimes the bad things that happen is reaping the consequences of other people's sin/choices or our own sin/choices. We live in a fallen world. Sometimes we see no purpose. Only pain.
Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, for anger resides in the bosom of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:9
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.
Hebrews 12:15
Letting our heart get bitter is sin. Again it is not trusting God with our situation. We may never understand why what happened to us did happen. It is at those times we must muster the faith we have.
We know God has a reason for everything which happens. We know He loves us. We know He is there for us. We know He hears our prayers. Talk to Him about it. Tell Him about your pain and heartbreak and ask for His help. Rely on His character. And He will comfort you. But don't let the bitterness creep into your heart. Don't abandon your faith. Yes, grieve, but don't for a second think that God got it wrong.
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Worry and bitterness are two things we struggle with. Don't give in to them. Fight them.
Fix your eyes on Him. Draw closer to Him.
And remember that in our future home there will be no sorrow and every tear will be wiped away.