If the answers came easy, we probably would be very self sufficient. God is not a genie in a bottle, as we sometimes think He ought to be. But one thing I often tell myself whenever life begins to feel a little bit too hard, is this. God sees everything, knows everything and does everything for my good. For my betterment. He is in control, not me. And I take great comfort in this thought. There was a time however, where that thought made me grimace. "God? In control OVER me?" I would think.."No way." But since then the Lord has taken me down some very interesting paths and taught me more about Himself. My real time of growing began when I really decided that I wanted to get to know the "person" of God. So I began to really dive in, and read the Bible. If you just sighed, and said, "Boring." Know you are not alone. There are many who feel, (and even myself at one point) felt the same way.
For me, the new relationship I was pursuing out of obedience to the call from God Himself, (for He alone can spark in interest in us for things of the gospel, man all by himself would never choose God) and as I began to read more and more, the Lord began to speak to me through the pages of His Word.
The best words of advice I have for anyone who is saying, "I hate my life right now." Is to open His word, and read. And not just read, but ASK Jesus to make the words of this book REAL to you, and to speak to you. Everything in this book is written for us to learn from, and grow from.
What do we have to lose? We usually try every other avenue of healing and help. We talk to our girlfriends who usually are not much help. We lie to ourselves, which really isn't much help. We pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, which usually only lasts five minutes. We put on our laser focus glasses and run as hard as we can for what we think will solve our issues. I always end up falling when I do this. Really, any human effort we can exert to try and obtain peace in a midst of our less that perfect lives, in this less than perfect world, will only leave us crashing, with our tail feathers on fire, and our feet smoking from all the running we have been doing. It's a pointless effort that will end in less peace then what we started with. Sure, we may be able to take some snapshots of good moments in our minds, but at the end of the day, when we lay our heads on our pillows, unless we are laying in the peace of Christ, there will always be that nagging, unending tug that says, "try a little harder." It really is like this: A beautiful car, with bird poop on the window. Your life without Christ, will never be completely perfect. "Well, (I used to think) I'm going to try to come pretty close." And so would continue my man made efforts of trying to obtain my own happiness and peace. But all the while as I wore myself out and frustrated myself further, if only I had moved over, and given Jesus Christ the reigns to my life, (the only one who really knows the directions) things would have gone so much more smoothly for me.. I am not implying that life is perfect once you hand Jesus the control, but I am saying the journey itself is now no longer resting on your shoulders, you have someone much bigger than yourself who is carrying you through the trials. You are now no longer alone. Does any of this resonate with you today my friend? If so, let me encourage you to stop. Even just for a moment and do a little self evaluation. Why are you lacking peace...you could ask... OR, you can examine the last 2 years or 5 years of your life, as be honest with yourself...(not lying to ourselves a good place to start) can you sit, alone in a room and say, "I am in total peace with my life."
As a believer in Jesus Christ, we can say, "even though life itself may not be roses all the time, but I fix my eyes not on my circumstances, but rather on the one who made me. My peace lies in the person, and the finished work of Jesus Christ." What do I mean by the "finished work?" The finished work of Jesus is the fact that God knew you before the foundations of the earth were set in place. He knew you, knows you complete. And He has ordained for you every moment from then until now. And this to me says, "He is in control...so as I follow fast after Jesus, and seek HIS plans for MY life, I will find peace in knowing that I do not have to strive, and work and seek to do things in MY OWN strength." And by letting go, we are accepting the fact that God knew us from the beginning, and then finished our need to strive and work, by laying down His life for us when He died for us on the cross. When He said, "It is finished..." He meant it. It really was finished, He put an end to all of my need to strive and work for my own salvation. Striving has ceased. My peace was found in the letting go. The giving up. The strongest thing I ever did, was let go. And Let Jesus have full control over my life. If all of what I am saying does not make complete sense to you, that's OK. Jesus will reveal these things to you as you read the Bible, and seek Him in your own way. He longs for all man to come to Him, and to say the words.."I need you."
He created you! He longs to have you seek Him.
If you are a parent, think about the way you feel about YOUR child or children. You long for them to come and ask you for the wisdom on how to do things they do not know how to do! You want them to seek you! You love them. So this is how you feel about your children? How much more do you think your heavenly Father longs to have you seek Him! And ask HIM! He longs for this.
So even if the words feel foreign on your lips, go ahead and say, them. Find a Bible, open it up and even if its the first time you have ever prayed to God, pray. Ask Him to show Himself to you! He tells you in the Bible that He wants you to seek Him. Seek Him and you WILL find Him. He is not a Maker who hides from His created. He knows YOU fully, isn't it time you begin to know the Creator?
Do so friend today, you will NOT be disappointed.
