What’s Your Angst?
Right now there are so many voices clamoring for our attention. How we are being told to act, think, and say is changing daily. Our jobs, income, welfare, education, or should I just say absolutely everything has been effected by this virus. And so many of us are reeling from the blows. Violence and tempers are escalating. Conversations have been replaced by heated, verbal jabs. Nothing seems to be safe anymore. Our paths are obscured and blurry and so many of us are hot to trot like a quilled porcupine.
This is why the slightest infraction, careless word, or mistake has set so many people off. It’s why the little things have become overwhelming. When everything is falling apart we look for something concrete, something that won’t change, something we can control. But having control over anything or anyone is an illusion. The only thing we can control are our own actions.
Instead of looking for emotional stability in tangible things, we need to be intentional about looking to God instead. Yes, He does allow things to come into our lives that we don’t want. “For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”(Matthew 5:45b NLT) But if we are to weather the storms of this life, we must know where our anchor is and we must trust in God’s goodness regardless of what we see around us. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28 NLT)
If you are struggling with why God is allowing all of this to happen right now, might I suggest that you seek your answers first from Him. When we seek Him first and foremost, when we seek Him with all that we are, He promises that we will find him. “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 29:13-14a NLT) “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8 NLT)
When you know God and His character, you can trust that no matter what is going on in and around you, He will have your back. You can face anything just like Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego faced the fiery furnace; Daniel faced the Lion’s Den; and David faced the giant Goliath. You can trust God even now. “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your Heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” (Matthew 6:25-26 NLT)
