Category: WORRY

HOW NOT TO BE TROUBLED

What keeps you awake at night, sweating up the bed sheets, tossing and turning and never getting a good night’s sleep?

What are you worried about? What keeps you awake at night, sweating up the bed sheets, tossing and turning and never getting a good night’s sleep? I know for one person it was the election. My wife was worried about who was going to be her next Commander and Chief.

Maybe for you, it is your job, making a blunder and then getting that infamous “pink slip”.

For me, it’s worrying about whether I got my last devotional written on time. Will it be acceptable?  Are all the verb tenses agree? Is this be the last devotional I’ll ever be allowed to write?  (Just because I’m married to the Editor, doesn’t mean it always goes well….)  

DOES JESUS DESERT US?

But the disciples of Jesus day had other things to worry about. John 14:1-7 begins with “Let not your heart be troubled”. Troubled? Why would they be troubled? Just go back to the previous chapter and read John 13:33: “My little children, I will be with you only a little longer”. What does that mean? Is Jesus taking off, is He deserting us?

IN THE MIDST OF BETRAYAL, HE WILL LEAVE

And if that isn’t upsetting enough, read John 13:21: “Jesus already told them: ‘After He had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me’”. What?! First, he breaks the news that someone in their midst was going to betray Him and then he tells them that He will be leaving. What’s going on Jesus?

REASSURANCE FROM THE CREATOR

Jesus brings reassurance to his disciples by telling them the truth about Himself:

  1. He tells them that He and the Father are one. This should have been nothing new to the disciples since He proclaimed it in John 10:30, “The Father and I are one”.
  2. “No, I am not leaving you forever. As a matter of fact, I am going ahead of you, and I will be getting the place ready”.
  3. Thomas says they don’t know where this place is or how to get there. Jesus says to Thomas, put your GPS away because you won’t need it. “Remember, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the father except through me”. So, if you want to get to the father, you have to go through Me.

WHAT CAN WE DO IN THE MIDST OF TROUBLE

We find ourselves in various situations all the time, some may be small and incidental, or they may be major times of doubt and distrust in our lives.  What can we do when we reach that point? We can remember the words of Jesus. Trust the truth. Go back and read those words over and over again. John 14 is a good place to start.

Click to listen to the story of Hayden Jernigan

Bill Stoner, the author of this piece, is the wonderful husband of Jacqui. He is a retired pastor and a man who has weathered many storms. Bill has found God is faithful.

WHO DO YOU TRUST?

When I worry, it’s because I know that God’s ruling the world, but I’m afraid he’s not going to get it right.

Have you read the headlines lately? It is so easy to get caught up in speculation and worse case scenarios. That’s exactly the road the Israelites were traveling during the end of Samuel’s life. As Tim Keller writes, the Israelites “saw the news but not the Savior”.  

TOUGH TIMES FOR A NATION

I Samuel 8:1-22 tells us about a difficult time for a nation. They trusted Samuel, but he was coming to the end of being their leader, their priest, their pastor. His sons were moral failures and could not be trusted to take up the reigns. We read that the elders of Israel look around, review their conditions, and after observing the surrounding nations, they come up with their own solution. Their actions demonstrate they believe God is unreliable regarding leadership, so it is up to them to find an earthly king to rule them and protect them. They forget that God still rules the world, no matter what fears we possess.

WHAT IF GOD DOESN’T “GET IT RIGHT”?

Tim Keller wrote: “When I worry, it’s because I know that God’s ruling the world, but I’m afraid he’s not going to get it right. Worry is always a deep sense in the human heart that we know better than God how life ought to go and that we should be ruling the world instead of God.” And so, the Jewish leaders assume it was time to step in and “lend God a hand”. They demand of Samuel, “Give us a king to judge and rule over us.”

REJECTING GOD’S BEST

Samuel is extremely distressed in the chain of events. God tells Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them.” Wow! That should have stopped the Israelites in their tracks, but it didn’t. “They have abandoned (rejected) Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. So now listen to their voice; only solemnly warn them and tell them the ways of the king who will reign over them.”

GOD GAVE THEM WHAT THEY WANTED

Samuel gives them what they ask for. David Guzik writes: “Because Israel demanded a king for bad and carnally minded reasons, God will give them a bad and carnally minded king. In itself, the desire to have a king was not bad. God knew one day Israel would have a king. 400 years before this God gave instructions to Israel about their future king (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). A king was in God’s plan for Israel. Yet, the reason Israel wanted a king was wrong. To be ‘like all the nations’ is no reason at all.”

KING #1

Because of their lack of trust. Israel ends up with King #1: Saul, who is tall, handsome and impressive. Saul is also a coward, selfish, a liar, and mentally unstable. If the Israelites had just waited on God, they would have received David as King #1, the man who followed after God’s own heart. But, they demanded, and demanded, and God gave them what they asked for.

A HOLY NATION

God’s goal for Israel was “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6) 

SETTLING FOR LESS

The Israelites settled for much less than God’s wonderful plan because they just wanted to look like every else. Is your heart’s desire to just be like everyone else? Are you asking God with bended knee, willing to wait for Him and for what glorifies Him, no matter how He accomplishes that goal? The Israelites in their haste ignored God and received exactly what their miniscule hearts asked for: an inept and miniscule king because they saw the news but not the Savior.

Click to read Tim Keller’s “The disciplines of distress”