There are always challenges in life! When we get through one set of problems, a new one comes along, or at least that is my experience. Our daughter called yesterday to update us on her life. She's been a student for 6 years, college, then graduate school. While she was in school, she juggled being a wife, a student, and holding a job. She was eager to get into a job working in her field, thinking that she would finally get past the stresses of multiple responsibilities. Now she is working for a college as she desired, and has discovered that her position has presented her with a whole new set of challenges! There is no utopia this side of heaven, regardless of the age, the place, or the situation we find ourselves in in life.
Every life stage, every job, every season comes with its own problems. However, for every Believer there is the promise of the peace of God in the middle of the mess! That is one of the facts I've learned with maturity. I cannot avoid problems. In fact, if I try, I will retreat into an ineffective, lazy lifestyle that still has problems. But I can live with quiet confidence in the middle of the battles and struggles. There is no better example of this than Paul, the Apostle. As he engaged in his calling, he found opposition everywhere. "I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches." (2 Corinthians 11:23-28, The Message) What a life! Some of us might have been tempted to counsel Paul to find another line of work, to take an early retirement, right? But he saw these problems as a part of fulfilling the calling of God, and accepted them. Near the end of his life, while he was imprisoned in Rome, he sent a final letter to Timothy and, even then, his words have the pulse of confidence: "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." (2 Timothy 1:12, NKJV)
So, how do we face life with confidence and peace?
Live close to the Lord and trust Him to lead! Paul did not say, "Tim, I've finally figured it all out and now I'm at peace." He didn't have an inside contact that was going to fix it for him. He knew the One in whom he had put his trust and his confidence was set on God's ability to keep him, here or in heaven. That is the only way to live at peace in a world where wars break out that we cannot control, where the vagaries of the economic situation can bring our job to an end, where our bodies break down with age, where people disappoint us or worse, turn against us ... the ordinary stuff of life. We can focus on the troubles and grow fearful or cynical OR we can focus on God's great grace, and remain at peace. The Scripture reminds us that the godly live by this principle - “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts. " (Zechariah 4:6, NKJV)
The reason that many do not enjoy God's peace is that they do not live for Him, or with an awareness of His Presence, until some crisis breaks! I don't even mean that they are living in evil ways. They may good people, doing good things, but they are not worshipful. They do not pray, nor do they seek God's will. For years they manage to overcome the problems and challenges that come their way. Then comes that mountain that is too high to climb, that river that is too wide to cross... and what then? We must walk with God now! We must pray and worship and love Him now. Then, we problems come (and don't believe those who tell you that the godly are exempt from problems!) we can draw on our long-standing friendship with God and know that He will make a way for us.
"My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." (Psalm 62:1-2, NIV) _____________________________
Calm Faith Ian White
A prayer from the inner heart we bring to You,
for deep unspoken cries are breaking thru;
for You love us like no other can,
for You know us like no other can.
We’re asking for calm faith.
We’re asking for burning love.
We’re asking for bright hope,
and a deep compassion for souls.
We know that what we stand for stays the same,
and ‘til the end of time Your love remains;
for You love us like no other can,
for You know us like no other can.
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