August 3, 2021
Maybe you had the impression that all your problems were going to go away when you received Jesus as your Savior, or at least that life would get a lot easier. You have felt His comfort and care, but you still face many of the same daily struggles.
“Why, God?!” you may protest. “I thought You were going to solve my problems!” You still have to contend with obstacles and problems, setbacks and sorrows. But while it may seem that much is the same, what has changed is that you now have help.
“Where there is a will, there is a way,” the familiar saying goes. That’s true in a sense, but it leaves out the one all-important factor: you need God! You need His power and strength, and you received His promise of that ever-present help when you asked Jesus into your life.
So if you have financial problems, or health worries, or find yourself in an emotionally trying situation, don’t despair. If you have problems in your marriage, or in other relationships, don’t despair! If you are physically impaired, don’t despair! If you’re not happy with yourself because you feel you’ll never be as smart or as attractive as you wish you were, don’t despair! If loved ones or friends just don’t understand or don’t agree with your newfound faith, don’t despair! Jesus will get you through these difficulties and help you solve these problems—if you will let Him.
While your circumstances may not change—at least not immediately—God can help you rise above circumstances. If the obstacles won’t move out of your way, He’ll help you go over or under or around them. He may not take away all your troubles, but He will bring you through them.
The Christian’s life doesn’t get easier; it gets better. How wonderful life can be once you have learned to allow God’s power and grace to help you overcome the obstacles! Stumbling blocks become stepping stones. Wings are fashioned out of weights. You can gracefully rise above the daily problems, afflictions, and hardships of life.—Shannon Shayler
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It is sometimes a disconcerting truth for many Christians that even though we belong to God through faith in Christ, we still seem to experience the same problems that plagued us before we were saved. We often become discouraged and bogged down in life’s cares.
The fact that both the Old and New Testaments address this problem the same way indicates that God knows problems and worries are inevitable in this life. Thankfully, He has given us the same solution He gave in both Psalms and Peter’s letter. “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall,”1 and “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”2
Contained within these two verses are several amazing truths: God will sustain us, He will never let us fall, and He cares for us. Taken one at a time, we see first that God declares both His ability and His willingness to be our strength and support—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. He is able (and best of all, willing!) to take everything that threatens to overwhelm us and use it for our benefit.
He has promised to “work all things together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Even at times when we doubt Him, He is still working for our good and His glory. And He has also promised that He will allow no trial to be so great we cannot bear it in the power of Christ and that He will provide a means of escape.3 By this, He means that He will not let us fall, as He promised in Psalm 55:22.
The third statement—“He cares for you”—gives us the motivation behind His other promises. Our God is not cold, unfeeling, or capricious. Rather, He is our loving heavenly Father whose heart is tender toward His children. Jesus reminds us that just as an earthly father would not deny his children bread, so God has promised to give us “good gifts” when we ask Him.4
In the spirit of asking for good gifts, first we must pray and tell the Lord that we hear what He’s saying in John 16:33, where Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Then we should ask the Lord to show us how He has “overcome” our problems, our worries, our anger, our fears, and our guilt.
The Lord reveals to us through His Word, the Bible, that we can be of good “cheer,” that we can:
1) Rejoice in our problems because God will use them to our benefit: “Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope”5;
2) See our “worries” as an opportunity to practice Proverbs 3:5–6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths”;
3) Counteract our anger by obeying Ephesians 4:32: “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you”; and
4) Deal with any sinful feelings by believing and acting upon the truth of 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” All of our problems can be overcome through simple faith in God’s Word.
God is bigger than all our worries and problems put together, and we must realize that if we are to have any victory in our lives. Everyone suffers with these difficulties, because the Bible teaches that temptation is “common” to mankind.6 … If we do sin and confess, God forgives and cleanses. We need not feel ashamed, but rather take God at His Word that He does forgive and cleanse. …
So, each day, taking one step at a time, we should pray for God’s Word to guide us, read or listen to God’s Word, and meditate on God’s Word when the problems, worries, and anxieties of life come along. The secret to giving things over to Christ is really no secret at all—it’s simply asking Jesus to take our burden of “original sin” and be our Savior,7 as well as submitting to Jesus as our Lord in day-to-day living.—From gotquestions.org8
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Thank You, dear Jesus, that You’re the greatest problem solver. You came to solve mankind’s biggest problem—our need for redemption and salvation, and forgiveness for our sins. But You didn’t stop there. During Your earthly life You solved so many other problems. When there was no wine at the wedding, You created more wine.9 When people came to You with their health problems, even ones they’d had for many years, You healed them.10 When there was no food for the multitudes You were teaching and everyone was hungry, You multiplied the loaves and fishes.11 When the adulterous woman was about to be stoned, with great wisdom, humility, and love, You not only saved but changed the woman’s life.12
And every day You make Yourself available to help me solve my problems. Thank You for that. I’m only human. I make mistakes. I say and do the wrong things at times. Sometimes I hurt others without meaning to. That’s why I need Your help so much.
Please help me to see problems as challenges, not as dead ends or disasters, knowing that You’re there to help me and that no problem is too big for You. Thank You for how You manage to turn every problem and difficulty I face into a steppingstone to greater progress. I know You have the power to help me solve the problems I face today, so I call on that power now. Amen.—Maria Fontaine
Published on Anchor August 2021. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.
1 Psalm 55:22 NIV.
2 1 Peter 5:7 NIV.
3 1 Corinthians 10:13.
4 Matthew 7:11.
5 Romans 5:3–4.
6 1 Corinthians 10:13.
7 John 3:16.
8 https://www.gotquestions.org/turn-over-to-God.html.
9 John 2:1–11.
10 Matthew 12:15; Luke 4:40.
11 Matthew 14:15–21.
12 John 8:3–11.
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