Some thoughts from this past Wednesday morning

I started reading a book recently called “Calm my anxious heart” by Linda Dillow. I was smacked upside the head in the very first chapter, pages actually. It was a good smack. The focus of this chapter was on contentment in whatever God has given as my portion, regardless of the circumstances. Not being content with what God gives breeds anxiety and then I try to take control of my life instead of leaving it to Him. I have been struggling with an anxious heart since I returned home. I have not been content that God has seen fit to have me walk through a time of life where I have many, many unknowns for the future. I have been focused on my circumstances and not on the One who controls them so I have been striving to direct and control anything and everything I can. Doesn’t that sound like a pleasant and restful heart? Definitely not! The Deceiver has been feeding me the same old line he fed to Eve – that God isn’t good and is withholding something good from me, therefore I must take things into my own hands to get what I want. Just this morning the Lord revealed to me how I was falling for that lie hook, line and sinker. The verses that I focused on this morning are Psalm 84:11-12. “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in Thee!” That doesn’t sound like a God who is plotting to withhold good things from me. The truth of God’s word pounding down a lie of the devil. These same thoughts were repeated in “Calm my anxious heart”. “Contentment is essentially a matter of accepting from God’s hand what He sends because we know that He is good and therefore it is good.” (J.I Packer) Do you find that hard to swallow? I do. There are some things in life that are just plain hard, harder than not knowing what the future holds, and yet they are from the hand of a good God. It is a matter of believing that God is good and that the plans he has for me are “plans to prosper (me) and not to harm (me), plans to give (me) hope and a future.” (Jer. 29:11) A friend in Ghana wrote in an email recently regarding the future and its uncertainty... “there is no need to fret. The future is God’s and (you) are His Beloved”. What a precious truth. I am His Beloved and He holds my future in His good hand!