Times of Stress and Worry

I can't possibly know how Job felt when God decided to let Satan have him, when God decided take every material thing from him, when God decided to take his family from him. Yet, I and my family have experienced hard times throughout our life as well.

How do you have faith when God takes it all away? Can you hold on until God restores you and gives you more than what you had? Good questions.

My faith has not been up to the standard that God would desire of me lately.

I have been very troubled and saddened by the son's current situation: loss of income, loss of job, loss of family, loss of unemployment benefits, loss of his marriage.

Somehow my faith tells me that God is going to restore Him. I don't know when, but I believe that if God takes everything away from him it is because He has something better in store for him. I want to believe this and I do.

My Pastor's wife is such an encourager and I thank God for her because she knows how sad I have been. She reminded me of the scripture in the book of Matthew where Jesus is teaching about worry. Last week I wrote on "what good is it to worry," but somehow even though I wrote about it and I know what the Word of God says, I still worry.

Matthew 6:25 says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Tomorrow is not promised to any of us and as this scripture says can worry add a single hour to my life? What is promised to us is the Word of God.

Isaiah 55:11 says that "God's Word will not return empty."

Did Job know that I wonder? Do I know that? Yes.

Now I am not the only one who has a son who has been laid off from their job; I have other family members and other friends whose children have also lost their jobs and it has been months and they have not found employment. They did nothing to lose their jobs but come in to work one day to be told that they no longer had a job!

Even though I know that many around the country are or have gone through what my son is experiencing, it doesn't necessarily give me comfort. What comforts me is that God's Word says I can" give all my worries to Him because He cares for me." (1 Peter 5:7) And if He cares for me, He certainly cares for my son.

Can I do anything about anything without God's help? No.

I am instructed to have faith, just the size of a mustard seed. I am to be obedient because in
2 Chronicles 16:9 it says, "The Lord is constantly watching everyone, and He gives strength to those who faithfully obey Him." I am to be obedient to the Word of God, and I am to trust God with all the details of my life, my family's life, and especially my son's life.

The Word of God reminds me that I cannot even imagine all the things that God has in store for me. I am holding God to His promise because if He says it, He will do it.

I am going to pray and be thankful for all God has done and I am going to thank God for all He is going to do, in His time and in His will, and in His way.

Thought for Today: Have faith and trust God with all the details of your life.