When Josie’s ill and aging father moved in with her, she felt overwhelmed by the daily needs of caring for him. The medications she needed to buy were expensive. The caregiving tasks and the wisdom needed to guide her decision-making for his worsening health condition, aside from her “full-time” job, were wearing her down. She said, “How could I keep gathering and giving out strength, practical resources, wisdom, and love?”
Josie found hope in Lamentations, a book about the grief Jeremiah and God’s people felt. Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians, and the Jews now faced the uncertain days of exile ahead. The suffering was overwhelming, but God promised that “because of [His] great love we are not consumed” (Lamentations 3:22). His covenant love would remain with them, even if they were no longer in the promised land: “for his mercies never cease” (v. 22
God’s love for His children has no limits. “God is my portion, my personal source of everything,” Josie realized, echoing verse 24. “I can gather and give out what’s needed each day because I draw my strength from Him, whose love never runs out.”
As we live in obedience to God, we can have hope, no matter what lies ahead. In His perfect wisdom, He knows what we need and will provide for us as He sees best.
As an answer to prayer, unexpected funds from Alex’s insurance had already paid for his dental treatment. Now, another treatment was necessary. Where will I get the money for that? Alex grumbled. Resentful thoughts of heavy expenses filled his mind.
At the time when a deposit to the dentist was due, however, a cash gift from a relative suddenly arrived. “I felt ashamed,” Alex said. “I’d already seen how God had provided for me with the insurance payment. I shouldn’t have grumbled but asked Him for help instead.”
When the Israelites entered the Desert of Shur, they’d just experienced God’s deliverance at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:1-31). His miraculous help, however, now seemed forgotten as they grumbled over the absence of potable water in the desert (15:22-24). The Hebrew word for “grumbling” refers to rebellion against God. The resentful response of the Israelites was very different from Moses’, who asked God for help (v. 25). Later, God graciously provided water for His people (vv. 25-27).
In times of need, we can avoid grumbling by asking God for help as Moses did. Whether His help comes in miraculous ways, practical provision, people’s assistance, or the strength to endure, we can trust that He hears us and cares for us.
I was unable to focus on a work project because of anxiety; I was afraid that my plans for it wouldn’t succeed. My anxiety came from pride. I believed my timeline and plans were best, so I wanted them to proceed unhindered. A question broke through my thoughts, however: Are your plans God’s plans?
The problem wasn’t my planning─God calls us to be wise stewards of our time, opportunities, and resources. The problem was my arrogance. I was fixated on my understanding of events and how I wanted them to turn out, not on God’s purpose and how He wanted my plans to turn out.
James encourages us to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” (4:15). We’re to plan not with a presumptuous mindset, thinking we know everything and have control over our life, but from a position of submission to God’s sovereignty and wisdom. After all, we “do not even know what will happen tomorrow.” In our humanness, we’re helpless and weak, like “a mist that appears … and then vanishes” (v. 14).
Only God has authority and power over everything in our lives; we don’t. Through His Word and the people, resources, and circumstances He allows each day, He guides us to live in submission to His will and ways. Our plans aren’t to come from following ourselves but from following Him.
As a child, when asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?,” Ben would say, “I want to be like Dave.” Ben’s older brother was athletic, sociable, and an honor student. Ben, on the other hand, says, “I was clumsy in sports, timid, and struggled with a learning disability. I’d always wanted a close relationship with Dave, but he didn’t. He called me ‘the boring one.’ ”
Ben spent much of his life pursuing his brother’s love in vain. It was only when Ben became a follower of Jesus that he learned to rest in the love of his Savior instead.
Leah, the first wife of Jacob, spent much of her life pursuing her husband’s love (Genesis 29:32-34). Jacob, however, remained devoted to Rachel. But God saw Leah’s plight and made up for the rejection in her life. He blessed her by allowing her to be a mother, a great honor at that time (v. 31). Leah, unseen and unheard by her husband, was lovingly seen and heard by God (vv. 32-33). She gave birth to a daughter and six sons, one of whom was Judah, a forefather of Jesus Himself. She said at his birth, “This time I will praise the Lord” (v. 35). Leah lived a long life in Canaan and was buried in a place of honor–with Jacob’s family (49:29-32).
When we experience rejection, let’s find comfort in Leah’s story. We can rest in the love of God, who makes up for what we lack.
It was painful to see my dad losing his memory. Dementia is cruel, taking away all the recollections of people until there’s no remembrance left of the life they lived. One night, I had a dream I believe God used to encourage me. In the dream, He had a small treasure chest in His hands. “All your dad’s memories are safely stored here,” He told me. “I’ll keep them in the meantime. Then one day, in heaven, I’ll return them to him.”
In the following years, this dream comforted me whenever my dad didn’t know who I was. I’d be reminded that his disease was temporary. Because he was a child of God, he’d be permanently restored one day.
It also helped to remember that Paul described suffering as “light and momentary” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Paul wasn’t underplaying suffering; he himself had suffered much (vv. 7-12). He was emphasizing that in the light of eternity and the future glory that’s ours in Christ, our troubles are light and momentary. All the glorious blessings we already have in Christ and will also one day experience will infinitely outweigh them all (v. 17).
Because of God and His promises, we can choose not to lose heart. Even as we suffer, we can live each day in faith, relying on His power to renew us (v. 16). Let’s “fix our eyes” on His eternal promises today (v. 18).
Fear woke me at 3 a.m. on the first day of the new year. The year ahead weighed heavily on me, overwhelming me with dread. Illness in the family had long wearied me, and now, thoughts of the future made me afraid. Will more bad things happen? I wondered.
Jesus’ disciples understood the fear of bad things happening. Even though their Master had prepared and reassured them the day before He died, they were still afraid. They fled when He was arrested (Matthew 26:56); Peter denied Him (John 18:15−17, 25−27), and they went into hiding (John 20:19). Their fear during the upheaval of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, as well as of persecution, led them to act contrary to His command to “take heart” and His promise, “I have overcome the world.”
But Jesus’ death and resurrection proved His authority and power over life and death. He has the ultimate victory. Even though the sinful state of our world makes suffering a certainty, we can rest in the truth that all things are subject to the authority of our wise and loving God. His presence and peace are with us (John 16:32−33), just as it was with His disciples, who later confidently went on to share the gospel to the world. May God’s promise that He’s in control strengthen our hearts to trust Him in this new year and be courageous even when we don’t know what the future will bring.
When my sister found a storybook from our childhood, my mom, now in her seventies, was delighted. She remembered all the funny details about a bear who stole honey and got chased by a swarm of angry bees. She also remembered how my sister and I laughed as we anticipated the bear’s escape. “Thank you for always telling us stories when we were kids,” I told my mom. She knows my whole story including what I was like as a young child. Now that I’m an adult, she still knows and understands me.
God knows us too─deeper than any human being can, including ourselves. David says He’s “searched” us (Psalm 139:1). In His love, He’s examined us and understands us perfectly. God knows our thoughts, understanding the reasons behind and meanings of what we say (vv. 2, 4). He’s intimately familiar with every detail that makes us who we are, and He uses this knowledge to help us (vv. 2-3). He who knows us most doesn’t turn away in distaste but reaches out to us with His love and wisdom (v. 5).
When we feel lonely, unseen, or forgotten, we can be secure in the truth that God is always with us, sees us, and knows us (vv. 7-10). He knows all the sides of us that others don’t─and more. Like David, we can say with confidence, “You know me . . . your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (vv. 1, 10).
Mila, a baking assistant, felt too helpless to defend herself when her supervisor accused her of pilfering some raisin bread. The unfounded assertion and corresponding salary deduction were just two of many wrongful actions from her supervisor. “God, please help,” Mila prayed each day. “It’s so hard working under her, but I need this job.”
Jesus tells of a widow who also felt helpless against injustice. She turned to someone with the authority to resolve her case—a judge. Despite knowing that the judge was unjust, she persisted in approaching him.
The judge’s eventual response is infinitely different from that of our heavenly Father, who quickly responds to His children’s cries with love and help (vv. 4-5, 7). If persistence could cause an unjust judge to take up a widow’s case, how much more can and will God, who is the just Judge, do for us (vv. 7-8)? We can trust Him, and being persistent in praying is one way of showing our trust. We persist because we have faith that God will respond in perfect wisdom to our situation.
Eventually, Mila’s supervisor resigned after other employees complained about her behavior towards them as well. As we walk in obedience to God, let’s persist in praying, knowing the power of our prayers lies in the 0ne who hears and helps us.
Andrew’s Volkswagen stopped, and the guards walked over. He prayed as he had many times in the past: “God, when You were on earth, You made blind eyes see. Now, please make seeing eyes blind.” The guards searched the car, saying nothing about the Bibles in the luggage. Andrew crossed the border, taking his cargo to those who couldn’t own a Bible.
Andrew van der Bijl, or Brother Andrew, relied on God’s power for the seemingly impossible task God had called him to—taking the Scriptures to countries where Christianity was illegal. “I’m an ordinary guy,” he said, emphasizing his limited education and lack of funds. “What I did, anyone can do.” Today, his organization, Open Doors International, serves persecuted believers in Jesus worldwide.
When Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, faced the seemingly impossible task of rebuilding the temple after the Jews returned from exile, he was discouraged. But God reminded him not to rely on human power or might, but on His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). He encouraged him through a vision given to the prophet Zechariah of lamps supplied with oil from nearby olive trees (vv. 2-3). Just as the lamps could burn because of the continual supply of oil, Zerubbabel and the Israelites could do God’s task by relying on His continuous supply of power.
As we rely on God, may we trust Him and do what He calls us to do.
