While I wasn’t looking

So I was waiting and watching for something to happen.  It usually happens at exactly this time, but the clock was ticking…and nothing.  I walked away for awhile and came back, still nothing.  I was getting pretty frustrated, I felt I needed this thing right now, like yesterday would be better.  I walked away again and came back…still nothing.  I finally gave up for the night and went to sleep, after all I have to work in the morning.  So I got up this morning determined to spend time with God instead of checking on that thing one last time.  I spent time in His Word and when I was done, then I checked and it had happened.  It happened while I wasn’t looking.  I was so worried about it, and it happened while I was asleep.  The whole ordeal just shined a spotlight on how much I depend on worldly things, and not as much on God.  It reminded me to go back to the Basics of my Faith.

The Cure for Anxiety (Matthew 6)

²⁵ “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

God is constant, trustworthy, reliable.  God is faithful, true and dependable.  God is always at work caring for me, for you, for all who trust in Him.  I forget just how much I am worth to God.  According to Jesus, I am certainly worth much more than the birds, My heavenly Father feeds them and says, “Are you not worth much more than they?”  Jesus didn’t give up His life for the birds, He gave up His life for me and for you.  Jesus wasn’t caught up in some wild mob over which He had no control, and just randomly  murdered.  He was in control even of His own death.  Here is what He says about it.   ¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. ¹⁸ No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”  (John 10) 

I too, am never caught up in situations that God is not in control of.  Jesus asks me not to worry, and yet that is usually my first reaction when pressed.  So I am learning how to not just “React,” but instead, to Rest in Him.  Back to Basics, looks like that is what I need to do as a reminder to myself.  The Apostle Peter says this:

¹² Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. ¹³ I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, ¹⁴ knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. ¹⁵ And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.  (2 Peter 1)

So we need to be reminded of things by God, and through each other at times.  A lot happens while e are not looking.  But God is always looking.  He is constant and faithful, true and right.  Let me leave you with the things that Peter said he wanted to remind us of.

 ² Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; ³ seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. ⁴ For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. ⁵ Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, ⁶ and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, ⁷ and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; ¹¹ for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.