Anxiety, Hope and Our FatherSample
Trusting Our Father with Today
Jesus lived and taught when Israel was in captivity under Roman rule. His audience understood that “each day has enough trouble of its own,” both from their current state and from Israel’s not-too-recent past.
Israel’s failures and resulting captivity in Babylon marked a bleak time in the nation’s history. God’s chosen people, including their leaders, had turned from Him and were finally defeated and exiled to Babylon. But even during this terrible time in the history of God’s people, in a book full of lament, they could still trust in God’s love.
“I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness…. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him” (Lamentations 3:21b-23, 25).
During anxious times, we can hope in the Father because his compassions never fail. He’s faithful even when we’re not. But as Jesus described, if we don’t seek him first, anxiety about tomorrow can steal our joy in the Father today.
If we can seek the Father’s face first, before letting our anxious hearts worry about the future, our gratitude can overcome our anxiety. Today would be a good day to read, mouth, or even sing the final words of the chorus of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” to our Father:
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
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About this Plan
Times are tough. Anxiety can grow inside us like a contagion as we battle external stress and internal doubt. Jesus knew that the better we know our Father, the less reason we’ll have to be anxious. In Matthew 6, Jesus draws us back to our Father, the One who sees us, knows our needs, and provides hope.
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