Choosing Faith In A World Of WorrySample

God Knows Where We Live 

When God calls us to trust him, he is not being naive. He knows what kind of world we live in, and he knows better than we do how disappointing it can be. In fact, we’re the ones who are often naive in our expectations. Our culture of worry is informed by our misguided understanding that ease and prosperity are normal conditions that God somehow owes us. 

Instead, we should expect trouble, just as Jesus promised his followers before his assurance that he has overcome the world (John 16:33). God knows we will have hardship. He is not intimidated by our circumstances. We are not here to avoid pain or simply to seek our own pleasure. 

While we’re here, in “this life that is dominated by sin and death” (Romans 7:24), we will never have the safe, comfortable, perfect life we want. And if we did achieve the best possible life on this planet, we would be settling for so much less than what God offers us. Our longings are not meant to drive us toward our own comfort in this life. They’re meant to drive us to Christ and to long for him and what he offers. Yet so many of our worries are fueled by our desire to make of this life what it simply cannot be.

God wants to relieve our burdens. Jesus proclaimed, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). But it isn’t just everyday rest he wants to give us—it’s soul-deep Sabbath rest, the rest from trying to save and redeem ourselves from the burden of sin. From trying to fix ourselves and this world at the same time. From trying to somehow be good to enough to achieve peace.

He doesn’t want us to carry the weight of the world. One of the marks of his people is this spiritual rest that can be found only in him. Such rest grants us freedom to live by faith. 

From Anxious by Amy Simpson