Life is full of unknowns. We don’t always know why things are happening or what will happen in the future. In fact, we usually don’t know. We may have questions about many kinds of things, including spiritual matters, world/national/community affairs, career, relationships, physical well-being, and finances. We may worry about our own lives, or we may worry about loved ones.

God, through His Holy Spirit, enables believers in Christ to grow in love, joy, peace and patience, among other things (Galatians 5:22-23). Yet the cares and concerns of this world may still sometimes threaten to prevent us from manifesting this spiritual fruit (Matthew 13:22). Perhaps you are like me; I have a natural tendency to over-analyze things. I want to know why things are happening or not happening in my life, and to know what will happen in the future. Even though we know God is in charge and that we should not worry, we may still do it anyway. I have sometimes wondered: Am I doing anything to prevent God’s will for my life from happening? We may become anxious, tossing back and forth in our minds about something.

That is not what God wants for us. He wants us to be assured of His love and care for us, to grow in our relationship with Him, and to experience His goodness, not to worry ourselves to death about things we cannot understand or control.

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines worry as “mental distress or agitation resulting from concern usually for something impending or anticipated”. In addition to concern over what will happen in the future, we are also including, in our definition, concern for why things are the way that they are.

Things will not always make sense

We will not always understand why things are the way they are. God’s ways are higher than ours. Also, it does not always suit His purposes to reveal to us everything He is doing and how He is doing it.

Just as you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the bones form in the womb of a pregnant woman,
so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. (Ecclesiastes 11:5)

But sometimes it is a very difficult thing to not know. It can be hard for our minds to find peace or rest without knowing. Perhaps this is the essence of worrying: We want to know, to understand, but we have insufficient information to analyze; we have insufficient knowledge with which to reach a conclusion. When we think, for whatever reason, that we must reach some sort of definitive conclusion anyway, then we are condemning ourselves to tossing back and forth between various possibilities.

There is a sense in which our desire to know and understand stems from being created in God’s image:

I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11, NIV)

So what is the difference between healthy curiosity and worrying? Ultimately, worry is unbelief in God, in His sovereignty and care. Worry is really a lack of faith.

This may seem to be a rather bold statement. After all, “everybody does it.” Worry is so commonplace that we may have come to see it as something we can indulge or tolerate in our lives.

But let’s think about this for a moment. We know we will not understand everything that is happening. We know God is in charge of everything. And we know that worry is without benefit to us and can actually do more harm than good. If we still decide to spin our wheels by worrying, it must mean that we are not, for whatever reason, fully trusting God.

If we have trusted in Jesus to save us, then God has forgiven us, adopted us into His family, given us His Spirit, and is working to transform us into the people He wants us to be.

And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)

God is in charge and is working for the good of those who love Him. If we believe this — really believe it — then we should be willing to accept not knowing or understanding things sometimes. After all, if God is really working supernaturally in our world, then there are going to be things that we cannot explain naturally. If everything has to always make sense to me, then I am not leaving room for God to work in my life. Instead of wanting to understand everything, we should trust God and be responsive to His leadership. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Don’t worry about tomorrow

Not only should we not worry about what is happening, we also should not worry about the future. If we have difficulty understanding the present, how much more difficult it is to guess the future! But, as we have already seen, in a larger spiritual sense we do know what the future holds: We will be conformed to the image of Christ and glorified with Him, if we have put our faith in Him. If we really believe God is in charge and is working for the good of those who love Him, we should be willing to leave our future in His hands.

This does not mean we should adopt a passive attitude toward life, or not care about what will happen or the results of our actions. But we should understand the role that God has given us to play in His kingdom. He ensures the outcome but has given us the opportunity to participate in bringing it about.

There is a popular saying which says, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” This can be a little misleading, as our destination in life matters very much. We are either moving toward the destination of heaven, being with God for eternity, or moving away from God and persisting in rebellion. Our destination has eternal implications. Also, the saying might suggest to some that life is about maximizing our enjoyment of this world. God cares about our well-being in this world but cares even more about our spiritual well-being and destiny. Nevertheless, the saying may be of some use if it helps us to be less ‘result-oriented’ and more ‘process-oriented’. We don’t need to obsess about the future or the outcome of what is happening in our lives — God will look after that. It is more profitable for us to focus on living now the way God wants us to live, on being the people He wants us to be.

The apostle Paul, writing to the believers in Corinth on the subject of disagreements about church teaching, indirectly provided some insight into what our attitude should be toward our lives as God’s servants:

What is Apollos, really? Or what is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, and each of us in the ministry the Lord gave us. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow. So neither the one who plants counts for anything, nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters work as one, but each will receive his reward according to his work. We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what kind of work each has done. If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward. If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:5-15)

God has given us the privilege of planting and watering seed, but God is the one who makes it grow. We cannot do anything about whether the seed will grow or not, and we don’t need to worry about it. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about what will happen, just that we need to focus on our task, which is planting or watering or whatever God has given us to do. Note also that each person’s work will ultimately be revealed for what it is. We might sometimes think that what we do will go unnoticed or unappreciated. But we can be sure that regardless of the quality of our work, eventually “each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day” will reveal “what kind of work each has done.” God sees what no one else does and will reward us accordingly.

We are free to focus on serving God, because He will look after the final result of what we do. And if He does that, He will also provide for us whatever we need to serve Him, as Jesus said:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are? And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t he clothe you even more, you people of little faith? So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25-34)

Again, this is not saying we can be passive and not do anything, but that we can trust God with our lives. He will equip us to glorify Him and be a blessing to others. Paul, in a letter to believers in Thessalonica, after mentioning the eventual return of Jesus, stressed the significance of our lives here and now:

And in this regard we pray for you always, that our God will make you worthy of his calling and fulfill by his power your every desire for goodness and every work of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)

If our life in this world is a journey, it is not merely something we have to grit our teeth and endure until we can get to heaven, all the while feverishly trying to ensure that all goes well along the way. It is, rather, an adventure in which we can experience His goodness and enjoy the privilege of participating in what God is doing in the lives of others, all the while being assured that He will provide whatever is needed along the way.

Pray

So if we find ourselves consumed by worry, how can we free ourselves from it and start entrusting ourselves to God? We can start by admitting that we cannot free ourselves. But through the power of God all things are possible.

First, we must hear and believe what God has said about this. Some of the relevant scripture passages have already been noted. God is in charge, He is worthy of our trust, He will carry out His purposes to bless us and enable us to be a blessing to others, and He will always be with us and take care of us. God’s blessings to us are first and foremost spiritual blessings. “For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

If we believe what God has said, we can approach Him in prayer and ask for what He has promised in the name of Jesus, who promised His disciples, “‘At that time you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive it, so that your joy may be complete.’” (John 16:23-24) We can ask God to help us to not worry about something, and He will.

When we pray to God about a problem, we admit that we are unable to solve it ourselves, we acknowledge that He is able to handle it, and we express trust in Him to work things out for the best. It is hard to do this, and at the same time, to keep worrying about the problem, about what is going to happen, and about how we are going to solve it.

If worry has become strongly established, it may take time to overcome and it may be very difficult at first. But the longer we persist in prayer, the more the worry will diminish. The further this process goes, the easier it will become.

If you are like me you may have found yourself worrying about something that you have known all along is really not worth worrying about. You may feel it is not worth bothering God about. First of all, God loves us and is interested in our well-being in every aspect of our lives. There is no such thing as something that is too trivial to talk to God about. Second, even if I think something is trivial, if I am becoming paralyzed by worry about it, that is certainly not trivial. You may find helpful a principle that has helped me: If it’s worth worrying about, it’s worth praying about. If it’s not worth praying about, it’s not worth worrying about. Or, to put it a little differently: If I worry about something, I have to pray about it. If I am not willing to pray about something, I don’t let myself worry about it.

If we will do this consistently, if we will, when we are beset by questions about what is happening or will happen, turn to God and talk to Him about it, rather than worrying about it, we can live victoriously and confidently in the face of uncertainty.

This doesn’t mean that everything in our life will always suit us perfectly, or even that we will always get what we ask for. Remember what Jesus prayed on the night before His crucifixion:

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

But we can have the joy which comes from the assurance that God will accomplish His purposes. That same night, Jesus also prayed this:

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” (John 17:24)

Christ has overcome the world

As we travel on our spiritual journey, we do not always understand our surroundings, and we cannot see everything on the path between where we are and the final destination, but we who believe know what our destination is.

Our surroundings can not only be incomprehensible, they will often be hostile. We live in a fallen world, and we will pay a price for identifying with Jesus. As He told His disciples:

“If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed my word, they will obey yours too. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.” (John 15:18-21)

However, God, through His Word and His Spirit, tells us what we need to know during our lives in this world, as Jesus promised to His disciples:

“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you what is to come.” (John 16:12-13)

No matter what we encounter on our spiritual journey, we can be assured that Christ has given us the victory, and that God will take care of us.

“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage — I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33)

Most importantly, if we have put our faith in Jesus, we have His assurance of our spiritual destination:

“Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too.” (John 14:1-3)

Not too long ago, my friend, Fred, told the rest of us in our Sunday School class about an experience he had which illustrates some important things about our relationship with God. I recently asked him to write down what happened so I could share it with you here:

*****

My friend Andy asked me to put into words an experience I had when God was watching over me and answered an immediate prayer concern of mine.

So here goes

I travel a lot with my business and sometimes I get caught up in trying to “handle” everything. I had driven to the Dallas, Tx area one week to get one of my crews started on a job there and I had “handled” pretty much everything. Before I left to head back to Georgia in the morning there were some last minute things that came up and I ended up giving the guys all my cash.

I should add that while I was at the hotel getting rooms a young lady approached me crying because she didn’t have gas money to get to Dallas. I gave her 10.00 dollars and told her I would pray for her safe travel. Which I did.

I drove most of the day back to Georgia but around 10:30 pm central time I realized I was going to have to stop for gas. It was then that I realized that I didn’t have any money. To make matters worse I didn’t have any money in my acccount that I had a debit card for. My thought process was, what do I do? First I gave my truck a thorough search and came up with 7.25 which I put in my tank. Then I called my wife to try and get her to wire me some money. It was too late in the day for that so I took my 7.25 worth of gas and kept going. I made it to metro Atlanta with my low fuel light on for the last 50 miles. I drove that far with it on because I had calculated how far I could go based on MPG and how big my gas tank was, etc. So there I was in Atlanta at 1:30 am EST with no gas and no money. I tried everything I could think of. I tried to transfer money to my ATM card, I tried to make a purchase with other cards I had. Nothing worked. So I resigned myself to sitting in my truck until morning when I could take care of things. While I was sitting in my truck I FINALLY talked to God about the situation I was in. I apologized for not talking to him earlier, but like I said before I sometimes get caught up in trying to “handle” things. When I had finished praying I felt a lot better about my plight. I went into a Kroger grocery store that was in the plaza parking lot I was sitting in. I figured I would get a soda pop or something. There were only two women in the store (it was almost 2:00 am) and when I walked through the door one women said to the other “there he is”. I had to ask what she meant and she asked me if I went to church and if I believed in God. I told her I did and then she told me how she had been telling her friend how she was too worried about money all the time and, in trying to help with that, she needed to just give ten dollars to the next person who walked through the door. That’s why she said “there he is” when I walked through the door. She then asked me what I needed. I responded, honestly, that I needed ten dollars for gas to get home and then I told her my story and that I had been sitting out in my truck praying for God to forgive me but also for His help. When they heard all that they started running around screaming and carrying on. It was hillarious. We prayed together and I left (with ten dollars).

As a footnote;

My truck gets 18 or 19 mpg and that’s based on the 190,000 miles I have driven in the last 3 1/2 years. I had been driving for 50 miles with my low fuel light on. Realistically, 10 dollars shouldn’t have even turned off my low fuel light, but I ended up with 1/4 tank and in the 52 miles home my low fuel light never came on that night or the next day on my way to the gas station.

How many gallons of gas do you think I pumped into my 25 gallon gas tank that morning? I know how many.

Don’t be afraid to ask Him and by the way he “handles” things a lot better than I do.

Thanx for asking Andy, remembering that day made my day.

Fred

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9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning — the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fourth day.

Genesis 1:9-19 (NIV)

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Again, the Genesis account strongly suggests that God continued to be involved in the development of Earth and its life forms after the initial creation of matter and energy; this development was not an automatic or random process.

Verses 14-19 seem to show a deliberate downplaying of the importance of the sun and moon; in the ancient world they were widely regarded as deities and worshiped. The Bible makes it clear that they were created by God for His purposes. “Lights” in verse 16 is not the plural of “light” but rather a word indicating mediators — as opposed to originators — of light. The sun and moon are not even directly mentioned by name; they are referred to only as the “greater light” and “lesser light”.

These verses also seem to reflect a pre-scientific outlook. The heavenly bodies are of course not in the sky, but they appear to be, from the view of someone standing on the ground. It is worth noting that before the 19th century, astronomers had little idea how far the stars are from the earth. H. L. Ellison pointed out that the revelation given to Moses (or whoever wrote Genesis) may not have been purely or even mainly verbal; it could have been largely visual, in which case the writer was relating what he saw. If this is true (and it is impossible to know if it is or not), it might help explain why the account of the creation of these heavenly bodies is deferred until after the creation of the earth, atmosphere, land and oceans, and vegetation. Then again, it might be due to the desire to play down the spiritual significance of these bodies.

Forgiveness of sin is through faith in Jesus Christ and nothing else. Our confession of faith in Jesus must be accompanied by repentance — genuine remorse for what we have done and a desire to turn away from it — for it to do us any good, because even the demons believe Jesus is Lord, and shudder (James 2:19). Once we have been forgiven of our sin and made right with God, and He has sent His Holy Spirit into us, we should be growing in the fruit of that Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26) — there should eventually be a significant difference between our attitudes and actions and those of most other people in this world. Godly attitudes and actions do not save us; they are evidence that we have been saved. If we stumble and do something wrong, as we will still sometimes tend to do, the Holy Spirit will not allow our mind to rest until we have admitted to God what we did and turned away from it, and made it up with whoever we have wronged.

For anyone who is unsure about the above points, the following sermon by Paul Washer will bring it home very forcefully and directly. There are those who claim to be Christians who have never had a point in their life or a period in their life where they realized they were a sinner and needed to be transformed by the power of God. For them this sermon is highly recommended. There are those who have confessed faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, and knew what they were saying and meant it, but their attitudes and actions are indistinguishable from the rest of the world. They sense that something is wrong — that there is a disconnect between what they are saying and what they are doing — but they can’t put their finger on it or be sure how concerned about it they should be. For them this sermon is also highly recommended.

Paul Washer is director of HeartCry Missionary Society, which supports indigenous missionaries around the world. This sermon is to a youth conference in the US, but its message is relevant for any age. The sermon is about an hour long. Consider it an investment in your spiritual future. It is not calming and soothing, it is jarring and unsettling. But remember, the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 110:10). “My child, do not despise discipline from the LORD, and do not loathe his rebuke. For the LORD disciplines those he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)

Please understand this: what is being talked about here is not that we should “try to be more religious.” What we are talking about here is letting God have His way with us — letting Him do a work of spiritual rebirth in us, a rebirth that will make our attitudes and actions noticeably different from those of the world in general.

There are two groups of people this message is primarily directed to. To understand who these groups are, let’s look at Jesus’ Parable of the Sower. “He told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil. They sprang up quickly because the soil was not deep. But when the sun came up, they were scorched, and because they did not have sufficient root, they withered. Other seeds fell among the thorns, and they grew up and choked them. But other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. The one who has ears had better listen!’” (Matthew 13:3-9)

“‘So listen to the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; this is the seed sown along the path. The seed sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. But he has no root in himself and does not endure; when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, so it produces nothing. But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands. He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.’” (Matthew 13:18-23)

In this parable, the seed which falls along the path represents those who hear the gospel and do not understand it; they do not receive it into their heart. They have no room for God in their life. They reject the call to repent, much less to allow God to work a change in their life. The message presented here is not aimed primarily at them.

The seed sown on good soil represents the person who hears the word and understands it; they receive it into their heart. They repent of their sin, believe in Jesus, and allow God’s Spirit to transform their life. They have already heard the message and have taken it to heart. There are some who accepted Jesus very early in life and don’t have a history of sinning greatly followed by a radical transformation in their lifestyle. The important thing is that their attitudes and actions show that they know God because they look more and more like Christ and less and less like the world.

The unregenerate religious person

The first group we are mainly concerned with here is represented by the seed which falls on rocky soil. The plant grows up but does not last because it has no root; the soil was too shallow. This person may say they believe in Jesus and may even do a lot of religious things and show a lot of religious fervor. However, they never really believed. There never was repentance; they never really admitted to God that they were a sinner in need of forgiveness. Therefore, their declaration of faith in Jesus was essentially meaningless, and whatever religious things they do are by their own effort, not by the Holy Spirit. If trouble or persecution comes their way because of their religious involvement, they will not hang around very long. Even if they do, it will not do them any good at the judgment. While they knew things about Jesus, they never knew Jesus, and Jesus never knew them. That is why, as Paul Washer pointed out, there will be surprised people on the day of judgment. “‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter into the kingdom of heaven — only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?” Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!”‘” (Matthew 7:21-23)

So what should you do if you recognize yourself here? It is imperative that you hear what the Word of God has to say about how we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that you believe it and have a change of heart about it. Immerse yourself in passages of scripture such as Psalm 51, Isaiah 53, Ezekiel 33:7-20, Habakkuk 2:9-20, Matthew 7 and 25, John 3, 4 and 6:35-59, Acts 17:16-31, and Revelation 16. One of the best things you can do is set aside a few hours and carefully read the first five chapters of Romans, not moving on from one paragraph to the next until you are reasonably sure you understand the previous one. Pray to God, asking Him to help you understand His Word and show you where you have gone wrong. Ask questions of Christian friends or others who can help you understand difficult passages. The important thing, when we realize there is something we should care about but don’t, such as how we have sinned against God, is to turn to God and ask Him in prayer to show us what we are blind to, to give us the concern we don’t have. There is nothing God wants more than for us to ask Him to do for us what we admit we cannot do for ourselves. And His Word works with His Spirit to do this.

The casual Christian

The second major group we are mainly concerned with is represented by the seed which falls among the thorns. The seed sprouted, but the thorns growing around the plant choked it and prevented it from being fruitful. This is the person we could call a ‘casual Christian’. They hear the Word and receive it, they repent and believe in Jesus, but the cares and concerns of this world and the deceitfulness of worldly things distract them from following Jesus. There is little room in that person’s heart for the Holy Spirit to move and operate because so much of that person’s heart is crowded with worldly things. Paul Washer said in his sermon that there is no such thing as a ‘carnal Christian’, and certainly it is legitimate to question how much repentance accompanied someone’s confession of faith when they go on sinning like before. God and that person know whether they really have placed their faith in Christ. At the same time, spiritual growth is a process; we don’t necessarily go overnight from being a bad tree bearing bad fruit to being a good tree bearing good fruit. Nevertheless, there ought to be significant and lasting spiritual growth in a believer’s life. This growth will be very limited if we are not putting the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first in our lives, if we are not surrendering to God and letting the Holy Spirit really move in our lives.

This, first of all, grieves God, because He didn’t send His Son to die just so we could go on sinning like before. Secondly, it prevents us from experiencing the abundant life Jesus promised us, because we aren’t giving the Holy Spirit any room in our hearts. It’s like inviting a guest into our home but stipulating that they have to stay in the foyer or the basement and cannot go anywhere else in the house. Thirdly, it means we cannot be a blessing in the lives of others like God wants. Our consciousness of our continued sinfulness tends to discourage us from talking to others about Jesus. Even if we do talk about it, chances are we are just bringing discredit to the name of Jesus because the person we are talking to sees no difference between us and everyone else. We cannot lead others to Jesus unless we ourselves are following Jesus.

I know what I’m talking about because I’ve been there. I’ve been the casual Christian; I know the mindset, the mentality; I know all about it. I placed my faith in Jesus as a pre-teen and knew what I was declaring when I did so. But for many years, while the talk was there, most people would not have known from my behavior what I believed. It was inconceivable to me that there could be a life worth living in which one could not commit any sin at all. But I sensed that there was something wrong with my attitude; the Holy Spirit was convicting me. I sensed that I needed to take in God’s Word on a regular basis and did so; over time He used His Word, His Spirit, and many different people and things to get my attention. Finally I committed to following Jesus and letting the Holy Spirit have its way with me; the resulting change in me was sudden and dramatic and extended to every area of my life.

What to do

You may be saying, “OK, I’m convinced. I have been preoccupied with the things of the world rather than the things of God, and I shouldn’t be. I, too, sense there is something wrong with how I am living. But how do I change? How do I follow Christ like I ought to?”

The single most important thing to do is to take in God’s Word on a regular basis. It is a necessity for our spiritual life. And in this day and age there are many different ways to do this, not just by reading it. Hearing the Word of God must be a priority; it is the first step in our spiritual journey, not just for salvation, but for spiritual growth and anything else we want in our lives. We cannot concoct our own recipe for becoming the people God wants us to be; we can’t improve on God’s truth. We’ve got to take His Word into our hearts and keep it there.

Then, we’ve got to believe what we have heard. We’ve got to think about it, meditate on it, take it to heart. In other words, we have to hear God’s Word with our brain turned on, rather than just letting it go in one ear and out the other. We’ve got to listen to it critically, meaning we think about what it means, whether we believe it; if we do, why; if we don’t, why.

After we hear God’s Word, after we believe what we have heard, then we have to act on what we believe. The most important single action we can usually take is to pray. We come before God with that passage of scripture that contains something we want and we pray in Jesus’ name that God will do it for us, believing as we ask that we have received what we asked for — even before we see it. For example, if we want to grow in love or in self-control we go to the scripture that contains that promise and ask for it. Or if there is a scripture that says we should avoid saying careless, hurtful, disparaging things about others, and we are not convinced that that is a big deal, we can pray to God to help us see that it is important and to give us the desire to say things that build people up rather than tearing them down. In addition to praying, we need to be ready to do whatever God commands us to do, whether it is something He says in His Word or something He says directly to us individually. We need to be ready to do whatever God leads us to do in the spiritual or the natural realm.

When we hear the Word, believe the Word, and act on the Word, we can count on God to keep His Word. He will keep the promises He has made in the Bible. If we pray to Him having admitted and turned away from any sins we may have committed, with right motives, in Jesus’ name for things in His will, with faith that He will do what we ask, He will hear that prayer and respond. He will enable us to know Him and love Him for who He is. He will give us salvation, love, peace, joy, and abundance and blessings in every area of life — spiritual, professional, relational, physical, financial. He will motivate us and enable us to be a blessing in the lives of others, so that they can know God, so they can experience life to the fullest, so they can in turn be a blessing.

This is what real life is. The person who has allowed God to change them by the power of His Spirit finds a world that the nonbeliever, or even the believer who has kept the Holy Spirit at arm’s length, knows nothing about. It is a world that you cannot believe exists until you are in it. Once you are in it, you will wonder how anyone could live outside of it.

And ultimately, no one will live outside of it. “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:20-23)

Psalm 107 is a beautiful testament of praise and adoration to God. All good things are from Him, and He loves us more than we realize. Even our rebellion can be used by God to bring about spiritual growth. Once we realize God’s love for us and His power to save us, we will wonder how we could have looked for life anywhere else.

No matter where we are, where we have been, or what has happened to us, we can find life if we will turn to God. No matter what we struggle with, whether it’s financial mistakes, addictions, broken relationships, the catastrophes brought upon us by this imperfect world, the consequences of our own wrongdoing, mistreatment at the hands of wicked or deceitful people, or anything else, we can turn to God. In Him we can endure, overcome, and even thrive in the face of it all. It is never too late to ask God for help, never too late to turn to Him. It is what He wants more than anything — for us to turn and submit to Him so that He can give us lives filled with love, peace and joy.

The last verse says it all: …”consider the great love of the LORD.” Here is the psalm quoted in its entirety. There will be no more commentary from this point on; let’s just read it and let its truth and assurance enter our minds and hearts.

Psalm 107 (NIV)

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say this –
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west, from north and south.

Some wandered in desert wastelands,
finding no way to a city where they could settle.
They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way
to a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.

Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom,
prisoners suffering in iron chains,
for they had rebelled against the words of God
and despised the counsel of the Most High.
So he subjected them to bitter labor;
they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom
and broke away their chains.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron.

Some became fools through their rebellious ways
and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
They loathed all food
and drew near the gates of death.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
He sent forth his word and healed them;
he rescued them from the grave.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men.
Let them sacrifice thank offerings
and tell of his works with songs of joy.

Others went out on the sea in ships;
they were merchants on the mighty waters.
They saw the works of the LORD,
his wonderful deeds in the deep.
For he spoke and stirred up a tempest
that lifted high the waves.
They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;
in their peril their courage melted away.
They reeled and staggered like drunken men;
they were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.
They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men.
Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the counsel of the elders.

He turned rivers into a desert,
flowing springs into thirsty ground,
and fruitful land into a salt waste,
because of the wickedness of those who lived there.
He turned the desert into pools of water
and the parched ground into flowing springs;
there he brought the hungry to live,
and they founded a city where they could settle.
They sowed fields and planted vineyards
that yielded a fruitful harvest;
he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased,
and he did not let their herds diminish.

Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled
by oppression, calamity and sorrow;
he who pours contempt on nobles
made them wander in a trackless waste.
But he lifted the needy out of their affliction
and increased their families like flocks.
The upright see and rejoice,
but all the wicked shut their mouths.
Whoever is wise, let him heed these things
and consider the great love of the LORD.

Above: Distant galaxies seen through the Hubble Space Telescope (NASA/ESA/STSci)

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1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the second day.

Genesis 1:1-8 (NIV)

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Obviously this is dealing with the creation of the universe. “In the beginning” — of what? God’s existence? No, it appears to be in the beginning of the universe as we know it — the natural realm, matter and energy. The universe began when God created the heavens and the earth.

Who and what existed, and what was going on before creation, is a subject that is really outside the scope of the Genesis account, and outside the scope of the Bible as a whole. There may be some passages that allude to it, but if so, they elude me at the moment.

Nor is Genesis intended to be a comprehensive natural history of the universe. Genesis is concerned with the relationship between God and his creation, including humanity. That does not mean it has nothing to say about natural events, just that that is not the area of emphasis.

Of course, people 3,000+ years ago did not have the scientific knowledge of the universe we have today. But they could gather some basic truths from the Genesis account, truths which we can also rely on today.

For one thing, God created the universe. It did not just happen to somehow, accidentally come into existence. Its creation was deliberate. The word translated “created” in verse 1, the Hebrew verb bara’, refers specifically to God’s originative activity. Secondly, God did not kick things off and then go into retirement. He continued to be involved in directing and guiding the development of the universe and this world.

I am not an astrophysicist, but if we assume that modern scientific theories about the development of the universe are substantially correct, the early ‘moments’ of the universe were characterized by complex changes and developments in the arrangement of matter and energy, occurring in accordance with physical laws. It might, from our perspective, seem likely to have been quite chaotic, but there was actually a great deal of order being imposed.

The Hebrew word yom (”day”, in verses 5 and 8) does not always refer to a 24-hour period, and the text does not tell us exactly how much time is meant here. Biblical scholars have offered many different interpretations. Modern science tells us that a considerable amount of time was involved in the development of the universe, and I can see no good reason to doubt this.

At the same time, we must remember that God is sovereign over His creation and over the physical laws which He put in place to govern it. His actions do not require a natural explanation. In other words, we should learn what we can about the universe while remembering that God trumps nature.

Above: The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and Companion Galaxy (NASA/ESA/STSci/AURA)

Hello, everyone!

Basically the purpose of this blog is to reach people with God’s Word, so that non-believers may become believers, and believers may be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. I am convinced that Jesus is the answer for our troubled world, and that our lives, families, communities, nations and world can experience a radical transformation to the degree that we allow God to fill us with his Holy Spirit. And I am convinced of the truth of what Jesus said to the woman at the well when she asked Him about the “living water” He had just offered her. “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” (John 4:13-14, NIV)

I put this off for a long time; I was too busy with another project. I’ve reached the point where I cannot bear to put it off any longer.