Many times in my life I’ve felt as if I was at the end of my rope spiritually, mentally and physically. Trials and troubles we all face in life are overwhelming. Living life under these circumstances can seem as though we're trapped in a pressure cooker. More often than not, I didn’t have a person to talk to about my problems, so in desperation I turned to the only thing I had at that time, the word of God – The Bible.
Sometimes after maybe only fifteen minutes of taking in the truths from God’s word, I felt much better in my spirit and mind. The unrelenting pressure and worry over my previous trial I had faced then seemed to fade away. Peace came in and replaced uncertainty and fear. I don’t take antidepressants, but when really tough times in life have come knocking on my door, I think of the word of God as the best antidepressant there is.
In fact, only this morning I was feeling a little down and once again I reached for the truth. That was a few hours ago, now I am sitting at my desk, my previous anxieties and cares are now gone from me and I am writing to you!
What happens when we turn to the truth in our trying times of life?
When we are facing tough times, we are blindsided with the things in our life at present and the things of this earth. But when we turn to and take up God’s truth, his word, our attention is then shifted toward the words of the one who created us. We get too wrapped up in our problems and trials and struggles in this life and this gets our minds off of what is the most important aspect of our life. The most important aspect is our eternal and unending spirits and not the temporary situations or circumstances of our life at present. These situations in our life that get us down are only temporary. But when we are not spending any of our time with the truth of God’s words we are blindsided and little things have much more leeway to become major things to us and usually always do.
His spirit bears witness with our spirits
We join ourselves with the Lord when we choose to read of him and his ways which are written of in the bible. We learn about ourselves when we read his truth. We are saying, “I am turning to you Lord, because I cannot find my way out of these troubles I am going through”. There is very little truth to be found in this earth. There is in fact no truth that we can cling to when we are being tossed to and fro from the hits we all experience in life. The one place we can find truth and peace is in the Word of God. There are things temporary (this includes all things that pertain to the life we live on this earth) and there are things eternal (this includes all things that pertain to the life we will live in heaven). After we exit this life, we will spend eternity in either heaven or hell. We are told in the scriptures that Jesus has already paid for our sins. We could not pay for them. Dear friends, this in itself is something to get so excited over! We have always have struggles and trials in this life. There will always be something that has us by the tail and that will attempt to make us stumble and knock us for a loop. But thanks to God that we have his word and a relationship with him if we want it and those two things will always be enough to get us out of any jam and bad situation we face in life!
The Cares of this Life
We will all be concerned at some level with the cares of this life. There is no getting around this. We live in the earth and it just makes sense that our concern would be over the things that make up our life here. But Jesus gave all of us a warning when he spoke of the Parable of the Sower:
Luke 8:11
11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
So when the cares and concerns of this life become so abundant and overwhelming that they choke out the word of God, then we see that we bring no fruit to perfection. Jesus never said that problems and cares in our life would not come. He only said that we are not to allow those cares and concerns become such that they produce unfruitfulness in us. When we are choked with the pleasures and cares of life we will bring no fruit to perfection.
We are not to become entangled with the affairs and cares of this life.
2 Timothy 2:4
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him (God) who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
We are also given a warning from Jesus about his return that is very important:
Luke 21:34
33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
The cares of this life have the potential to weaken us in every way imaginable. We can be weakened in our spirits, minds and bodies. This is why we are given the above warnings from scripture. But we don’t have to let the concerns and cares of this life choke out and overwhelm the truth that God has planted in our hearts. God’s word is eternal and will never pass away. His words are not changeable as is our situations and circumstances in this life. The one sure thing we can depend on and always turn to are his words. They will fill you with peace and tranquility when you are in the midst of the spiritual, mental or physical storms of life.
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