{"id":939,"date":"2018-10-13T12:42:49","date_gmt":"2018-10-13T12:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/?p=939"},"modified":"2018-10-20T16:57:04","modified_gmt":"2018-10-20T16:57:04","slug":"fear-not-trust-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2018\/10\/fear-not-trust-god.html","title":{"rendered":"Fear Not. Trust God."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"art-cathedral-christ-208216<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Gospel of Matthew (6:25-34), Jesus encourages his disciples not to worry. Specifically, he tells them not to worry about their practical needs, like food and clothing.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Well, he argues that if God takes care of the birds in the air and the flowers in the field, then why wouldn\u2019t he take care of them?\u00a0 Jesus tells the disciples that God knows what they need, so they need to trust<\/em> that He will take care of their needs.\u00a0 He then ends his argument by saying,<\/p>\n

\u201cBut seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.\u201d Matthew 6:33 (KJV)<\/p>\n

Essentially, Jesus is saying this: If you put God first in your life, you can trust that God will make sure that everything else falls into place. That sounds great, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 And when things are going well, it is easy for me to believe that God will take care of all my needs.\u00a0 If my life is going well, then trusting God is easy because it involves no risk.\u00a0 I don\u2019t need to worry about my needs because they are already <\/em>met.\u00a0 But believing that God will meet my needs when I am in crisis, or when I don’t have what I need, takes trust.<\/p>\n

With the passing of each year, I do get better about worrying less. My faith in God comes from experience.\u00a0 I have found that God always resolves the challenging situations in my life \u2013 eventually.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t resolve them on my timetable, unfortunately, but He does resolve them.<\/p>\n

All that being said, my trust in God is far from perfect. That became abundantly clear to me this past summer when my husband had a major surgery.\u00a0 Before the surgery, we were told that there were risks, but the doctors said that he had a 95% chance of coming through the operation without issue.\u00a0 So, for the most part, I didn\u2019t worry.\u00a0 I am a \u201ccup is half full\u201d sort of person, and it seemed to me like a 95% success rate were pretty good odds.<\/p>\n

But, unfortunately, my husband landed in the 5%. The operation did not go according to plan.\u00a0 After the operation, my husband spent 5 days on life support, and the doctors could not guarantee me that he would survive.\u00a0 My world was turned upside down.\u00a0 I felt very alone, afraid and overwhelmed.\u00a0 I certainly didn\u2019t think, \u201cWell, just follow Matthew 6:33 – seek the kingdom of God – and it will all be OK.\u201d\u00a0 My faith in God was tested, and I failed \u2013 spectacularly.<\/p>\n

While he was on life support, I pleaded with God to save my husband.\u00a0 However, my arguments in favor of God saving him seemed sort of weak.\u00a0 (People die every day, so it is hard to argue that one person should be saved over another.)\u00a0 So, then I reminded God of how very imperfect my life had been, and I told God that he \u201cowed\u201d me my husband.\u00a0 Finally, when that didn\u2019t seem to be working, I negotiated with God.\u00a0 I told him that I\u2019d give up anything that He wanted me to give up, if He would just save my husband.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, God was silent during this conversation.<\/p>\n

The day after the operation, my pastor came to the hospital. While we stood in the ICU next to my husband who was attached to what seemed like 20 machines, I explained to my pastor my \u201cnegotiations\u201d with God.\u00a0 He said to me, \u201cMeerabelle, fear not.\u00a0 Trust God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fear not. Trust God.<\/p>\n

And that was his consistent advice throughout the experience of my husband being in ICU for weeks, then in the post-surgical ward, and finally in rehabilitation. Fear not.\u00a0 Trust God.<\/p>\n

Simple advice, but hard to follow. But think about how much easier life would be, if we stopped worrying, stopped being afraid, and just trusted God.\u00a0 Nothing could happen in our lives that would shake us.<\/p>\n

My new mantra is \u201cFear Not. Trust God.\u201d Those are the words I want to live by.\u00a0 In everything that I do, I want to do my best and not worry about the outcome.\u00a0 I\u2019ve learned that outcomes are God\u2019s business.\u00a0 My job is just to trust God and obey Him in all that I do.<\/p>\n

If you are going through a challenging time right now, I encourage you to follow my pastor\u2019s advice: Fear not. Trust God.\u00a0 He hears your prayers.\u00a0 He knows your concerns.\u00a0 Cast your cares to Him and trust that He is working in your life for your benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor I know the plans I have for you,\u201d declares the Lord, \u201cplans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.\u201d\u00a0<\/em> Jeremiah 29: 11-13<\/p>\n

(Photo Courtesy of Pexels)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Gospel of Matthew (6:25-34), Jesus encourages his disciples not to worry. Specifically, he tells them not to worry about their practical needs, like food and clothing.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Well, he argues that if God takes care of the birds in the air and the flowers in the field, then why wouldn\u2019t he take care…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFear Not. Trust God. - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fear Not. 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