Don’t Worry… Be Happy
Fixing Our Thoughts – Part V
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 26:1-21
Key Verse: Isaiah 26:3 NLT
You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
This week’s devotional focuses on the idea of “fixing our thoughts” so we can manage life’s problems in a God honoring way.
In yesterday’s devotional we looked at some truths of the Bible to help us get our thinking off problems and more on the help that God promises. However, do not think that we are to be happy about our problems; God does not expect that.
It is okay to ask God to take the problem away from us. Jesus prayed that way when He faced the cross; He plead twice with the Father to take that cup away from Him (Matthew 26:39, Matthew 26:42). The human side of Jesus did not want to face the beatings and torture of His death on the cross. Of course, Jesus surrendered to His Father’s will.
We do not offend God with our cries for deliverance from a problem. He hears us and answers our prayers. Believe that His answer is the right answer for us even if it is not the one for which we hope!
I have heard Christians say, “God didn’t answer that prayer of mine”. I know what they meant but let me remind you that God always answers the prayers of His children. We need to train ourselves to always say, “God answered my prayer… though it was not the answer for which I was hoping.”
It is more mature spiritually to know God’s “no” answers are as good as His “yes” answers because He knows what is best and always gives us what is truly best.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that God’s will is “good, pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2). Of course, God may not reveal to us in this lifetime the “pleasing” part of His will. Our faith must claim it as truth even though we cannot feel it or see it now.
Going through something that is scary or challenging can test our faith. We can experience fear without doubting God’s wisdom and love for us. Our humanness dreads pain and suffering much like Jesus felt as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.
I recently felt like the widow in Jesus’s parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8). Jesus describes the many times the widow went to the judge for justice. Jesus tells us the point of this parable in Luke 18:1:
One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.
So, like this widow, I repeatedly asked God to please relieve me of the problem I was dealing with. However, each time I asked, I also reminded myself and told God that I still chose His will over my will.
Never allow our desires to be so strong that we forget that God’s will is always wiser and better than our will.
Father, no matter how much I plead for my way, please know that I understand Your ways are always best. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.