Worry less, trust more

Good morning, everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”

Our Bible verse for today: “But I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.” Psalm 55:16-17 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Worry less, trust more”

This morning I have one more devotional thought about emotional health and controlling our emotions, and then we will move on to another aspect of living long and living well. Yesterday we considered the sage advice of British Prince Philip, “Stay calm and carry on”. Today we will consider the words of another Brit, British special forces operator and lifelong adventurer Bear Grylls. In his devotional book “Soul Fuel”, Bear shares devotional thoughts and Biblical principles that have been helpful to him throughout his extraordinary life, and which he frequently relies on. With respect to emotional self-control he wrote,

“Worry, as Corrie Ten Boom wrote, does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. Life is so much harder to face when we worry. The answer is not trying to find a problem-free life. No one goes through life without facing problems, battles, and causes for worry. What matters is how we deal with them.”

That’s the key right there, “how you deal with them.” Do you allow thoughts about your problems to consume you? Do you worry and fret, allowing yourself to get anxious and stressed about things you have little control over?

King David was a man who faced more and bigger challenges than most of us. Psalm 55 is one of the many Psalms he wrote about how he dealt with those difficult situations. In the case of Psalm 55, he had evidently been betrayed by a close friend or maybe even a family member, and it was causing significant problems for him. So, he did cry out to God about it, maybe repeatedly, but then he left it there with God.

A little later in the Psalm David offered an additional insight that he had learned through hard-earned personal experience: “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you.” In what way will He sustain you? Perhaps He will supernaturally resolve the issue for you and just make it go away. But more often He will strengthen you to handle the trial with courage, dignity, and confidence – and He will help you to do it without being eaten up with anxiety and worry.

God does not want us to live at the mercy of our emotions, and He does not want us to live in a state of anxiety and worry. Instead, He wants us to be intentional about controlling our emotional state, and the primary way we do that, is by bringing it to Him and trusting Him to help us deal with it. The answer is to worry less and trust Him more.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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