We Need Help by Nana Vinar
Part of getting help is finding an accurate definition for the problem. Diagnosing. That’s a large part of what medical doctors do: they work to discover what the issue is before they offer treatment.
Do you have the virus? Well, check some website and it will tell you how to define it and what to look for. This is helping sick people know how to get help.
In Scripture, God talks about fear and worry and anxiety. These are commonplace in our hearts, so He addresses them as sins, ways of thinking that lack faith in who God is. God longs for us to see Him more accurately! When you worry about our uncertain times, you are coddling the idea that God may not be powerful enough to help.
You would not admit aloud that God is not powerful or capable or all-knowing or loving, but you allow worry to reside in your thinking. You play a teeny tiny “what-if” game in your mind. You sense the nervousness in the grocery store from the other shoppers who don’t know if they have IT or if you have IT or if IT’s in the air.
The fear itself is contagious unless you recognize it and fight it.
If you want to get relief from this weight of worry, you must define it correctly and see what Scripture advises. If you call your worry “concern” then you cannot seek freedom from it. You have labeled your sin as something commonly occurring and therefore you accept it and condone it as normal.
Consider this: sin is commonly occurring. But it does not need to be doing damage in your heart.
God loves to take our fear and worry and anxiety away. He knows we encounter them! And He is the solution, the remedy, the treatment.
Beautiful photos and uplifting ideas can try to ease some of our discomfort, but only God can lift the burden of fear. Our Bible reading for today is Philemon. Verse 6 says that we should realize that every good thing that is in Jesus is in you, my paraphrase. Can you believe that?
Jesus offers you faith in place of fear, peace in place of anxiety. That dull ache in your stomach? If you can define it accurately as anxiety, you can be free from it.
I Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” Give Him the worry, the fear, the anxiety that you can recognize and let it go on Him. Throw it to him. Don’t keep any tiny bit for later. He cares. If the God of the universe cares for you, you’re in His hand!
Anxiety has no place if your heart if your heart is aware that He’s holding you. Feed that truth, the awareness that He is holding you.
We need a quarantine diet of focusing on God’s character so that the temptation to fear cannot take root in our hearts. Focus on who He is: He is in control, He is caring, He is capable. This grows your faith. It is strenuous work. It is the fight of faith!
Each day I have purposed to thank/pray during this stay-at-home season. I’m thanking God for His gifts of people and beauty and time—because my heart needs to remember that He is the giver of all good things.
I’m giving God every faith-less thought, every concern, every weight—because this communion with Him restores my soul and keeps my heart connected to His.