Life can be a mess sometimes.
We don’t know the ins and outs of the future, we feel like all we’re doing is waiting for some change or purpose that never seems to arrive, and the trials we face appear to thwart the ‘good’ plan for our lives at every step.
Waiting is hard, undoubtedly.
We fret and worry, we try to fix things that we cannot, and we attempt to take control of a future that we should leave in God’s capable hands.
It is ok to struggle with the ‘in-between’ seasons.
It is ok not to understand why we are going through the difficult circumstances that we find ourselves in.
It is ok to feel overwhelmed by the suffering in the world, the disappointments in our hearts, and the grief in our souls.
We don’t understand, we struggle to trust, and no matter how many times God has proven Himself faithful in the past, sometimes every moment is a fight to realize and cling to His faithfulness in the present.
However, He knows our weaknesses and our fears, and He still cares for us more than we will ever comprehend.
The truth of His character, as shown in Scripture, provides us with the encouragement and comfort we need to thrive in the seasons of suffering and waiting.
Scripture encourages us to “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7).
But how are we to do this, and how can we be assured that He cares for us?
Cast Your Anxieties Upon Him
It’s a choice to come to Christ with our worries and burdens.
It is so much easier, in the short term, to wallow in our fears, allow ourselves to become overwhelmed by the stress of life, and keep our eyes focused on ourselves and the difficulties of the present.
However, God tells us to come to Him, “casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
We need to choose to cast all of our burdens on Him, throw our fears at His feet, and give ourselves to His care.
He is good, He will not fail you, and His ways are always best.
As Charles Spurgeon encouraged his readers to, “Flee to God with whatever is burdening your heart and go on your way rejoicing.”
Elsewhere he also wrote that “Christ’s eyes never slumber, His hands never rest, and His shoulders are never weary of carrying His people’s burdens.”
Because we know He cares for us, we can confidently come into His presence with our fears, our stress, and our misgivings about the future: He already knows every one of our struggles, and He still cares deeply for us.
As Joshua 1:9 reminds us, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
Our courage and steadfastness in trials are rooted in God’s constant presence with us.
He is our peace, our hope, and our comfort.
It is when we come to Him in trusting and vulnerable prayer that we realise that His “perfect love casts out [our] fear” (1 John 4:18).
He is the one who banishes our doubts, relieves our fears, and holds us when we cannot see the good that He is working in our circumstances.
He Knows, He Cares
Jesus Christ knows our deepest fears, and He cares for us.
He sees each moment of worry, each time you cry yourself to sleep, and each time you hide your broken heart with a smile and an “I’m great thanks”.
He has been with you through every sleepless night, felt each wave of grief that pounded on your heart, and comforted you when your tears ran out and all that was left was numbness and the dull aching pain of loss.
He held your hand each step, carried you through the darkest valleys, and shielded you from the full weight of this broken world.
No matter what you are going through, He knows and He cares.
The God who said, "Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1) is the same God who reminds us that, “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)
Our fragile hearts need not be troubled because God is with us in every situation, every decision, and every moment of our journey here on earth.
He is the one who quiets our anxious thoughts and puts our fears to rest.
Never will He break His promise to give us peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:1, 27)
However, peace is most clearly seen when in contrast to the turbulence around it: the peace Christ gives us is precious because it overcomes the torrent of anxieties we face.
He is our stronghold in the storm, He holds us close to Him, and He calms our hearts with His love and gentleness towards the weak and weary.
Jesus comforts us that although, “You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” (John 16:22)
Christ is our source of joy, and so we can rest assured that our joy will never be snatched away from us because Christ will never leave us.
There Is Purpose In The Pain
In one of my favourite books, Finding God in My Loneliness, the author, Lydia Brownback, reminds her readers that “Sometimes, desperation is the door through which faith enters”.
This pictures how God often takes us to our lowest so that we can see Him to be sufficient even in the darkest places.
Sometimes, He must empty us of ourselves and remove everything that we have come to hold more dearly than Himself, so that in our emptiness we find Him, and in the loss, we see the beauty and incomprehensible value of Christ.
Never begrudge God the loss of that which He deemed was unhelpful to our spiritual growth or harmful to our character, for no one knows better what we need, and none can provide more adequately for all our wants than He can.
In all the trials, He is working out His will.
In each struggle, He is drawing us closer to Himself, purging our hearts of their idols, and showing us the priceless beauty of His character: “The more burdens we put on Christ’s shoulders, the more precious He will be to us.” (Charles Spurgeon)
We can be at peace and even rejoice in the knowledge of His sovereignty in our lives: “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our heart through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
We would never grow in grace and strength of character were it not for the hardships and heartaches we face in life, for in each trial He shows us our faults and increases our holiness and reliance upon Him.
His ways are good, even when we can’t see how: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
He doesn’t take pleasure in our pain, but He does take pleasure in building our obedience and shaping us to be better representations of His love for a lost world.
We can be comforted by the assurance that “For those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
This certainly doesn’t mean that everything will feel good or seem good to us at the moment, but we know that in the end, everything will be good because it will bring us closer to Christ.
We should be able to confidently say with Spurgeon, “Send me what You will, my God, so long as it comes from you.”
Whatever trial or blessing comes from the hand of our gentle and loving Father can only be meant for our eternal good and our present growth.
Close To The Heart Of Christ
The pain and the suffering, the fears, doubts, and disappointments all batter our resilience.
When loss tears at the fabric of our soul, and wave after wave of grief threatens to extinguish all our hope, He knows, and He feels our pain.
Each wound we endure, He is there right beside us, ready and willing to heal our brokenness and bring beauty from the wreckage of our ruined lives.
Christ is not unmoved by our sufferings, but rather He has sovereignly ordained each one and will use every trial to draw us closer to Him and strengthen our trust in Him.
Our fears, our worries, and our anxieties are real struggles; however, they are necessary only insomuch as they push us to the foot of the cross and into the loving embrace of our good Father.
We need not fear the future because God has ordained every step of our lives, and He will provide all that we need and bless us much more abundantly.