challenge

Trust God and Be Happy

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

As if we didn’t already have enough reasons to trust God with our lives, could it also turn out that trusting in God will bring us happiness?

Yes, that is exactly the case. Our heavenly Father wants us to rely completely on him, so much so that He makes it that if we do trust him completely, our lives will be better for it. 

Take a look at Proverbs 16:20b in the ESV (English Standard Version):

Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.

The word that is translated “blessed” in this verse can also be translated as “happy.” Some translations, including the CSB (Christian Standard Bible) actually render the verse that way. 

God is telling us that we will be happier and more joyful if we’ll just trust in Him and His guidance. Whenever our eyes stray away from God and onto our own way of thinking, we’ll get into trouble. It’s far better to trust in the Lord for everything, plus doing so will bring more joy into our lives.

In Psalm 34:8, we’re told:

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Once again, the word translated as “blessed” can also mean “happy.” Go ahead and take refuge in the Lord. Make Him your mighty fortress when the challenges of life come your way, because they surely will. 

In fact, we should make it a priority to rejoice in our trials, as we’re commanded in James 1:2-3:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

Let’s get to the point where we welcome struggles and challenges every day because we know they’ll increase our faith in God.

I, for one, will admit that this area has been a huge problem for me. When something goes wrong, often my first inclination is to blame God, and even get mad at Him for it.

After all, I’m a “good Christian,” right? I shouldn’t have to deal with a broken-down car or plumbing problems at 2 a.m., should I?

God never promises that following Jesus would eliminate all our problems and frustrations. What He does promise is that if we’ll take refuge in Him when faced with challenges, that we can have joy and that our faith will grow.

Furthermore, we can thrive during rough times. Just read Jeremiah 17:7-8:

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream…and is not anxious in the year of drought.

Trusting in God wholeheartedly not only can bring us happiness and joy, it is also a potent antidote for anxiety. And in these trying times of global pandemic, chaos, and political upheaval, it doesn’t get much better than that. 

God wants and longs for what’s best for you. Take Him at His word—begin a new pattern of trusting Him with the entirety of your life, even the smallest of details. 

When you turn everything over to Him, He’ll shoulder the burden (1 Peter 5:7) and you can rest in the joy of the Lord.

Yoke Yourself to Jesus Every Day

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 

Matt. 11:29

A while back, Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, put out a podcast on which he advised his listeners to yoke themselves to Jesus. 

The point of the podcast was simple—to explain what it means to yoke ourselves (it’s not what you think) and to encourage us to do so on a daily basis.

In a nutshell, to yoke ourselves to Jesus means to attach ourselves to him to lighten our load through this life. 

Just as James tells us, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2), we can be assured that we will have challenges and struggles in this life.

So, what better way to get through life than by partnering with Jesus?

These words have the power to bring comfort, healing, and peace to even the most troubled soul, of which I am often one.

The reason is because of what a yoke does. Rather than strapping us with more burden— what many people believe—a yoke is designed to lighten the load. Back in biblical times, a farmer would yoke two oxen together to make it easier for each ox to pull the load behind them. 

The yoke evenly distributed the burden of the load between the two oxen, making their work easier and even allowing them to get more work done. The yoke was actually a welcome relief for the animals, and they were able to accomplish more than each one could on its own.

This is how we should look at the command found in Matthew 11:29. The yoke is not meant to put more burden on us, but rather to lighten the load we’re already carrying. 

Jesus is telling us to partner with him, leaning on him daily for renewed strength to make it through the challenges of our often hectic and demanding days. 

No one on this earth is without some sort of burden. However, by allowing Jesus to share our burdens, these burdens will seem lighter and easier to handle.

After all, we’re also told in 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

God loves us and wants the best for each of his children. 

It took me a long time to really understand and accept this truth for myself, but I think I’m finally able to do that, at least to some degree. I still have room to grow in this area, but it’s such a welcome relief knowing that God loves me and wants to make my journey through life easier by yoking me with Jesus.

And He wants to do the same for you, friend.

Don’t Get Too Attached to Your Problems

/ Clay D. / 1 Comment

We all have problems and challenges in our lives—that much is for certain. 

If you’re like me, you may often feel like your problems are never going to go away, that whatever situation you’re in is permanent. I can take a quick inventory of all the negative circumstances in my life and it’s easy to picture them always being there. 

Try this exercise…Think back five years ago and try to remember how your life was and what problems you were facing at that time. Chances are, these problems were quite different from your current problems. Now picture your life 10 years ago—there’s an even greater difference between then and now.

The point is that those problems weren’t permanent, and neither are the ones you’re up against now. 

Pick a specific challenge from the past and think about it for a moment. It could be pertaining to money, health, relationships, career, or anything else. Now, think about how the problem got resolved. It most likely didn’t go away in an instant. 

Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where a problem or challenge is immediately resolved, but it seems more often than not, the roadblocks in our path gradually fade away and become less of a concern. Or maybe they were never real problems to begin with; perhaps we were worried about something that never came to pass.

At any rate, money problems don’t right themselves overnight, and neither do relationship or health problems in most cases. Most of the big challenges in our lives take time to resolve, and the ones in your life today are the same. 

You may pause one day in the future and suddenly realize that the big challenge that had been weighing you down is gone. It happened gradually and with no fanfare, so you didn’t even notice that it was no longer in your life.

This should give us hope for our current problems. We can almost certainly count on the fact that whatever we’re dealing with now will not remain a problem for the rest of our lives. Change is the only constant, goes the old saying.

Think about it…You don’t have the same set of problems as a 40-something as you did when you were 16, do you? Of course not. Those problems from long ago seem so trivial and mundane compared to what we’re facing now, don’t they?

The good news is that today’s problems will look the same way a few years from now. You’ll look back at your current set of circumstances and wonder why you ever wasted so much mental energy worrying about them. It may not feel that way right now, but it usually works out that way.

So, the bottom line is this…Whatever problems are before you, take comfort in the fact that you won’t be forever dealing with them. There will just be new and different challenges to take their place. 

We WILL face problems in life, so we’ll do better by coming to terms with that fact sooner rather than later. It just won’t always be the same problems.

Maybe we should start viewing life as a series of puzzles or challenges that need figuring out. Who knows, that might put more joy in our lives, rather than filling us with frustration that things aren’t going how we think they should.

It’s worth a try…

God, the Master Painter

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

God is like a master painter or sculptor. However, instead of working with a canvas, paint, or clay, each one of us is His medium. “We are his workmanship” we are told (Eph. 2:10a).

He is in the process of building a masterpiece out of each one of us. Through trials, tribulations, and discipline, He is working to create the ideal of what He wants us to be. It takes time and discomfort on our part to form the final product. 

The reason that we’re not formed into our ideal selves overnight is because it takes materials, time, and precision to create a masterpiece. Not much skill or paint is needed to make a watercolor picture on an 8 1/2 X 11 piece of plain paper. To make a masterpiece, like He wants each of us to be, requires a lot more resources.

To be certain, God could change us instantly, but that’s not the way He does things. He prefers to work within the bounds of this physical world he has placed us in. He uses the circumstances of our everyday lives to mold and make us into something better.

Each trial or challenge that we endure and come out on the other side of changes us just a little bit. Every time that He disciplines us and we learn from it, we move one step closer to what God wants us to be. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11).

If we were instantly changed, then we could not enjoy the process of seeing ourselves become better. 

Of course, that doesn’t mean that our pathway is always pleasant. Far from it. Change is difficult, and even more so when we buck against the system that God has in place.

Far too many times, I’ve rebelled against God’s discipline. I’ve railed against Him for allowing so many challenges and tribulations in my life. It feels hypocritical even to write about this because I’m one of the ones who most needs to take all this to heart.

My rebellion has gotten me nowhere. Getting mad at God because of some trouble in life never has done me any good. I always regret it later, tell Him I’m sorry, and vow to try harder not to let the trials of life knock me off course.

I’m still working on all that obviously. I need to allow God to mold me into the piece of art He wants for me.

How are you doing with it?