When was the last time you found yourself in circumstances that overwhelmed you? They were too big for you to fight on your own. How did you get through it? Who or what did you turn to for direction, relief and security?
Anxiety and fear can leave us feeling so unsettled and gripped with turmoil and unrest in our mind and body. Anxiety drives our mind to race ahead. Fear can paralyze us from moving at all.
Unexpected situations can cause these feelings. A comment directed at you that just threw you for a loop and your mind was consumed. They can also arise from circumstances we've been dealing with for while like a sick family member or being let go from a job or a life long addiction. These situations can leave us feeling angry and frustrated even depressed and hopeless.
Depression can be caused by repressed anger. The fear or inability to express ourself and our emotions which cause us to shut down. Our anger or disappointment over hurt or conflict of injustice can grip us with emotional paralysis. I have felt this so many times in my life and I have felt isolated and alone which led to confussion, selfishness and guilt.
We live in a world of people wearing masks of pretension covering up the true condition of the heart. The fear of rejection cripples us from being open and vulnerable.
Do you know that the Lord will never reject you? He sees everything that concerns you and He wants you to TURN to Him and bring your heart to Him in trust and dependence believing that He wants to help us in our time of need no matter how huge or small.
In 1 Samuel 17 David represents incredible faith as he states one of the most victorious verses in the bible while fighting the giant Goliath. He says, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javlin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the GOD of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand." David's courage and trust came as he recognized the power of God to be his defender against all of the odds and in no ability of his flesh. He didn't even use conventional weapons but a sling and a stone by God's direction.
The Lord allows these situations so that our confidence and faith would increase in HIM and in His word and not in the opinions of others. We can also misplace trust in ourself, our influence, and our self-sufficiency. We tend to measure our obstacles against our own strength rather than the size of our God. We must believe that He sees, He listens and He only has the answer if we will just open our hearts to Him. We have to be willing to be honest and vulnerable before God about our own heart and be willing to release our fear and sin to Him. God is looking for hearts that are pure before Him so that he can work on their behalf. David had a heart that loved God and feared Him and believed in Him. God used him mightily because David realized that the Lord does it all.
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