Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you feel like an issue in your life is never going to be fixed? Maybe you have struggled for years and years with a sin. Maybe you have experienced depression that seems like it will never stop. Perhaps you have some negative activity that you know is bringing destruction into your life. Kind of reminds me of the Israelites.
Have you ever read through the old testament and noticed the constant back-and-forth Israel had with God? It was like they were always having a situation in their lives that seemingly never got fixed. I remember when I was younger reading that and getting so frustrated with the Israelites. Why couldn’t they just do the right thing? Why can’t you just fix thin and let it go? They would get into a giant pickle, God would fix it, they would stay close to God for a while, and then rather than sticking with God, they would go back to the pickle again. How dumb, right? Just let it go! Just get over it! Fix the sin!
I just needed to get a little older to discover that, you know what, we do that stuff all the time. We know about God’s goodness. We have experienced it. We know that only he satisfies. Yet for some reason, we continually get ourselves in situation and continually grasp at other things. These things that we bring into our lives, things we are unwilling to let go of, unwilling to deal with, these are the roots of those negative actions and never ending emotional problems we experience, and yes, sin too.
So what’s the real problem? Why do we do this? Why do we have these things that never get fixed?
It has to boil down to one of three things: either we don’t want to fix it, we think we can fix it on our own, or we don’t think God is big enough to fix it. Truth is, all three are dead wrong. All three, if you really think about it, are just plain old idolatry.
The hard part about bringing your problems to God is that you have to admit there’s a problem, you have to give up your control of what’s going on, and that can be really scary. It is hard to admit failure in our lives. It is hard to give up control in our lives. But that’s just pride. We have to determine if pride is worth the constant struggle.
Let me give you the answer to this one, it’s not. Pride has always been the tool Satan uses to deliver pain by promising what you think you want. Truth is, it is OK to say you have a problem in your life. If you have sin, it is OK to bring it to him. If you are struggling with an emotional issue, he understands. Don’t forget Jesus experienced everything we experience. He more than anyone understands. We have to get to a place where we have the courage to just admit the problem to him, and then let go of it. He’s not gonna take our problem and give us another one. He’s going to take our problem, fix it, and give us something amazing in return: his peace.
1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast your cares upon him he cares for you.” So when we bring God your issues, problems, hurts, insecurities, whatever, don’t just admit the problem and relinquish control, we also need to receive his peace.
By doing this, those problems that seem never-ending will end, they will end, and we’ll experience incredible freedom.