20 Days of Believing God (Day 4)

Do you ever latch onto a thought, run with it, play it over and over in your mind…and work yourself into a fit of worry? Or do you ever have a vague sense of anxiety, but you’re not sure why? You just know something feels off. You’re worried about something, but can’t even pinpoint what it is at the moment?

I do that. More than I’d care to admit.

In Isaiah 7, there are a couple enemy armies that are about to march against Jerusalem. When the people get word, it says they “were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.”

I snapped a picture looking out our front door during a thunderstorm one day. Do you ever feel like that? Shaken by some bad news, like a tree shaken by the wind?

I do. It happens when I allow an anxious thought, generated by my circumstances, to run loose in my mind. It doesn’t take long for my thoughts and emotions to feel whipped around like those trees in the picture.

God sees what’s happening, so He tells Isaiah to go to, Ahaz, the king, and say:

“Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood…”

Don’t you love that? The two enemy kings are nothing more than smoldering stubs of firewood to God. And if that’s what they are to Him, then that’s what they are to Ahaz and the people of Jerusalem.

God goes on to acknowledge these two kings have in fact plotted to capture Jerusalem, but then says:

“It will not take place, it will not happen.”

What hard, difficult, painful or confusing circumstances are you facing today? Have you allowed them to shake you?

I’m not suggesting we won’t face truly hard times. A job loss. Serious medical issues. Divorce. Rebellious children. Alcoholic parents. But remember, God sees. He knows what you’re facing. And as hard as your circumstances may be, they don’t have to shake you.

To God, your circumstances are a couple of smoldering pieces of firewood. He’s not shaken by them.

Don’t allow your thoughts, which fuel your emotions, to run loose. Remember what God said to Ahaz:

“It will not take place, it will not happen.”

Nothing will take place or happen to you that God does not allow. So you don’t need to worry about your circumstances spiraling out of control and becoming something you can’t handle.

Make the choice to believe God…not your circumstances, not what you see or feel.