But, What If…

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)

I was a neurotic little kid. I would worry about anything. If my parents were more than a few minutes late back from “date night,” I would worry that something bad had happened to them. (This was before the age of cell phones, by the way. So, I couldn’t just call or message them.) I would wake up in the middle of the night worried about trivial things like what was going to happen tomorrow, what lunch I would have, who I would play with at school. You get the idea. I was a bit weird…and worried.

As I’ve matured, I’ve come to realize that worry robs us of a healthy, joy-filled life. Why? Because worry doesn’t fix anything, it only serves to hurt us and others. Worry robs our mind of peace, and when worry is combined with other vices, like jealousy, it begins to destroy the relationships that we’ve built, and God has given us.

God knows our tendency to worry. (And, He’s really smart.) So, He gives us a promise to hold on to and to test our faith.

Notice, through this verse, that our trust isn’t supposed to be in our own abilities or even in another person’s. Instead, our trust is to be placed squarely on the shoulders of God. As we lean into Him, our thoughts become fixed on the things that He calls us to ponder, rather than the terror and helplessness that comes from worry. As we are enveloped by His all-powerful arms, we come to understand the eternal protection that He provides.

This verse also stands as a test for our individual faith in God. If we are consumed with worry, then it should be a gut check that our trust is placed somewhere other than our Redeemer. It should serve as a red flag that something is off, and we need to return to the arms of our Savior.

When we place the entireness of our existence in God’s hands, we experience peace. There will still be ups and downs, twists and turns – that’s part of this thing called life. But, through the challenges, we know that we’ve got a God who’s got us. And, within this promise, we find peace. This peace will be with us no matter what, or who, may come or go.