TGIF
Liam and mousie…
As I write this there are two cats sleeping very soundly on my bed.
You can tell when a sleeping cat feels completely secure…they stretch out to their full length, often on their back…, because they have no fear of predators or danger.
It’s a good thing I don’t want to get in my own bed because these cats have left no room as they stretch out in complete security.
They are in my room, on my bed, and as long as I’m here they believe all is well.
When they wake up, they will hop off my bed and go to the food bowls…which they know are either already full or will be filled on demand.
The cats do not worry about whether anything will harm them or that they may go hungry…they assume that they will always be provided for…including copious amounts of treats.
I, on the other hand, am a mess.
I’m worried about maintaining a place to live for myself, let alone the cats.
There are big financial worries, health worries, worries about almost everything.
Sometimes, I’m scared.
Sometimes the fear keeps me awake while Liam the Cat slumbers in peace.
The difference between me and my cats is our trust in our fathers…they assume that I will care for them while I fear my Father won’t do the same for me.
““That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
(Matthew 6:25-34 NLT-SE)
In other words, be like my cats.
They are “believers’.
““I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!””
(Mark 9:24 NLT-SE)
Maybe i need a nap.
Make your own application…
Thanks, I needed this today.
Dan,
Thank you… I needed it as well.
Thank you, Michael, for good thoughts and for your honesty. I’m sitting in the bed at the rehab center set to go home next week, and I’m scared of going home. I’ll have some bills, too, but I think I can cover okay. My questions are more about being able to take care of myself and get back to work (to pay the bills). But my Father has never left me without what I need and my church family is amazing. I go back to Matthew 6 and Phil 4:6-8 and 4:19. God hasn’t failed me yet, and he won’t now—but I need to be convinced of that.
Linn,
I thought about you when I was writing this…our situations have some similarities.
On the positive side, we both have good cats and a faithful God.
You’re in my prayers…
Thank you , Michael!
I’m praying for you, too!
“Seek the Kingdom of God, above all else, and live righteously , and He will give you everything you need.”
Michael , I may not know you as well as many others here, but from what I know of you, I see you seeking the Kingdom above all else.
Therefore I believe He will give you what you need .
Join your furry family in their unquestioning belief ….😉
Before I met my wife, she used to give financially to the church by tithing and going far beyond basic tithing. She was told by ministers, and believed, that if she did this, God would take care of her and her financial needs; in the meantime she had no health insurance, could barely pay her bills, and was always a week or two behind losing her home. She did this for several years; her situation got worse and worse.
Eventually, she was near penury, and was forced to back off from the tithing, as guilty as this made her feel. When I met her she was still trying to recover from the financial straits she had been in. Her health was not declining, because she was unable to afford medical care. When we got married the health insurance she was enrolled in through my employer was the first time she had health insurance in her adult life, and she was at that point in her late thirties and struggling with a number of chronic illnesses. When I met her she didn’t even own a winter coat, and used to go around in all kinds of freezing weather without one, telling people who asked that the cold didn’t bother her when in fact she couldn’t afford to
buy a coat.
Most of the time God seems like an absentee father. All too often his provision, along with his presence, in our lives is inscrutable; you have to think hard and creatively to find it, and then you wonder if you’re just thinking wishfully. In Jesus’ case, the presence of his Father and his Father’s provision must have continued during his ordeal on the cross as it had his whole life; the challenge for every Christian, as for Jesus himself, is to see and believe it is there in the ordeal when every fiber of our being tells us it isn’t. Only with the faith of the Risen Christ standing in for my own weak and failing faith can such belief be said to truly exist.
Robert ,
My wife has been struggling for some time with feeling like God is loving and caring , and both of us have burning questions regarding where He was during her childhood . For more than 10 years she was abused and neglected, she experienced much childhood trauma. She doesn’t understand why He lets things like this continue even now.
“My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Why does it seem like so many are still forsaken?
I think this one of the times when faith is most difficult – believing when you cannot see …….
The problem of human suffering is a mystery.
On one hand, we obviously live in a broken and fallen world where everything and everyone is broken.
The Scriptures, especially in the NT, promise us suffering.
On the other hand, the Scriptures say that “God knows what we need before we ask” and implies that those needs will be met.
The third factor is the seeming necessity for evil to be allowed to grow to its fullest so it can be fully destroyed…the “cup” must be filled.
I still believe God is wholly good and someday this will have all been worth it…
Owen,
My wife and yours have had similar childhoods, apparently. For my wife the abuse she experienced as a child was at the hands of a pastor who was very close to her family. Many times she’s told me that during that time and after, when she sought healing and recovery, the only thing that kept her alive was the strong conviction from the time she was a small child that Jesus Christ was always with her and loved her, and that he had nothing to do with that abuse. I can’t make the theology work out, there is no theodicy that can explain it, but then my mind is exceedingly limited.
Owen,
But knowing what I know, and having seen what I’ve seen, and experienced what I’ve experienced, there have been many occasions when I’ve understood why Ivan in The Brothers Karamzov wanted to return his ticket to God.