Thursday Devotional...11/17/11

An Untrustworthy World

Have you ever felt distrust? A fear that something will happen or someone will do something that will bring something bad into your life? The definition of distrust is to lack confidence in someone or something. Or to say it another way, distrust is the confidence that someone will cause you harm of some sort.

I have learned from experience that not everyone will do what they say or be true to what they mean. It is just life that people make choices that hurt or disappoint us. If I am completely honest with myself, I have made choices that disappointed others and caused them grief, even if it wasn’t intentional on my part. I am still the one who did it.

Sometimes distrust is not about a person but about a situation. Will I still have a job next week? Next month? What will I do if the car breaks down? What if I have to move? What if I get sick? We barely have enough to keep everything together.

It is easy to get discouraged. If it’s been awhile since I felt any relief it is understandable for me to lose hope that things will get better. What can I do?

My choices are to:

• Assume the worst (negative).
• Blame someone or something (pointless).
• Pretend things aren’t bad or hard (denial).
• Count what blessings I do have (grateful).
• Ask God to help me (hopeful).

What does God’s Word tell me (from the Common English Bible)?

• Whom to trust:
  God isn’t a man that he would lie, or a human being that he would change his mind. Has he ever spoken and not done it, or promised and not fulfilled it?
            Numbers 23:19
• Whom to fear:
  “Therefore, don’t be afraid of those people because nothing is hidden that won’t be revealed, and nothing secret that won’t be brought out into the open. What I say to you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, announce from the rooftops. Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul. Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Aren’t two sparrows sold for a small coin? But not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father knowing about it already. Even the hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.
            Matthew 10:26-31

Dear Lord, I believe You that I am worth more than a sparrow. I am tempted to whine and ask, “Why me, Lord?” when things are bad. Instead, help me in my weakness Lord! I will choose to keep my mind on what I do have and remember to look to You for my help, instead of the world.

                         In Jesus name, amen.

Written by
Mary M. Wilkins