God Meets Us Where We Are
How do you combat fear and discouragement?
Verse of the Day
“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”
Today’s Devotional
Do you ever struggle with fear? How about discouragement? I love how God speaks directly to our struggles. They are no surprise to Him. His people have been struggling with their humanness since time began. And He loves us so much that He meets us where we are with encouragement. We get to experience this encouragement in our times of solitude with God.
What is fear but a lack of trust? We are being told that we have no reason to fear because the God of the universe is present with us in every moment. Picture yourself walking down a dark alley- at night, alone, in a sketchy part of town. Now picture that same scenario, but this time you are with the biggest, strongest person who also happens to know every nook and cranny of this part of town. There’s a difference in how I would feel in those two scenarios. One would be scary. The other would not even blip on my fear radar because of who I’m with. I think that is what God is trying to tell us here. We are ALWAYS with the biggest, strongest Person, who knows everything about everywhere we could ever go. Do we trust in His presence? Do we take the time to get to know Him?
What is discouragement but a weariness in waiting for God’s timing or disappointment in not getting our desired outcome? The reason we are given for not losing heart is that God is God. Our God. As in, personally belonging to Him.
I have lived through a couple seasons of discouragement. One lasted almost 13 years. It was a season of chronic pain. The other lasted more than 4 years, during our foster/adoption journey, when I felt like nothing I did was right or good enough. And here’s what I did wrong in both of those times. I did not remember that God is God and I am not. I did not trust that any strength I had was from God. I trusted in my own strength, and it did not go well.
Looking back on both of those times, I can see how much differently things would have gone if I would have spent more time with Him, not to receive blessings or an end to the difficulties, but simply to just be with Him. Maybe I would have better trusted in His timing. Maybe I would have leaned on His strength instead of trying to get answers from this world. Maybe I would have trusted that I was held by God and that victory over any of it was His.
So today, I try to learn from my past mistakes. In places of fear, uncertainty and/or discouragement – I remind myself of this verse and others like it. God is with me, He is God, He is my strength, He is helping me, He is holding me, and He is victorious. Taking time out of my day to be with God is a gift, not a chore.
I am not always great at remembering these things when the fear and discouragement are upon me, which is why I need to build up my trust muscles when things are going well. I need constant reminders of each one of these things. God is telling us why we should trust Him. It’s our choice whether or not to believe Him.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How does spending time in solitude build your trust?
How can you trust that God really is God?
How can you trust that God is with you?
How can you trust that God is your strength?
How can you trust that God is helping you?
How can you trust that God is holding you?
How can you trust that any and all victories belong to God?