Trusting God - Trouble (b)

Matthew 6:34 ESV
"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

In the second part of this versewe're told that each day has its own troouble and that that troublee is sufficient.

Car breakdowns, illness, traffic, bad news, sudden expenses even missed oppotunities are all the types of trouble we experience and we tend to just take them in stride.  But should we?

Is there anything in our lives that is too trivial for God?  Is there anything about our lives that the God who numbers my hairs and my days can be disconnected from?  No, I have to believe that nothing - NO thing - in and about my life is too trivial for God to be concerned with.

Traffic is bad, other drivers are rude and I am running late for an important meeting.  That has a great effect on my attitiude and temper.  Is God not interested in that as much as anything else?  Is He not concerned that I arrive at the meeting calm and composed so I may do my best and honor Him?  Does He not care about my heart and needs?  To assume - even by lack of attention- that God is not interested in the smallest thing in my life makes a mockery of Jesus' claim that He is interested.

How much attention though do we pay to the trivial?  Do we pray about these things?  A timely arrival at a meeting, a good parking place, no car breakdown,   Or deo we just figure their random things that we just have to suffer and deal with?

Brothers and sisters, our very lives are composed of a multitude of the trivial that all fit together to build our lives.  One thing goes wrong and we feel our dau is spoiled.  A bad hair day and we're cast down all day.  One "little" thing does not go according to our plans and we're mortified and depressed.  It should not be this way.

The only things I know that will assist us in livng in the "trouble" we encounter each day is attention to detail in prayer.  We do not waaste God's time or providence by praying for what we consider trivial or silly.  Indeed when we do pray for these things we are confirming in our hearts and minds that our God is the God of the details no matter how trivial they seem to us.  We do not "bother" god when we go to Him with anything.  Indeed we are dmonished to do exactly that.

Need to meed a quota?  Need Power Point to work right?  Need for traffic to no be a problem?  Why not pray about that?  What excuse could we possibly have for not praying about things of this nature.

Each day has trouble.  /each day needs to begin with pray and especially prayer about facing the trouble the day will bring.  And as we encounter these troubles we need to be praying about them asking God to help us see His use for them, His purpose in allowing them into our lives - when they happen!

Paul tells us to "pray always," and this admonition in Matthew is one very important reason why.  We can never pray too much and we can never thing anything in our lives is too trivial to pray about.

Trusting God?  Trusting God for the trivial?  Who else are you going to trust?  

Trusting God is not about trusting Him for BIG things it is trusting Him for EVERYTHING.

Intimate insight 003

pray without ceasing;   (1Th 5:17)

This is one of verses that I fear we have kind of blown off.  Usually we find ourselves being taught that it means to have a constant attitude of prayer.  That's good - really good - but I am beginning to believe it means just what it says, "pray without ceasing!"

I don't mean we are to be on our knees 24/7 - although that might be a great and good thing.  But I wonder if we might see it this way:

"As soon as you cease to need God's provision and mercies, you can cease praying."

In our situation we find ourselves praying - and praying a lot.   I had a lunch date with a dear brother today and before I left Patti prayed for it (he and I).

As our needs mount and our resources don't we pray a lot about it.  But our prayer are changing.  Yes, we pray for Him to lead us to jobs - income - medical care and we are doing all the things one does to facilitate that.  Being grown-ups ;-}

But we are finding that He is showing us more and more things that need to be lifted up.  Relational things, depressing things, fear, old thought pattern, old behaviors - just a multitude of things that go along with tough times.

Yes - our favorite prayer if simply, "Help us Lord Jesus!!!"  But since there is a purpose to all He brings into our lives that prayer may be the biggy - but there is a plethora of smaller prayer - more intimate prayers - more "ouch" prayers that we find ourselves praying.  Hence we hardly "cease" from prayer.

We pray for understanding - but we pray to trust Him even if we don't.  We pray for courage when we get that chill up the spine and emptiness in the belly.  We pray whet we get frustrated.  We pray when we notice the slightest blessing ( i there really is such a thing ;-}.

Prayer doesn't cease - oh, it's not an every minute thing but it is an every need and blessing thing.  We go to prayer often - maybe not long - but often.  Even a simple, "Thank You Lord," is a genuine and acceptable prayer.  it thanks Him and acknowledges His faithfulness.

Were not boasting here - our prayer growth began with our realization of our need and weakness to a depth we had never been led to.  So we shamefacedly  encourage you not to wait until your sensed need for prayer - all prayer - presents itself.  Don't wait to pray on the "trip down."  Start praying at every opportunity for every blessing, mercy, lesson and trial and do not forget the small stuff.  For there is no small stuff.

Pray without ceasing - is a great attitude but it is a more importantly a necessary discipline - activity - whatever you want to call it.  

Father - I live so focused on me and big needs that it is so easy for me to not attend to all the blessings - common and uncommon - that You are constantly providing.  Trials are meant to build our faith and our faithfulness and that demands prayer of all kinds at every opportunity.  
Make me sensitive to that and draw me to pray, refusing to see anything too trivial or common to lift up to You - right then - right there.

Amen

Nothing trivial!

I'm finding myself spending a lot more time in prayer than I have in years.  And I'm beginning to come to a place where I do not think we can ever pray too much and therr is nothing too trivial.

I can remember early in my walk having a smug feeling for folks who prayed for things like parking places, washers, and other common and simple things.  

I've discovered that there is perhaps a bit of, "I don''t need God for this," or "this is too little for God to care about in that old attitude.  Yes, this is a confession that I somehow had it in my head that there was God's sovereignty and providence and then there was ours.  It was an attitude that held that there were just some things God didn't care about - or was too big to exert Himself for.  I've had to examine and evaluate and repent of that - working on it daily.

When Jesus speaks of God's provision and interest in birds and flowers and hairs on our head He makes it plain that nothing is trivial when it comes to His Lordship and love for His creation.  Parking places, cars running well, washers breaking down are perhaps not of as great a concern to Him as they are to us BUT if they can affect His children he is concerned.

I've yet to find a scripture that enjoins me to, "not bother God with this or that."  Indeed, it's quite the opposite.  We are called to take everything --EVERYTHING  - to Him.

Yeah - it may feel silly and we may feel it is a trivial thing but it is the little foxes that spoil the grapes.  It can be the proverbial straw that crushes the camel.  

His love for us is without limit or condition.  His provision for us encompasses everything in our lives, not just what we think of as, "the biggies."  What harm could there be in praying
about everything in our lives.

Just a simple example.  It was a bad day for me  I was struggling.  I was on the way to the 'Bou and began to be bummed that they might be crowded and that parking would be a pain and that I wouldn't get my favorite "spot."  Stupid huh?  Well, I got there and got a good parking place and my "spot" was open.  This was a real "Wow" for me.  I felt blessed.  He heard and said, "Yes."

Am I nutz to think He was acting?  I can't maintain a healthy view of His sovereignty and at the same time engage in considering coincidence.  What may be a small thing in the whole of salvation can be a big thing in the moment.  

Peter writes:

1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Question,  What part of "all" do we not get?  "All," means, "ALL."  Right?  

Are we "bothering" God when we take everything to Him?  OOuch - that's a dangerous idea.    

It may seem odd at first but I encourage you to yield to the impulse or desire to pray no matter what the issue.  Take everything to Him - thank Him for everything whether you "prayed for it or not.  Please don't consign Him to being just "the God of what I can't do."  Please don't make Him the Gd, "who only cares about the big stuff."

Let Him be the Gd who cares so much He doesn't just know how much hair you have but has counted and created each and every one of them.

We sing, "Crown Him Lord of all."  Let's take that to heart and expect Him to be the Lord of all.  Nothing is trivial!

Father - let me open my life to yu.  Protect me from the lie that You're not really interested in parking places or favorite tables or old cars, etc.   Let me let loose of coincidence and acknowledge that You are Lord of all and therefore I should, can and may bring it ALL to you.

Amen