Care Enough to Battle- Troubles

“He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?“

Luke 24:38

The other day I read this verse in my daily reading… I have probably read this verse at least 10 times, I am actually giving that a low number because I don’t want to exaggerate. But for some reason, it struck me different this time. Has that ever happened to you in life… you have done something over and over again, and then finally something clicks… or maybe you have heard something over and over again, and then finally you understand it… this is that time for me.

Jesus is talking to His people, and He is wondering why they are feeling troubled. I honestly look at this, and think to myself, why wouldn’t they be troubled. The One who they thought was going to come and fix everything for them appears to have not… in fact, now it seems like things may be even worst than before. Again, has this happened to you? You think all of a sudden things are looking up, things are starting to get better… maybe things you have been praying for… maybe things you have been working hard for, striving for… and you think you’re finally getting that breakthrough… but then all of a sudden, things change… not going the way you were hoping for and in fact it looks like it is even worst than before! “Why are you troubled…” Isn’t it obvious why I am troubled… I thought You had fixed the issues at hand… I thought You were giving me a future and a hope… but then this happened and now my troubles are even worst than before!

Then Jesus asks them, “why do doubts rise in your mind.” I think the two go together… troubles=doubts… and it could even be the other way around… doubts=troubles. Doubts rise in our minds when we start to look in the past(typically the bad parts of the past) and we forecast the same results. Something will trigger this… maybe it seems like the same situation… maybe a familiar smell comes in the air… or a familiar saying starts to come to surface… next thing you know, you are beginning to doubt. You may not even had these troubles going on, but in your mind they were there, and now you have doubted, you try to fix whatever the so-called troubles and you make it even worst. Have you done this? Once you have made a good mess of this, then you turn to the Lord and start asking Him to intervene. Or maybe you don’t do anything and you just stir in your juices, doubting that God can do anything, doubt if He can fix your issue… you become not only a doubter but a whiner!

The other morning when I read this, I caught myself falling into this trap. For me, this year has started off strong… the mortgage industry (my occupation) was looking up… rates were dropping, people were getting excited again… buyers deciding to buy again… sellers deciding to sell… even refinances were coming into play. Companies were beginning to hire again, which was great to see some of my friends who have been struggling to get work in this industry, get some hope again. Then out of nowhere, the market takes another shift, rates begin to rise, people begin to wonder, things begin to slow down a bit… and then in my head, I say, “here we go again…” Things have not shifted for me, I am still staying busy, things are still looking very hopeful for this year… but I all of a sudden get a doubt… then I feel like I need to fix something that isn’t even broken… so next if I am not careful can come troubles.

I am not sure if this is you in life, if you can relate this to your life, or your occupation, or your situation. But when I read this, God gave me a deep peace that I am clinging to. He does not want me to be troubled, He does not want me to doubt… He wants me to trust Him with all that I have, have faith in Him that He is going ahead of me, that He is working all things out for good… There are times when we have little faith in this world, believe me, I have been there and probably will again… but I love it when Jesus is talking with this guy and telling him to have faith, and the guy asks Jesus to help him with his faith. So if you have little faith today, ask Him to help you to have faith. Or maybe, you have some friends, like the friends that dug up the roof top so they could get his friend to Jesus… they had faith for their friend… maybe you need to lean in on someone else’s faith right now… do what it takes to not be troubled and to believe!