No Room for Anxiety Here

Psalm 145: 17-20 ~New International Version~

"The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of all who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy."

I read these verses this morning, and I thought to myself, "There is absolutely no room for anxiety in light of this promise and this truth!" and there certainly isn't! As I was copying the verse into my journal this morning, my cat, Matilda, crawled up next to me. She often does this; she decides to snuggle when I am trying to study, and she curls up on top of the text I am reading or the journal on which I am trying to write. I usually just push her off of whatever it is she is usurping, but I do so lovingly, and proceed to caress her shedding white fur as she cuddles up next to my leg or hip (I typically sit on my bed to study). I read the first verse twice again, "The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made," and I thought, "God made Matilda--He is loving toward her, as well." The thought warmed me because if I can acknowledge that the Lord is loving to Matilda, and he certainly is because she was a poor war torn orphan of a kitty when God put her in Phil's and my path to rescue her from the streets, then I can certainly acknowledge that God is loving towards me, a human, who God intentionally gave dominion over animals like Matilda.But my favorite part of this passage is the part that states, "He fulfills the desires of all who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them." I can acknowledge that God will take care of my needs. He is God and omniscient and all knowing, of course he can do that, but the idea that he would fulfill my desires almost confounds me. Now, this could be interpreted in a few ways, semantically. It could mean that God will actually give those who love him the things they desire; however, an alternative could be that he is the fulfillment of our desires...that with him, we don't need to covet or grasp for what we want because he, God, is surely enough. Either way, God can take care of the yearning. He can lessen its power over us, and that is what I am trusting in today.

I am He who will Sustain You

Isaiah 46: 3-4 -New International Version-

"Listen to me...you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you."

I am no theologian. I am not informed on the Hebrew language and its direct translation into English. Therefore, I cannot provide a thorough explication of the verse above. I can, however, interpret its implications in English, and in so doing, I have been liberated in my own personal studies this morning.

I would like to place particular emphasis on the word sustain, as used in this passage. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the verb sustain means "to strengthen or support physically or mentally," "to cause to continue or be prolonged for an extended period or without interruption," and "to represent convincingly, or to bear (the weight of an object) without breaking or falling."

I find that in my own life, I amble along, teetering and tottering beneath the weight of the amassing pressure I heap upon my own shoulders. I stumble and I cringe beneath the encumbrance which mushrooms over me, compressing my feeble body lower to the earth below me. What causes this mass to dominate me? Surely not God! Rather, my own stubborn efforts to bear the burden unassisted is the very force that inhales stale air into the ballooning load above me. Yet, this is not necessary--not at all! Because God has already promised to sustain me. He has promised to strengthen and support me, and he has promised to bear the weight of my burden, and he is more than capable of doing so without breaking or falling.

The awareness of God's presence in my time of anxiety is heartening. The realization that I do not have to force circumstances in order to support myself is exceedingly encouraging because the reality is that I do not have control over all of my affairs. But I do not need control when God is pulling the reigns. He is he who will sustain me. He has made me and he will carry me; he will sustain me and he will rescue me.