Have you ever thought about the first thing you do when faced with a challenging situation?
This first response says a lot about who or what we trust when our world is being rocked?
I was pondering this the other day. My first response when I am faced with something that frightens me or upsets me is to retreat.
My reaction to withdraw into myself indicates to me that my safe place is found in myself. In those situations where I am frightened or feeling wounded I feel that there is no better place for me to go to than to myself for solace and comfort.
However this does not line up with what God desires from me. By isolating myself and looking to myself for wisdom and comfort I am not going to God first! Sometimes I don't go to Him at all.
Our actions in stressful situations are a key indication of where our true heart lies and what we truely trust in. When I withdraw into myself I am saying that in my most vulnerable situations I feel that the only person I can only rely on is myself.
To illustrate my point I want to take two people from the bible and show you how their reaction affected their world and the people around them.
Firstly, let’s look at Old Testament Saul. At the start of his reign over Israel, Saul was a Godly man. Then he made a few decisions that were contrary to God and his relationship with God broke down. But things really began to come unstuck when he became jealous of David.
David was doing all the right things in the people’s eyes and Saul began to feel very insecure indeed.
Have you ever felt insecure?
Instead of running to God with those insecurities Saul took it upon himself to remove the perceived person of his insecurities – David. Things for Saul went down hill from there. He never regained the peace he once had. He lived a life of insecurity, fear and hatred.
If we mirror that situation against Saul’s enemy David, we see a very different response. As I have shared with you before David made some decisions in his life that were far from Godly. Deciding to sleep with Bathsheba was one of them.
As we know God said their baby would die. Now, in this excruciatingly painful time what did David choose to do?
He chose to run to God. He fasted and prayed and even when the baby died he chose to go and worship God. David was not destroyed by that situation. He went to the Lord and God lead him through it.
We all face situations that are frightening and upsetting to us but it is what we choose to do in those situations that reveal who we trust with our heart.
Who are you trusting with your heart?
Psalm 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion.”
In stressful or hurtful situations you may not withdraw as I do. You may turn to people rather than God or you may turn to a certain activity to ease your stress rather than God. What ever it may be if you find your self consistently going to something or someone other than God you may like to consider why?
Could you be using something or someone to meet a need that is supposed to be met by God?
Lord, I want to trust You with all my heart. Would You please show me the areas I am withholding from you. Amen
