Simplifying things

There can be moments in life when everything seems totally overwhelming. Things seem to pile on top of us and it all feels too much. The problems are too enormous for us to fix. We face so many difficulties we don’t even know where to start. It’s a mountain we cannot climb. We may worry constantly, work relentlessly and fret endlessly. Yet we know none of that will even make a dent in our problems. What are we to do when circumstances conspire to overwhelm us?

One thing which has definitely helped me is to simplify matters and boil them down to one key question: “How do I please the Lord in this situation?”

As soon as I do this, I feel myself calming down. I may still not know how to fix my problems. Nothing may have changed in my circumstances. But the one thing that is now totally different is me. I feel that, as long as I please the Lord, He is able to work out all the things which are totally beyond me. I must take responsibility for that which God will not control, my own heart, my attitude, my approach to the situation.

I find that, when I honestly ask God how I can please Him, He always shows the way forward. It might not make total sense to my mind. I might not particularly like the way He leads, but clarity always comes when I turn my heart to Him. His way forward will always involve faith and trust in Him (‘For without faith it is impossible to please the Him’ Hebrews 11:6.). Sometimes this means doing nothing but praying and waiting. Other times it means a specific course of action, as directed through the Scriptures.

I always feel lighter when I have asked this question, as if a weight has fallen off my shoulders, as if a cloud has lifted. Hope gets restored again. God is neither cruel nor unreasonable. He only asks us to do things He knows we can do. He will not require things from us which are beyond us. As it says, ‘His commandments are not burdensome’ (1 John 5:3). And our Father in heaven is happy to undertake sorting out all those things which we don’t know how to sort out. But what we must do first is trust, and then obey.

The prophet Micah asked a similar question, and even provided us with an answer. ‘He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?’ (Micah 6:8).

May I encourage you to try and simplify matters, when you cannot see the way through, by focussing on that which will always matter most, pleasing the Lord God.