Transcript:
Hello, welcome to Walking in Step with God. I am Steve McDonald. Today we explore the topic “See Through the Shadows” as the next segment in our series “Living in the Light”. In this series, we’ve been exploring what it means to walk with God each day. We are learning how to navigate life knowing that God’s presence is with us in times of joy as well as in times where we are facing challenges.
In today’s message, we are going to focus on navigating through difficult times. We will all face difficult times in life. There will be seasons of uncertainty where we truly have no idea how something is going to pan out. There will be times that, despite our best efforts to do the right thing, it seems as though the wrong thing keeps happening to us.There will even be times that calamity and loss may fall into our lap through no fault of our own.
These situations are all part of the human experience. The good news is that God is fully aware in these times and is prepared to walk alongside us at each and every moment.
God never said that we would not have challenges in life, or that we wouldn’t have difficulties that have the potential to push us to a breaking point. He does say that He will never leave us or forsake us. He promises us that if we lean on Him in these times, He will give us strength.
Today, let’s talk about how to navigate times of difficulty: living in God’s light even as we are surrounded in darkness.
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Welcome back. Let’s continue in our discussion of ways to navigate difficulties in life with God at our side.
Give it to God
The first concept I’d like to explore with you today is the idea of giving it to God. When we are in the middle of a difficult time, one of the most challenging things for us is overcoming the mindset that we can fix anything and everything on our own.
If you are new to the idea of giving your concerns and challenges to God, it can seem like an unreasonable ask. Even those of us who have walked with God for many years can struggle in the heat of the moment to give our challenging circumstances to Him.
It’s important to understand that God does not expect us to do nothing in difficult times. I believe He does ask us to do what we know to do, but leave the rest to Him. This is fundamental to walking in faith: that we are actually taking the action we know to take (or that we think we should take), but trusting that God will course-correct us as we walk versus standing idle and expecting change.
I happen to be in a situation at this very moment where there is uncertainty about the success of a project, and I confess my mind has been racing on all the ways to make sure it’s successful. I know by now that I have to have a posture of giving this to God. But I also know that means doing my very best to do what I know needs to be done and leaving the rest to him, including asking him to help me understand what to do next day by day.
Giving your circumstances to God means making a decision in your heart and in your mind that you will let go of control. You will let go of the areas of your circumstances that you have little to no control over and hand them over to God. It also means bringing to God the things you do know how to handle, but asking Him to help you by confirming what you believe to be true and what you believe you should do step by step.
Either way, I believe it is a decision, a concrete choice, to reveal to God that you know He knows best. If you are dealing with a situation today where you simply don’t know how to proceed, know that you can give it to God.
Trust God
Once we have decided to give it to God, the next thing to do is to trust Him with the process. This is also a very difficult thing to do in moments of stress and difficulty, but it goes hand in hand with the decision to give your circumstances to God.
When we’ve decided to give a challenge to God, there will certainly be moments afterward when we are tempted to take back control. In other words, to get involved in a way that we feel is necessary to ensure the success of our request. Things may appear not to be moving as quickly as we would like, or they may appear to be moving in a direction that we would not have chosen.
In all of these situations, we must learn to trust Him. You see, God knows best in any and all situations. He knows infinitely more about your circumstances and situation than you do. God does not need our help under any circumstances.
He knows every single person involved. He knows how every person that will be affected by every decision that is made. God knows all of the possible outcomes and what is best for each person involved.
We must remember that when we give something to God, we must trust Him because He knows what is best. We are only human, so yes, we will be tempted to step back in when things don’t seem to be going our way, but it is in these times that we can ask God for strength.
We can ask God for patience as we wait for His work to be done. Let us ask Him for guidance as to how we should proceed while we wait and provision for what we need as we stand by to witness His works and will unfold.
If you are new to the idea of giving your circumstances to God, this will be a very difficult thing to do, but it is so important in your journey with Him. If you will simply learn to trust Him, He will see your act of trust and you will learn His faithfulness in time.
Just as in any relationship, over time your trust will grow stronger as you see how He responds to your prayers. If you are dealing with difficulties in your life and have decided to give it over to God, trust Him with your circumstances.
God knows exactly what you’re going through and He loves you unconditionally, as well as knowing what is best. There may be an outcome you did not expect, but know that the outcomes from giving it over to God and trusting in Him are what is best in His eyes.
Pray
So far today, we have talked about handing difficult circumstances over to God and trusting Him with that decision. Once we have done these things, let’s remember how important it is to remain in the conversation with Him. We must keep it at the top of our minds to be steadfast in prayer.
There will be any number of things affecting us in the middle of challenges, even after we have decided to give them to God and trust Him. We are only human, so we will certainly still experience a range of emotions as we wait and wonder. We may be impatient. We may experience moments of fear, anxiety, and worry. It is okay to wonder, but you need not worry when we place our trust in God.
These are natural feelings, and God knows we will experience them. During this time, it is vital to remain in prayer. We can go to God and be sincere about our situation. We can let Him know we are anxious as we wait for Him to respond. Let’s share with Him when we are nervous or worried about how things are going to go. We can cry out to Him in times of weakness and despair, even as we seek to trust Him.
Earlier in the message, I mentioned that I am personally in a situation where I have decided to give it over to God and trust Him. Yet, I still have racing thoughts. I still wonder how it’s going to go, whether the answer is yes, no, or not now, and if the project will be successful.
I recognize, even as I speak this guidance to you, that it is -difficult-. What keeps me strong—and what I invite you to do as well—is to remain in prayer. As I walk, wonder, and wait, I remain steadfast in prayer, letting God know that the waiting is difficult but that I trust Him. I am asking Him to let me know what I can do in the meantime as I wait for His response.
Let us remember that God is available 24/7. He will hear your prayer, your cries, and see your troubled thoughts. You can come to Him exactly as you are, and He can provide you with comfort and strength as you walk in faith with Him.
If you are walking through a season of difficulty and have given your circumstances to God, remember to remain steadfast in prayer to keep Him close as you wait.
Wrap Up
In today’s message, we have explored how to navigate through difficult times in our faith. We have touched on how to connect with God in this time in a way that will keep Him in the front of our minds as we deal with our situation.
Giving our circumstances over to God is perhaps the most difficult first step because we are taught from a very young age to handle our business and that no one will take care of us but ourselves. We must make room in our minds to understand that God is willing to help with any and all things, from the simplest to the most complex. In fact, there is absolutely no situation that God cannot intervene and untangle.
I have witnessed and experienced circumstances in my life that I had concluded were impossible to fix, and by the grace of God, He molded what I felt were impossible circumstances into good. God took the impossible and made it possible according to His will.
I believe God asks us to do what we know to do, and that we can give the rest to Him. I also believe that God knows when we are too overwhelmed to do what we know to do, and He will comfort and longingly guide us in these times. In the end, giving our difficult circumstances to God is the first important step toward resolution.
We also discussed today the idea of trusting God. Once we have given our circumstances to God, we must actually follow that up with a posture of trust.
We will be tempted to take control of something we had decided to give to Him. This is especially true if circumstances seem to be worsening or becoming more stressful. We must do our best not to have a knee-jerk reaction when things are not going the way we would have wanted. We must learn to trust God completely and fully, knowing that He knows best.
Let us remember that He knows every single detail about our situation. In fact, He knows infinitely more than we do.
Lastly, we discussed the importance of prayer. Once we have made up our minds to give our circumstances to God and do our best to hold a posture of trusting Him with them, we should also remember that the communication does not need to stop there. As we wait for signs of His works and will, we should remain in constant prayer with Him.
God loves us completely and unconditionally, so we should be fine with sharing our anxiety with Him as we wait. Even though we seek to trust Him, we can let Him know that we are worried. Even though we know He knows what is best, we can tell Him that it is really difficult to wait for His response. His love will envelop us in a way that helps us to be patient.
If you have given something to God and are learning how to trust Him with it, remember that prayer can keep you strong in your time of waiting. Stay in constant and unceasing prayer with God, even as you await His guidance and direction during difficult times.
Prayer
Let us close in prayer.
Are you interested in discovering more about the guidance offered in this message? Learn more in the companion article Going Deeper with the Word:See Through the Shadows
