But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Matthew 6:33-34a
My 3-year-old grandson was holding my hand as we walked along the pavement.
He suddenly let go and ran away as fast as he could. He was wearing his favourite baseball cap, which was too big for him, so it kept slipping down covering his eyes. He couldn’t see that he was about to crash head-on into a tree trunk!
Our Father God can also see the ‘trees’ we are about to crash into when we let go of His hand. Perhaps we’re disappointed or angry. A loved one has died, a promotion not given, a house not sold, a teenager struggling. We feel like running away, letting go of God’s hand. Isn’t life supposed to be better as a Christian?
We once had a house that took seven years to sell. I was contemplating letting go of God’s hand and stopping being a Christian, as I had had enough of endless problems with this house, (we almost had to rebuild it to sell it). I decided while pushing the buggy around the town where I lived, I was no longer going to be a Christian.
My husband was away that week. I had started the process of putting three boys to bed when two of them suddenly started throwing up their dinner on the stairs simultaneously! I automatically started to pray for them- it was then that I came to my ‘spiritual senses’. I began to realise that if I left God, left His kingdom, left His church, I would no longer be able to pray for my husband, my kids, family members, colleagues, and friends! My family would have no protection. I asked for forgiveness then and there, as I sat amidst all the sick. I vowed that I would never give up being a Christian, even if I had to stay in this very problematic house for the rest of my life, so be it! I re-surrendered my life to Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour.
I have never regretted that decision. There have been many other ‘hard seasons’ since then, but I have learnt that it is better to keep running uphill with God, rather than running downhill away from God, that is a slippery slope!
As we ‘seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, all the things that we need will be added to us’. God is always running with us, and towards us, NEVER away from us!
We did sell the house, for a good price and had an adventure in the USA for 6 months just afterwards.
Photo by Grant Ritchie on Unsplash