If someone were to ask me what I believe is the #1 issue facing the majority of people today, I would not say: the economy, the inflation rate, the price of gas, the price of food, the fentanyl crisis, the border crisis, the breakdown of the family unit, or a hundred other answers.
My answer? Fear and anxiety and often the resulting depression and despair which comes as a “fruit” of the fear and anxiety.
I honestly believe we struggle with the results of that fear or the realization of what the difficulties imply, or lead us to rather than the “cause” itself. The fear and anxiety from the triggers play havoc on our lives more than than the triggers.
Fear and anxiety is very real, but it is also nothing new. David is proof positive in Psalm 13. The first two verses of that psalm are a heart cry of desperation and anguish. But if you keep reading, verses 5-6 are an answer to that anguish. Please give me a moment to show you:
- If God truly forgot David as he says in verse 1a, how did God truly love David unceasingly as David says in verse 5a?
- In verse 1b David also says God hid His face from him and yet in verse 6b David says God was good to him.
- In verse 2a David wrestled with many thoughts and had sorrow in his heart every day, but in verse 6a says he sang with joy at the same time.
- In verse 2b David says his enemy was triumphing over him, but in verse 5b David says God was delivering him from his enemy.
Do you see the discrepancy? It’s the discrepancy of feelings versus belief. David felt like God had forgotten him, but he believed God was somehow good to him behind the scenes.
The discrepancy was between feelings and fact, between what he felt vs what he knew to be true.
Followers of Jesus do not need to despair or to live in fear. Feelings vs facts. We may not feel God cares, but the truth is that He does, in spite of our feelings.
Stand on facts not your feelings.
{Note: I owe a debt of gratitude to Randall Arthur and his book, Wisdom Hunter, for laying the groundwork for these thoughts. Hint: you might want to check out that book! You will be glad you did.}