Not One Inch

Read: Matthew 6:25-34

     Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?                                                                                                              Matthew 6:30

     If you have ever played basketball, then you probably have prayed at some point that you could grow just a couple more inches. You may have wished you had the ability to think really hard and make yourself grow an inch or two at a time. I can remember wishing someone could invent some kind of machine that could stretch me (without pain) to heights that would give me the ability to dunk. Unfortunately, that never happened.  Maybe God answered your prayer and let you grow as you got older, but I can guarantee that no matter how hard you tried, you were never able to think your way to growth.

     That’s what God is talking about in this passage. He says that if we cannot even add to our height when we would like to, then what kind of control do we really have over our lives? He is in control of everything. If God controls your stature, and if He gives the lilies their ability to punch through the ground in their fragility, then don’t you think He can take care of you? If the flowers of the fields, which are completely dependent on God, are arrayed more ornately than Solomon ever hoped to be, then can’t God handle your difficulties?

     That test that you are worried about in school – if you do your best to study, then don’t you think He can give you the ability to pass it? That struggle that you have with your thought life – if you beg Him for strength to overcome, then don’t you think He can give you the power to have the right thoughts? That difficulty you face in honoring your parents – if you try your best to honor them, then don’t you think he can work out that relationship? The list could go on indefinitely. If you don’t have the ability to control any of the outside circumstances in your life, and God does, then why can we not simply let go and just trust Him?

     Today, think of one thing that you have a hard time with, and just turn it over to God. Tomorrow, you can pick something else. What will happen is that, over time, you will create a pattern of depending upon God to help you in each situation. He controls everything anyway, so why not just rest in that fact and let Him sustain you.

 

Quote of the day: “When I try I fail; when I trust I succeed.”