But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
~Matthew 6:33 (ESV)
Zoom church had been a failure. Pastor’s mic wasn’t picking up, and he was unaware. Someone messaged a deacon, and they fiddled with the system a bit, but they never got it working.
Isn’t this just the icing on the cake? thought Maggie. She didn’t want to actually attend church with all the maskers and social distancers. Her husband quit going years ago, and social distancing would only accentuate her solo status.
It had been a tough week to begin with. Her husband, who had dedicated himself for years to build up his small business, was now seeing it fall apart.
Bills were due and angry clients were canceling, insisting on full refunds. It was emotionally devastating to see all that hard work just fall apart with no clear end or solution. She and her husband were reduced to a bundle of frayed nerves some days.
Never had Maggie been to a point in her life where she had to so fully give over all of her trust and all of her control to God, and to so fully acknowledge that He is the only one with any power over the situation.
Her attempts at prayer felt like a scramble of emotions and incomplete thoughts… please… why… help… I’m scared… The only comfort she experienced these days, ultimately, was to stop and simply be in God’s presence and let Him be God.
There’s an old adage that 85% of what we worry about never happens. Maybe there’s some truth to that, but maybe you are also feeling like Maggie — living in that 15% margin where the worrisome things are happening.
God is still in control, He is still merciful, and He is still good. He is still worthy of our praise and worship. We only have what we have because of Him, and when we seek Him, He will fulfill our needs, often in unexpected ways.
Many of us are turning to God in a deeper soul-level way, crying out in need, fully embracing our powerlessness and humility. Our prayers may be emotional snippets and cries for help, but it turns out God prefers this fellowship to any elaborate or pretentious prayer. (Luke 18:9-14)
Maggie had the feeling that things were going to get worse before they got better, but the dread and fear surrounding this feeling were beginning to diminish. She had moments of true peace and calm in God’s presence – a gift God offers to each of us every day, no matter what the circumstances.
It is hard to live in a time when we are so directly confronted by our own powerlessness. We realize that our ideas about our lives, our plans, and our illusions of control are exactly what Solomon called them in Ecclesiastes – vanity.
But we don’t have a see I told you so God. We have a come closer God. An I’m still in control God. That is where peace can be truly found.