Confronting Anxiety Meditations No.17: God does know best
Trusting God, Part 1: We are going to go through a series of studies that might come under the general umbrella title of ‘Trusting God’, so this is number 1. As I scan over my Bible, I realise there are many instances where the people of God struggled with various forms of anxiety, so I am going to start off with a fairly general perhaps all-encompassing one.
The Stress of ‘being alone’: Ever since the Fall we have struggled with a multifaceted problem – how to live, no longer in the comfort and security of ‘the Garden’ (Gen 2) where we can easily experience the daily presence of God, where we don’t have that easy access to get His help, guidance and wisdom in terms of what we do every day. No, essentially, we are on our own – until we turn to Him and ask Him into our lives and of course, going back a bit, we might have asked, why would He help us? But then came Jesus and lit up the world and showed those with eyes to see that God loved us and had sent him to redeem us and bring us back into that daily access to Him.
The Reality of ‘Sin’: But until that happens (at conversion, being born again) we struggle on our own and the Bible calls that state self-centred godlessness. I mean what else did we have without Christ? That lifestyle and outlook on life had a shadow of death hanging over it – the absence of any spiritual life (although the enemy would suggest counterfeits) and the fact of our mortality, our life transience lurking in the background.
The Reality of Free-will: But then we were saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, an element of the ever-present Christ within us, but we still have free will and the old ways are just a memory away for the enemy to offer us. That’s why the apostle John wrote, “I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, “ (1 Jn 21:1) He knew that although we were now running on a different track where we didn’t have to sin (to be self-centred and godless) we could still do it and therefore would need to be reminded of the facts of our salvation.
So why is there still the option of being self-centred and godless? Well, we’ve just said it, we have free will and unless we have been convinced of one most important truth, we will get in a mess again, ripe for anxiety. But it may be anxiety that gets us into a mess if we are confronted by a problem or question over life and we worry about the answer and may then resort to our own reasoning.
So let’s declare this two-sided truth straight away and then consider a biblical event to see it more clearly. Very simply it is that God knows best AND we don’t. Now come with me to watch Ezekiel.
Ezekiel: In chapter 37 of his book he recounts a vision that he had. It was of a valley; not a high place, but a place often of shadows, and there he sees the whole floor of it littered with bones – dry bones that had obviously been there some time, and the Lord then asked him, “Can these bones live?”
Now I’ve just missed the start of the verse to accentuate it, for he addresses him as ‘Son of man’, i.e. human being. Yes, it is that simple, and the wise take note of it when God subtly points out our limitations. We are limited by strength and, even more importantly, we are limited in our wisdom, and that latter thing is because we are battle weary from living in this fallen world and having our thinking distorted by the struggles of it and hurts and pain received. Moreover we not only have limited (damaged) experience but we also have limited knowledge and understanding. So we need to recognise this starting point when God starts asking questions. We also need to realise that He is not limited and so He knows the answer even before He asks it, so the question is for our benefit.
Question & Answers: So the question comes, “Little man, can these bones live?” Now I think there are two extreme answers and a middle way. Put yourself in Ezekiel’s shoes. But you are a believer, a spiritual person, and you know your Bible (!) and so you know that, of course God can make these bones live, and so you reply, “Of course they can Lord!” Ooops, that ignores two things. Are these bones representing people and if they are, people have free will and may not want to ‘live’. The other thing is, does God want them to live?
Now the other extreme, if I may put it like that, is to feel perhaps a bit like Jonah (who we’ll look at in a later study) and feel a bit miffed or irritated by God, and so reply, “For goodness sake, how am I supposed to know? You’re God not me!” But the middle path is Ezekiel’s path. Perhaps he has picked up on the ‘little man’ part or perhaps he just realises God’s greatness, and he decides he will presume nothing and not come up with false humility or super-spiritual arrogance, and so simply opts for, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Notice how he addresses the Lord – Sovereign, all-mighty, all-wise One. Only you know the possibilities AND what is on your heart!
And So… Ezekiel, I would suggest, displays the starting point for the child of God – God knows best, ONLY God knows best – and I don’t so I must trust Him, be available to Him, and obey Him. THIS is the starting point for dealing with all anxiety, all things that would make us anxious.
Bible Meditation Shop 