Trusting God in an Untrustworthy World to Relieve Stress

The media desires trust, but feeds us lies and half-truths daily.   When we swallow these words, it leaves us hurting, stressed, and not knowing who to believe.  So, when the media and the madness calls from the computer, phone and TV screen, it would be good to  quote this phrase over and over…In God Alone We Trust.  This phrase brings peace because we know that no matter what the real story is about the situation at hand, it’s the TRUTH about Jesus Christ that sets us and everyone else free.  I just wish I personally remembered it more often!!!!  Don’t you?

This truth brings direction when we are questioning what to do, and it brings peace to our souls when those in power let us down.  When this principle is embraced, we embrace that God is the one who holds us and sustains us while we live on this earth, and not the President, Congress, Democrat, Republican, or Libertarian parties!

God’ word penetrates through lies and reveals the truth.  His Holy Spirit directs our steps.  The Bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path.”  This direction can’t be expected if He is only acknowledged at bedtime, just one time right before leaving in the morning and/or solely before meals. To carry him daily is to , acknowledge His presence continually.  The Bible refers to  this in John 15:5  when he states,“I am  the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”  Abide means “to dwell in”.   To dwell means “to submerge yourself into”.  Our flesh sometimes keeps us from recognizing that His Spirit dwells within us and accompanies us everywhere.  We have to reject the lies of the flesh to embrace the Spirit.

When the stress of our country’s actions peak, what would it look like to trust Christ completely and recognize his presence daily?  How would life be different?  How would that feel inside?  What would the truth of the situation really be?   Complete peace inside would probably be the answer to all of those questions.  Stress would diminish.  Our direction would also change tremendously.  We would not be frantically panicking, knowing that the eternal things in life were all that really mattered instead of worrying if the price of gas was going to stay the same, what the President did or did not tweet, and whether Russia did or did not interfere with the election process. If we went further and wrote down micro-steps of release, one step might be that instead of watching the news each night, we would spend time in prayer each night for our country.  Another step might be that we would read and relay positive stories about fellow Americans and step away from the negativity of certain feeds of the press and certain people in our lives.  Not to dismiss the validity of a friends’ word but to “lean not unto thine own understanding” about what is actually going on because after all God has a plan and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8).

Finally, relieve stress by trusting in the Lord, we would do well to remember that this world is NOT our home.  We are strangers in a foreign land. (1 Peter 2:11-12)  We must remember that this trip will be over and it will be time to head home before we know it.  God’s plan and part of his direction for us to be about our Father’s business telling others about our real home in heaven.  Our true home should be on our hearts all the time! Our excitement and conversation should be about why we’ve placed our citizenship there, our assurance of eternal life with Jesus, and finally about the peace that only He can give as we learn to trust him more through the salvation that he has provided to us through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord!