When You Can’t Pray

Do you wake up at night worried sick about the future? You are not alone. Fear and anxiety are rife. Stress has become a natural ingredient in peoples’ lives, regardless of their age. News from around the world provides a daily diet of issues to worry about. Communities and families all bring different problems. Concerns about school and decisions about next steps can cause unease. Family issues such as sickness, addictions, and broken relationships can incite worries. It’s easy to become despondent with so many thoughts swirling inside.

When fear consumes us, it’s impossible to think clearly. Worry strangles us like a nagging voice waiting for us to lose our cool and make hasty decisions we later regret. But there is hope. As the author of Psalm 112 recognized, trusting in God means that we do not have to fear bad news. Instead, as we look to God we can rest in His secure love for us—and for the world. God cares deeply about His creation, and He came to be with us.

When Jesus was walking around on earth, His disciples struggled with worry and stress the same as we do. They felt overwhelmed with their own problems even though they saw Jesus face-to-face and spent lots of time with Him. In John 14, Jesus recognized their fears, and His message for them was the same as it is for us today. Comfort and hope. When we are troubled, Jesus wants us to turn to Him and trust in Him and our Heavenly Father. In a world full of pain and confusion, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life†(John 14:6).

Jesus is the only One who can save us from the sin and brokenness of the world we inhabit, and He will. If we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we get to look forward to the day He will return and restore His creation, and we’ll live with Him forever. In the meantime, He sends the Holy Spirit, who helps us give our problems to God and rest in His love. When we follow Jesus, we have everything we need, and we can rely on Him to guide us through our difficulties. By fixing our attention on Jesus, rather than our worries, we are focusing on the One who will rescue the world from its troubled state—and who empowers us to bring some of that healing wherever we are. Our circumstances won’t be trouble free, but He will help us through them. • Cindy Lee

• What is worrying you today? Consider bringing these things to Jesus, remembering His love.

“Peace I [Jesus] leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.†John 14:27 (NIV)

Read Verses:

1John.5.13-1John.5.15|Rom.8.22-Rom.8.30