What Is Unknown to Me Is Known to Him

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, “Do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah 41:10-13

Devotion

One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve grown older, is that overcommitting myself has brought about a lot of unnecessary stress. When God tells us in Proverbs 16:3 to “Commit your activities to the Lord,” he isn’t saying to fill up your calendar and then ask him to be with you throughout the day. Don’t leave him out of the planning of your schedule!

He wants us to approach him with all the opportunities we have and let him help us choose what is most purposeful. When we do this, we aren’t drowning in commitments which God never called us to.

When we haven’t included God in the planning, it’s also easy to let worries keep us up at night and send our thoughts spinning out of control. And yet, here is the hard truth: over and over again, the Bible commands us, “Do not be anxious, do not be afraid, and do not worry about tomorrow”—whether we can control the source of stress in our life or not.

As the saying goes, “Anxiety is just calculating our future without God.” How many hours a day do we try to predict what might happen? When we don’t put God in our future, then yes, our worries about our kids, finances, marriage, weight, health, college tuition, jobs, and so on, often seem hopeless. But with God, who holds our future in his hands, there is hope! After all, he is the God of the unknown. What is unknown to me is known to him, and I can rest in that.

I found it so interesting that Marty’s message to us this Easter was on “Saturday” ... The Day of Waiting”—The day we let doubts come in, have fear, become discouraged, are confused, and just waiting. We think, “What’s going to happen next?” When we are waiting, God is still at work! We just need to remember Sunday, Easter, the day of hope! I loved this message, the reminder we need to trust Jesus, the reminder we need to wait. What can we do to put our focus back on God and the voice of hope we have in our lives? Besides remembering this message, there are three other tools I have used. So what can we do in the stressed-out moments?

One tool I have turned to during some dark times in my life is Scripture, particularly Isaiah 41:10-13. I have read this over and over, posted it on mirrors, rewritten it on papers, highlighted it in my Bible, and meditated on it.

Music is another powerful tool. There is a song sung by Crossings own Jason White and the Sanctuary Worship Team called “Believer.” It speaks to your soul and gives you hope. One line says, “cause I have peace thru the trouble, and I have joy thru my struggle, now my hope is in a brighter day.” There is a great selection of Crossings Music on our app.

Another tool, one of the best tools, I’ve learned through a Bible study is to have an “Anxiety Box.” When doubt and worries begin to enter my mind, I write them on a piece of paper, put them in the box, and tell God I’m going to let him have that problem. It’s my way of obeying 1 Peter 5:7, “cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.” I may have to put those slips of paper in again and again for the same issues, but when I acknowledge that God is in control and knows how the game ends, then slowly I become less stressed. It’s truly amazing. I’ve looked back into that box a year later and have seen how many of those things I was worried about never even happened. It renews my faith to see how God took care of me throughout whatever situation I was dealing with. And the same is true for you. God will take care of you during the stressful times of life. With him in your future, there is always hope.

PRAYER

Lord, I lay myself at your feet exactly as I am: an imperfect, broken sinner, who is made righteous only by Jesus who himself is perfect. I pray your Spirit would work to eliminate any false conceptions of what my faith should look like and that my faith will simply be honest and lasting, resting on the knowledge that no matter what, you are working things out for my good. Amen.

Lori Bunyar
Pastor of Special Events - OKC

Serving in the events of Crossings includes all conferences, concerts, Get to Know Us Events, and Baptisms. Lori has enjoyed working with her team of event volunteers to plan, prepare, and facilitate large events such as Jumpstart Your Marriage, Arise Single Moms Thrive Conference, CHOG Leadership Conferences, and Real Christmas Story. She finds joy in seeing people, find, and follow Jesus. She loves to see people come through the doors for the first time, to find Jesus at work and wanting to know more.

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