Sermons
A Message by the Rev. Harvey G. Throop
Palisades Presbyterian Church
San Diego, California
Faith for Troubled Times
(Isaiah 40:28-31)
"Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;
he will never permit the righteous to be moved."
(Psalm 55:22)
I have both bad news and good news for those among us here today who are ‘compulsive worriers.' The bad news is that there is more for us to worry about today than, perhaps, ever before in our lives.
None of you need me today to remind you that we are living in a time of great unrest and insecurity. The economic collapse that continues to worsen daily has literally shaken our planet. As the economy shifts, the effects become more and more widespread, impacting everything from job stability to home mortgages and home foreclosures, health care and health insurance costs, college tuitions, retirement and a host of other things. Whoever called the modern era ‘The Age of Anxiety' certainly knew what he or she was talking about.
The news reminds us:
• Unemployment reaching the 7% mark here in America.
• The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rage on.
• Fighting in Gaza between the Israelis and Hamas continues.
• The auto industry grows deeper into financial crisis.
• The federal deficit is at an all-time high.
• The mortgage meltdown continues.
• And the Chargers lost last Sunday to Pittsburgh.
This is truly a difficult and trying time to be alive.
Now, let me share some good news. God is alive! God is still an ever-present source of strength in our lives and invites us each to cast all our anxieties, worries and cares on him!
Now, I'm not about to suggest that our faith gives simple answers to our bad news troubles. It's doesn't. We can't package up our agonizing struggles and then await our faith to respond to these complicated issues with wonderful-sounding but hollow clichés and platitudes. It doesn't work that way! But we can turn to our faith and find reasons to hope in the face of our troubles. And in that hope, we are saved (see Romans 8:24,25).
Let us recognize at the outset that no one is given divine immunity from troubles and trials in life. That is true for Wall Street as well as Main Street; for nations as well as for individuals. In spite of our best efforts and our strongest faith, troubles will come. These troubling times can make us or break us.
While it is not within our power to avoid the troubles that come to us, it is within God's power to enable us to triumph over them. And that is what our faith would have us remember!
As much as we detest painful and troublesome circumstances in our world and in our lives, they often become the means by which we have our most meaningful encounters with God and experience both personal and spiritual growth.
Peace of mind does not depend upon the absence of troubling circumstances. Peace of mind depends upon our assurance of God's grace to help us to cope with life's disturbing trials.
How fortunate are those who have prepared themselves for life's difficulties by storing up the wisdom and power of God's word. When troubles strike, like an automatic reflex muscle, the words I am using as my text this morning surface to our conscious level: "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved" (Psalm 55:22).
Oftentimes, God chooses not to remove the burdens from us, but God does guarantee that if we are willing to carry the burden and trust him, he will carry us safely and soundly and never let us down.
I believe that when you and I do what God shows us and enables us to do, we can trust God to do what is impossible for us to do. However, until we have done everything God is enabling and expecting us to do ourselves, we do not have the grounds to expect God to do the rest.
Remember the words of the apostle Paul: "I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).
An ancient Chinese parable tells of Old Tan Chang who purchased a small farm at the base of a large mountain. The soil and landscape was very rocky. Friends and family members counseled him not to purchase the land. They looked at the rocks and said, “There are not enough days in the year for you to clear the land.” But Tan Chang thought otherwise.
Each day he and his sons set a quota of how many rocks and boulders they would remove. After six months of labor – enough land was cleared – seeds were planted – and the crops began to grow. Old Tan Chang said, “I will remove as many rocks and boulders as I can before I die. My sons will continue to do the same and their sons after them. Someday we will have the largest farm on the island.” And they did.
Jesus taught us to pace ourselves. The best thing about life is that we receive it one day at a time. We live in the day called today -- not yesterday and not tomorrow, but today. But, in our divided minds, we don't do that. And so we worry.
Worrying has become, for many folks, an unhealthy habit. We practice it for so long it becomes a pattern for living – a mindset. Dr. Charles Mayo, of the famed Mayo Clinic, wrote, “Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, the whole nervous system, and it profoundly affects the health of us all.” He continues, “I have very rarely known anybody who died from overwork, but I have known many people who have died from worry.”
Psychologists tell us that sixty percent of our worries concern the future – what might happen. Thirty percent concern yesterday – what has happened. And only ten percent deals with the worries of today. Jesus tells us that's too great a load. Jesus counsels, “Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day” (see Matthew 6:34).
Many of the problems we face cannot be eliminated instantly – but can be addressed and moved one piece and one day at a time.
In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6).
When was the last time you allowed a long enough time to have a real conversation with God? And in your conversation, how specific were you in making known to God your requests and the reason for your requests and the situation or problem behind your requests?
Some time ago, I ran across the following story, written by a man who happened to be sitting in his car in a shopping mall parking lot. Let me read what he writes: "While I was sitting in my parked car in a parking lot one day, a young women who had parked her car next to me and was now returning to it came over and asked me if I had a hammer she could borrow. When I told her that I didn't, she asked another gentleman in a nearby car, and he happened to have one. She took his hammer, walked back to her car and proceeded to smash out the window on the driver's side. She walked back to the man who had loaned her his hammer, handed it back to him, and thanked him. She then returned to her car, reached through the broken window and opened her car door, took her keys out of the ignition and waved them at both of us with a triumphant grin. As she drove away, the fellow who lent her his hammer came over to me and said, "You know, I wish she had told me what she wanted the hammer for. I could have helped her. I'm a locksmith!"
The Apostle Paul wrote, "Let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6).
How many of us are carrying around problems that make for unnecessary stress? Life is too short for that! We need to keep in constant communication with God, making certain that God knows the specifics of our lives. When we do the best we know how to do in any situation and trust God no matter what, we will never know where our personal reasoning ability runs out and God's wisdom comes in; where our skill ends and God's begins; or where our human strength runs out and God's power takes over.
Psalm 121 reminds us “He who watches over you … will neither slumber nor sleep.”
James Russell Lowell, the American poet and essayist, once expressed it in these words:
“Behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadows
Keeping watch above his own.”
That is a great faith to have, because it reminds us of our God of love and concern.
God is always only a prayer away. He is looking after each of us all the time. All we need to do is to look to him and trust him.
Remember the adage: “Life by the inch is a cinch; by the yard is hard?” That's true! When we add the load of tomorrow onto the load of today, that's more weight than any of us can bear!
There is probably not a one of us who can keep all worries from coming to us. But we can determine whether we will give them permission to take the joy out of our lives or to make us more trusting of God, who can do all things.
The perspective and resources with which we view our troubles and fears will determine the condition and response of our hearts. That's where our faith comes in.
The Bible is clear! God will see you through everything. There is never a moment or a trouble in your life or mine that God isn't on the spot, ready to trust him as our ever-present help.
Remember this:
"You have the hand of God to hold you,
the strength of God to empower you,
the Spirit of God to guide you,
and the love of God to enfold you."
