Have you ever wondered if God cares one whit about you or your circumstances of life? Reality dictates that bad stuff happens to us with regularity; cars break down, we run out of money before payday, people we love let us down and hurt us. There is no shortage of things that go wrong in our daily lives that lead us to become anxious and frustrated. Often, I am asked: "Does God even care about my circumstances?"
The short answer is "Yes" God most certainly does care about you and how you respond to your circumstances. God intends to use every issue that comes your way in life to conform you to the image and likeness of Christ (Rom 8:29). Your circumstances are being divinely orchestrated by the God who loves you! He is using them for His glory and the good of His people.
So what do you do with the emotions that seem to surround "out of control" situations? Matt. 6:25-34 reminds us that God cares for the littlest and the seemingly insignificant things He has created; birds and flowers. These two things that we usually passively observe in nature are according to Scripture provided for by God's own hand. The passage says "Your heavenly Father feeds them" and "God cares so wonderfully for flowers."
This is significant! The birds and flowers are completely dependent on their Creator to sustain them and provide for all their needs. Have you ever seen a bird or a flower fretting about where their water would come from? They both have been programmed to trust God to supply their needs, and we must do the same.
Our faith and belief are to be active. We must exercise (gymnazo) our faith. That little Greek word is the place we get gymnasium and gymnastics from. Think of the gymnast for a moment- did she get to the Olympics by an occasional practice? Of course not! She puts hour after hour in honing her skills, replacing all natural fear and reaction with the performance of her routine, blocking out all distractions and simply doing what she has been essentially programmed to do.What have we been "programmed to do" as Christians? Pray, trust, obey.
When tempted to be anxious about something, by all means pray! Pray that God would help you to see life and the situation from His point of view. Pray He would grant you the increase of your faith in the midst of it all. Once you pray, be willing to accept from God what unfolds- remembering that God is much wiser than you are and that His ways are ultimately good. He has known since eternity past what has come to you today and what you will face tomorrow. God is never surprised.
God desires for you to come to Him, but in humility. Take care never to show up at the throne of God with your fist in the air, heart full of demands about how things must work out. Obey His Word about how you are to respond and how you are to live your life as a Christian.