Feeling Lost?
Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Feeling lost or confused about our lives can often make you feel hopeless, especially when you have no clear path forward, and you have no one to accompany you in your struggles.
When hopelessness starts to seep in, there can be a tendency to self-soothe and avoid this feeling of discomfort. People often fall into addictions, lash out their feelings at those around them, or fall into a sort of depression or despair when they feel like there’s no way out. This cycle feeds into a restless anxiety that makes us hurt ourselves and those around us.
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Even as Christians, we fall into this trap.
We often forget the fact that God is closer to us than we realize, thinking that God is only present with us on Sundays.
God has a beautiful plan for you and me. His plan is greater than anything we could ever comprehend or think up ourselves. Most of all, He wants to walk with us every step of the way in our earthly journeys.
God truly delights in you and is knocking on your door — you need to let Him in to help you find your way.
Here are three passages to reassure you of God’s love when you’re feeling lost:
The Lord hears you.
It’s shocking how easy it is to isolate ourselves in our problems.
We shoulder the weight of our burdens on our own. We try to think up the solutions to our problems, but at every turn, we hit a wall. There’s so much pressure in thinking that we have to own and overcome our trials by ourselves.
This pattern of thinking is overwhelming, but we need to realize that we aren’t meant to go through life alone.
The Lord is always near and He hears our cries for help.
5Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
6 With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
What can mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is on my side to help me;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.Psalm 118: 5–7, NRSV-CE
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There isn’t a single problem in your world that the Lord doesn’t bear with you. He already knows what you’re going through. Opening your heart to Him is more about you realizing that you truly aren’t alone and that the Lord is always at your side to help you.
The important thing to remember, however, is that you need to walk with Him one step at a time.
The Lord lights your path.
28 It is you who light my lamp;
the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.Psalm 18: 28, NSRV-CE
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The imagery of a lamp against the backdrop of darkness is beautiful.
The lamp doesn’t saturate an entire space with light, in fact, the light only seems to illumine a small radius around us. It appears that the lamp makes known the path directly in front of you, while the rest of the path remains in darkness. In this dark path, the only source of warmth comes from the lamp, so you draw in as close as possible.
This one simple verse describes how the Lord accompanies us in our lives.
The Lord is in the darkness with you and is as near to you as you hold your lamp.
He shows us that His will for each of us can only be fulfilled one step at a time. Illuminating the entire path in front of us would easily overwhelm us, frightening us with the vicious creatures and difficult terrain that we would eventually encounter ahead. So instead, He provides the warmth and the guidance to focus directly on the path lit up in front of us.
If you find yourself overwhelmed, ask the Lord to light up your lamp and He’ll show, guide, and accompany you with what is directly in front of you.
Just focus on today.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,[j] or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Matthew 6: 25, 31–34, NRSV-CE
Our lives feel overfilled with troubles.
I don’t make enough money. Why is everything getting more expensive? The bills are piling up. Why are the kids being so testy lately? The house needs fixing. I don’t do enough at Church. I don’t do enough at home. Why can’t I rid myself of (habitual sin)?
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We get stuck in analysis paralysis, worrying ourselves with these thoughts. We start to see a snowball effect where we pile one trouble on top of another. We get even more anxious.
A lot of our concerns are genuinely things that we ought to be concerned over, however, the Lord doesn’t tell us to focus on and knock everything out at the same time.
On the contrary, He tells us these two things in this exact order:
- strive for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and
- worry only about today.
When we strive for the kingdom of God and our righteousness, we reframe our perspectives to see how each moment of our day good and bad, is designed for the sake of our holiness. We can be renewed with a sense of purpose in knowing that as long as we strive for holiness and a union with God no matter what we do, we are taking the right steps forward. To worry about today’s troubles means to focus solely on what God needs us to focus on today and chip away at His will for us one day at a time.
God’s grace for you is only effective in the present, so ask God to give you the grace to strive for holiness, and to only focus on the things that matter to Him today.
