WHERE DO YOU TURN IN TIMES OF TROUBLE?

WHERE DO YOU TURN IN TIMES OF TROUBLE?

AS SECULARISM AND HUMANISM continue to gain traction in our culture, we are increasingly bombarded with messages of positive thinking, of our ability to “do” and “accomplish,” and with our ability to solve all our problems.  Just think positively, the message goes,  and have faith in yourself!

While we have written about the importance of building good self-esteem, we understand that good self-esteem, doesn’t mean putting  our faith in our own abilities rather than God.  Jeremiah warned Israel against just that kind of self-sufficiency, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trust in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord'”  (Jer.17:5).  Contrast that warning with the promise two verses later which reads, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.”

This is an amazing warning/promise combination.  It tells us that during the troubled times in our marriages and in our homes–and they will come!–we had better make sure we’re not relying on our own talents and abilities.  Instead, we need to consciously put our trust and our confidence completely in the God who created marriages and families in the first place.

NOTE:  This article was taken from the book Family Life and Marriage Bible by Dennis and Barbara Rainey.

NOTE:  Daily there is a new post to help your marriage succeed.