JESUS SHINES BRIGHTEST IN THE WORST STORMS
Psalms 55:22 Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
Much of King David’s life had cares going on. I would think that with King Saul trying to have him killed and even one of his sons trying to kill him that it would have been easy to give up on trusting the Lord help him. But David stayed true to the Lord no matter what came against him. It seemed that the greater the care or problem, the harder he would trust in the Lord.
It is funny how some very unsuspecting things in a person's life will often have lasting memories or implications. I really don’t remember much of my childhood for some reason. My mother in law remembers details for most of her life. She remembers names, places, dates and events. In some ways she has a photographic memory of the events in her life. I do remember reading a particular book (three pages) and even a picture on a page. I have no idea of what age I was, where it took place or even the name of the book. I do remember that it was about a contest of the sun and the wind. They were arguing about which one had the most power. So as the story goes they saw a man walking down a road. He had a black hat and cape. As he walked the wind said that he was so powerful that he could blow the hat and cape off the man. The sun agreed to the challenge to see which one could make the man lose his hat and cape. The wind was the first to try. He began to gently blow. The man just about lost his hat and cape, but held on to them. With that the sun laughed at the wind and that made the wind even more determined to send the hat and cape flying. So now the wind began to blow harder and harder, but with each increase the man held tighter to his hat and cape. Finally it was the sun's turn. Gradually he began to shine brighter and brighter. Finally the man took off his hat and cape. The sun had won the contest.
For some reason I always remembered that sometimes the things that come against us in life calls for just hunkering down or holding on. As my mom used to tell me, “Hang in there. It too will pass.” And for the most part she was certainly right. We all have trials and tribulations. Some are a lot more hard to go through than others.
After I became a Christian I began to take a different approach to my trials and tribulations. Instead of hunkering down and trying to protect myself more, so I could get through my trials and tribulations I turned them over to Jesus. It wasn’t easy at first, and sometime it is still hard. The reason is I keep taking them back only to find myself worrying and getting upset over them even more than before. You see I really expect that I need to have control over them. It never does any good to cast my cares on the Lord if I don’t trust him enough to leave them there with him. In some ways I am like the man that keeps hanging on to them tighter and tighter, when I really need to surrender them to the Son, Jesus Christ and let him help me.
Jesus is faithful and he will take care of what we have entrusted to him. He will with our salvation, and any other thing we entrust to him. We can trust Jesus! When you think about taking back our cares, remind yourself that you have already put them in good hands and it is not Allstate insurance. Then start praising him for what he is doing, and how much he loves you. Then remind him of how much you love him. Jesus often shines the brightest when the storms are at their greatest!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that you are and always be faithful to what we have committed to you. You are a wonderful God and Savior!
