Worry and Confusion
“For God is not
the author of confusion, but of peace. . .”
1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV
If this Scripture is true, and it is, then why do we give the impression that we are confused as
we walk through life? Well, we often worry before we become confused, right? I
mean, we get worried about that upcoming test and before we know it we are
confusing our history with our science—the facts just get all jumbled up in a
confusing mess.
The Bible calls worry sin,
and why shouldn’t it be? If we are worrying then we are essentially saying,
“God, you aren’t good enough for me. I am going to trust in myself and try to
process this issue with my own understanding”—we place worry and our
understanding up as idols!
While on this issue a sin
principle needs to be mentioned: when we
commit a sin and do not repent, that sin ends up multiplying in various other
forms and has various other side effects. We can sin by worrying and then
become really confused, frustrated and discouraged in consequence. Are you
getting this? Without worry there is often not confusion, and thus we are able to rest in the peace of the
arms of God. Even though our circumstances scream, “You should worry!” we
can have peace instead, like the Apostle Paul who got up and went back to the
city of those who thought they had killed him by stoning (based on Acts
14:19-20). Paul had the assurance that God had a job for him to do in that
city, so he did not worry and was not confused about what he should do—he was
truly led by the Spirit—and, after all, Paul could have chosen to run away
confused and angry that God would allow something so extreme as stoning to
happen to him; but he did not, wow!
This worrying factor of
confusion has been a big part of my life recently. I have begun to really
understand that worry encompasses more than I ever thought it did; yet, in
Messiah Jesus, I can find peace. The relationship between worry and confusion
is sheerly amazing! Yet, God’s peace
comes through choosing not to
worry; and instead choosing to
cast our worries to the ground at the foot of the cross, at Jesus’ feet.
Before we go on, which will
you choose in your life: will you worry about making the change that the Holy
Spirit is gently prompting you to; or will you step forward—in the strength of
Christ!—determining not to worry; casting all of your cares on Christ?
God understands everything!
Nothing is unknown or needs to be discovered by Him. His ways always make sense
. . . ., that is, if we could see things from the all-inclusive perspective
that He does.
Ok, so I’ve preached, now
let’s put confusion and worry into a real-life context: a woman marries the man
of her dreams, they have a few kids and everything is great until ten years
later. At that point, she discovers that “Mr. Perfect” is having an affair with
a younger woman. Now, this woman is a Christian; but should she get a divorce
or not? And should she be worried or not? Scripture gives only one ground for
divorce in the New Testament: marital unfaithfulness, a.k.a. adultery, but the
Scripture also says that God hates divorce, so what should she do? She can get
divorced on Biblical grounds, but should she? This is where prayer comes in.
Worry and confusion definitely want to gain ground in her life during this
situation! But she has to attack them
with Scripture and patient prayer in order to be open to God’s will and
maintain her peace.
Let’s take a moment and
remember that she only has two basic options: 1) she can either get divorced or
2) she can fight on and hope for a complete restoration to her husband (for
more information on this, check out the movie Fireproof and the book The
Love Dare).
We do not know, just by
looking at the Scriptures, which option she should take. Only God knows, and
she will have to seek Him whole-heartedly to find out. Can you see worry and confusion trying
to push their way into a situation like this instead of the peace of
God which transcends all our understanding (Phil.4:7)?
Situations like this
woman’s are great places for confusion and worry to fester. But even in our
deepest, darkest places there can still be hope and peace. If we will simply
seek Him first, everything else falls in place over time (Matt. 6:33). The point of this thought is this, will we
wait for the Lord’s direction, or will we only look at Scripture (in our own
understanding) and get confused?
Also, please,
understand that I am in no way attempting to belittle the Word of God in saying
that its passages do not provide a clear answer. We simply cannot find answers
to everything by knowing all the connected passages of Scripture on some
issues. Scripture can be very helpful, and I fully and heartily endorse Bible
study; but are we so elevating the Bible and what we intellectually interpret
it to mean that it has become our ‘god,’ and source of strength; instead of our
relationship with the Lord Himself? In other words, have we exchanged our
relationship for a mere set of reason’s rules? I dare say that the answer to these two questions will separate the
religious from the redeemed. Those are tough questions, but I pray that the
Holy Spirit will use them to convey what you need to understand right now. God
Bless, and remember not to worry.
