This podcast covers Lesson 5 of Everyday Women, Ever-Faithful God Bible Study by Melanie Newton.

Deborah — Face Trouble with Courage and Peace

We can learn to face life’s realities with courage and peace, entrusting ourselves and our loved ones to a God who loves us dearly.

 

Storms of life hit all of us.

• In Mark chapter 5, the disciples found themselves in the middle of a fierce storm and got afraid. Jesus asked them why they were cringing in fear and why they didn’t believe what He already told them about getting to the other side of the lake.
• Storms of life hit every day to even the most faithful Christians. Every one of us must deal with disappointments, problems, and tragedies in life.
• Fear is a normal human emotion designed by God to alert us to the presence of danger so that we will take action against it. We are supposed to act on it by either fleeing from the danger or facing it head on. Fear is a gift of God.
• Where we get into trouble is when we let our imaginations run wild, give in to despair, and doubt God’s goodness. That pessimism comes from our view of trouble.

The pagan, non-biblical view of trouble

• It says that when things go well, the gods are happy with us. When things go wrong, the gods are angry with us. So, the goal of life is to stay on the good side of the gods so bad things won’t happen.
• Christians can get caught up into this kind of thinking when we try to interpret events, especially tragedies, as signs of God’s anger or punishment. Don’t do it.
• When the disciples asked if Jesus even cared if they drowned, they doubted His love and goodness.

The godly, biblical view of trouble

• Fact #1: We live in a fallen, evil, cursed world. We are in the last days of this broken old creation which will not get fixed until Jesus returns. In that until time, while we are waiting, you and I have the life of the new creation on the inside through the Holy Spirit. But at the same time, we are living in a body and world of the old, fallen creation.
• Fact #2: God has chosen from the beginning to give all humans the freedom to act. Some trouble comes from our own idiotic behavior. We make bad decisions then have to deal with the consequences. They may be hard, but God lets us experience consequences to show us why we need Him more and how ugly our sin really is.
• Fact #3: We have an enemy named Satan who is real and has influence on our natural world and the people in it. The devil entices people to rebel against God, and he can cause bad things to happen.
• Fact #4: Our God is great and powerful and will one day fix this broken world. That is a promise to us. It will happen in our future.
• In the meantime, problems and troubles in life are normal, not abnormal. We should expect trouble.
• Women were created with a need for security and stability so we aim to control our environment to create that security for us and for those we love. Our western way of thinking is that we can fix it—whatever IT is. When we cannot fix it, we panic. And, fear can bring out the worst in us.
• Control is an illusion. We can only control our own behavior and thinking. So, stop that bad thinking that God is mad at you when trouble hits and start thinking with a Biblical mind. God is good. And, in His goodness, He allows some not-so-good things into our lives.
• Our choice is not whether we will have trouble, but what kind of preparation we’ll make and response we’ll choose in facing life’s realities when they hit us.

Preparation and response to life’s troubles

• The preparation is filling your mind with truth from God’s Word. Believing that God is good all the time and that He loves you. Truths clearly stated in Scripture. God never withdraws His love from you. That frees you to love Him back. To trust him. To obey Him. To use all of your resources to serve Him even while living in a hostile war zone.
• Right thinking may not make the trouble go away or make life easy again. But you will be better able to walk forward with the courage and peace to face whatever hits.

That’s how you walk from fear to faith.

Joyful Walk Bible Studies by Melanie Newton are available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.