Rising Above Our Problems

One of the pitfalls of living in our troublesome world is that we can become problem-centered rather than God-centered. When this happens, we lose proper perspective. Gradually, all our problems begin to look huge and the strength of Almighty God seems small. Instead of moving mountains by faith (Mark 11:23), we become constant worriers, creating mountains of needless pressure for ourselves and others.

In Isaiah Chapter 40, there is an effective prescription for those of us whose God seems small. God reminds us that He is much bigger than the world He created. He points out that compared to Him, “the nations are as a drop in a bucket” (Isaiah 40:15) and the inhabitants of earth “are like grasshoppers” (Isaiah 40:22). His words aren’t meant to belittle us, but rather to encourage us to look to Him and gain His perspective of life.

However, God offers us far more than a new perspective. If we will depend on Him, instead of brooding over our problems, He will renew our strength, and wings of faith will lift our hearts above our difficulties (Isaiah 40:28-31). Some of them may be huge, but we can see them as smaller than our great God. And that makes all the difference in the world.

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets