WORRIES ROLLED AWAY - Psalm 37:5

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him...” (Psalm 37:5)

I have to tell you something that happened to some friends as they drove to a big event one evening. Parking was an issue, so they parked their car in a street within walking distance of the concert.

As they walked to the venue, they came across a man whose car had broken down. He was attempting to bump start his car by pushing it to get it moving. Once he had the car in motion, he planned to jump into the driver’s seat and turn the key whilst letting the clutch go, to "bump" the car into life. To both push and drive is a tricky job to do on your own, so our friends stopped and all four of them surrounded the car and began pushing. It was hard work to start with, as they had a hill to contend with. Yet soon they reached the highest point of the hill and the pushing became easier as they went down the road.

Then, as the car gathered speed, one of the friends noticed that the man whose car it was, was not in the driver's seat. He had been pushing and decided that now was a good time to get to the steering wheel. Unfortunately, the car had now gathered too much momentum and the owner was struggling to keep up. Running at full speed, the man could not reach the handle of the car door as the pace of the car was greater than the pace he could muster. The car continued to gather speed even though everyone had stopped pushing. Then, hurtling driverless down the road, the car crashed into a lamp post at the bottom of the hill!

We read the words “Commit your way to the Lord” which carries the idea of rolling a burden completely away to God. Some worries we experience can completely overwhelm us, to the point of feeling hopeless; that no one is able to help us. God says here “See what I can do about it if you roll your burden on to Me; but you have to let it go.” Like rolling a weight down a hill, we need to give fully God the opportunity to help us. However, we do find that part a bit tricky. In a weird way we want to hold on to it as worrying makes us feel like we are somehow being productive processing it on repeat in our thoughts. Actually, rather than helping, this can really weigh us down and wear us out.

God has a better way. Commit your way to Him. Roll all your worries away from you and towards Him. Easier said than done? How do we do it? It’s important to understand that our fears are mainly based on a potential set of circumstances that have not actually happened. We just worry that they might occur. So release to God the fear of the unknown. Remind yourself that God is always working on your behalf and that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him, according to His purposes (Romans 8). It won’t end in a car crash!

So God who is all good and loves to give good gifts to His children is influencing the details of your future. Quiet those restless negative thoughts about worst-case scenarios and see how you are being well looked after by One who has not forgotten you.

Committing our way to God, means taking on His way of doing things. We have to release our preferences of how we would like things to turn out, to let God work His better solution. Maybe you're concerned for a safety of a loved one, or you're in the middle of a difficult family situation. Perhaps God wants to turn a bad situation around into a better outcome than you could ever imagine! So He says “Leave it with Me. Let it go. Trust Me.” Sometimes the best way of showing our trust is to take the decision to refuse to worry. So when a worrisome thought pops into your head reject it even say out loud, “Go away. I’m trusting Jesus with this one!”

Lord Jesus. Thank You that I don’t have to carry my worries. You carried all of my sin as well as my sorrows and burdens on the cross. I choose to live in the freedom you paid for me. I give you my concerns, I let them roll over into Your care. I’m trusting You with them all! I love You!

Paul Martin is a Youth Pastor and author of the Inspire "busy" range of devotional books. To find out more click on the photo below:

____________ Photo of car wheel: Vlad Kutepov - Unsplash