Jesus Is Taking Care of Me

Sometimes, the Lord catches you off guard. He spoke to me this morning in the most unexpected way. And because of that I am reminded He knows exactly what we need, when we need it.

First off, it’s a Sunday morning and I was working — which I shouldn’t be to begin with. I was looking over the First15 app reading comments. Today’s devotional topic was “Waiting on the Lord.” Everyone’s most favorite subject right? Not.

Anyways, it took an interesting twist. The foundational idea was that in waiting on the Lord, our strength is renewed (Isaiah 40:31). Even as I read through it, I thought to myself, that is all very well and good in concept, but worked out in my life it’s quite exhausting and emotionally draining! I’ve been in this strange season of painful waiting with tons of questions and very few answers. I am honestly quite tired of waiting and have felt very ready to forge my own path.

As I mentioned earlier, a specific comment stopped me in my tracks. It was an excerpt from a book I had never even heard of (Jesus Always) and goes like this:

I AM TAKING CARE OF YOU. Sometimes you feel alone and vulnerable–exposed to the “elements” of a fallen world. When you are feeling this way, stop and remind yourself, “Jesus is taking care of me.” This reminder can comfort you and help you relax. It draws you back from obsessing about the future, trying to figure out and orchestrate what will happen.

We live in a world where you do typically have to fend for yourself. This season I’ve walked has almost broken me. But I am reminded today HE is taking care of me. Christ is not sluggish or asleep. He is not simply sitting in heaven, watching me. He is working tirelessly for my good. This world and its elements have the potential to break us, to make us depend on ourselves and blame a mighty, good God for our problems. But the Lord wants to remind us this morning that we need to stop and declare — “No. Jesus is taking care of me.”

I can identify well with the obsessing over the future, with the fear, loneliness and vulnerability that pain causes. I think we all can. In the midst of a painful, lonely situation it takes everything we have not to wallow and stress and be swallowed up. Those are our feelings and we should acknowledge their existence, but they don’t get to win. There is a greater narrative at work. One with a mighty King desperately pleading and working for the good of his ransomed ones. And that is where we fix our eyes in the waiting. That is where our strength to wait is found.

We are not forgotten or forsaken in the midst of our pain, in the midst of our waiting. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” I always mistook pain and trial for the absence of God. And that could not be further from the truth. It’s in these seasons that we are able to see Him most. Hide yourself in the refuge of Jesus today, and let Him be your help and strength. Jesus is taking care of you and me.