Article August 17, 1987 Issue

Reach for the spiritual answer

If we're reluctant to trust God when we are facing tough challenges, maybe we need to examine what we believe God is.

Bettye Hammer Givens

Most of us want to progress. But it seems we often resist the very thing that would bring real growth—obedience to God. Do we think God doesn't know about us? Or that He is too far away to care? Have we grown too accustomed to accepting our familiar sense of things instead of reaching for the spiritual in our lives? In a world of bankruptcies, foreclosures, competition, and job shortages is it practical to rely on spiritual guidance?

One morning when I had set aside plenty of time to pray and to reach for spiritual answers to some challenges I faced, I soon found that I was avoiding the task. I had drifted into a type of positive thinking instead of deep communion with God as I wished to do. I also discovered my thought moving from one upcoming activity to another. Soon I was making preparations for my day and my prayer had stopped.

Yet this morning I particularly needed to listen to God. I had to find a job. But I was caught by all sorts of fears: I was the wrong age; I lived in the wrong place where there were no opportunities that required my talents; I didn't know the right people. The most challenging fear of all—I didn't really know enough to start on a new venture, should one be offered to me.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Don't be anxious, be spiritually expectant