PSALM 94:18-19 – When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

THEME OF THE DAY. THINGS AREN’T AS WE THINK. I love the illustration King Solomon made in Proverbs 22 and repeated in Proverbs 26. He writes, “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!’” (Proverbs 22:13) and “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets’” (Proverbs 26:13). The reason why the portrait he paints hits home with me is because it too often describes me.

Enter into the scene. What is happening in the mind of the lazy person known as “the sluggard”? He is paralyzed by imaginary fears. He is living his life by the dreaded “what ifs” and that means not living life. Don’t we want to enter his home, take his hand, lead him to his picture window, and say, “Look outside. Look down and up the street. Do you see any lions? Do you see the circus marching through your neighborhood? No. These are self-created fears preventing you from trusting God and living for Him.”

But we need not be too hard on him. It is safe to say all of us, to some degree, have fallen prey to the fears of “what if’s” in life. Who has not been awake in the dead of night fretting over a circumstance that could turn bad? Who has not been so mentally distracted with a situation that has potential devastating results? And who has not paced a floor in worry and anxiety over something that may have severe and negative impact in our lives and relationships? Yes, “what if’s” are real, personal, and crippling . . . if we let them.

In today’s scripture, the Psalmist reveals where all paralyzing “what if’s” begin – wrong thinking. He really thought he was falling. In his eyes, he was slipping either through some trial in his life or his walk with the Lord. He is allowing his outward circumstances guide his bad thinking. The disciples did this too – And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:23-27). Listen to the “what if” pleas of the disciples – “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” Really? No, you were not. You were God’s people picked out to change the world. Would He now drown them at sea? Hardly. And this is what happens to us when we interpret things and situations by our thinking, not God’s.

The Psalmist, unlike the sluggard, doesn’t stay “behind closed doors” of paralyzing fear. He shifts his thinking onto the steadfast love of the Lord. Here is where we must take all our “what if” situations and circumstances. That doesn’t mean tough situations and trying circumstances will go away. They may or may not, but under the protective umbrella of God’s steadfast love we will be able to sleep at night, knowing all things really do work together for those who love Him (Romans 8:28). There is no “what if” that is outside the calming power of His love and grace.

PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for Your steadfast love that sustains me even when I don’t feel sustained.”

QUOTE: “Learn to rely on God’s character and Word more than your feelings and thoughts.”