God perfects our concerns

The  Lord will perfect that which concerns me.  Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever.  Do not forsake the works of Your hands. –Psalm 138:8 NKJV

What is it you’re facing today? Bad health? Bad relationships? Addictions? Financial problems?  Everybody on the planet who breathes has some sort of problem.  Yes, even that neighbor who makes so much money, even that beauty pageant contestant.

But God promises in His Word He will perfect that which concerns  us. So if we have Jesus in our hearts, God will take every situation in our lives and turn it into something good.  We may not see God’s work right away or even on this side of heaven, but eventually something good will come out of that situation that concerns us.

I knew a woman who had a very troubled marriage.  Her husband worked out of town a lot and she felt like she was a single mother to their children.  But as the years have passed, I can see how that husband was the sandpaper that woman needed to become a better person.  She used to be very critical.  That has changed.  She used to be quick to speak and slow to listen.  That also has changed.  I don’t know if she can even see the change in her own self, but I know I find it a lot easier to be around her now.

Ask any cardiologist.  His or her patients become more likely to cry after they’ve had heart surgery.  Their relationships with others often become closer.  Some heart attack survivors get a whole new chance to start over with a new life of eating better, exercising and learning to cut stress out of their lives.

But this is the deal.  We have to let God have control of our lives.  Some people keep going around the same mountain over and over because they refuse to release their problem to God.  The result?  Their lives go in a downward spiral.

Then there’s another verse in the Bible that I came upon only recently although I’ve read the chapter many times over the years:

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…for the things concerning me have an end. Luke 22:37

Jesus was talking to his disciples and he talked about how soon he would be numbered with the transgressors, or in other words, how he would be considered a criminal.  But, He said, that which concerned him would have an end.

Your concerns will also have an end.  I know what it is like to be in the midst of a trial that never seems to end.  But you know what?  That trial did have an end.

God used that trial to make me stronger.  He used that trial to burn some things out of me.  I clung to Him at times like a drowning victim.  I cried.  I prayed.  I got others to pray for me.  And then one day I walked out of that valley, out of that season.

When Jesus faced the cross, when the weight of all the world’s sins  lay on Him, He knew someday there would be a glorious ending.  Yes, He rose from the dead, yes, He is seated at the right hand of the Father.  But the final ending is when all of God’s children come home, when every lamb is accounted for.  When you walk out of your isolation and your sorrow and into the arms of Jesus, all the cares of this world will fade away.  That which concerns you will come to a glorious end.

Years ago I wrote a song.  I still am not happy with the melody, but the words say:

I trust you with this, says the Lord,

others would stumble and curse My name

but because you are looking to me,

in heaven you have fame.

As deep as the valleys you wander

that’s only half as high as where we will be taken

a deep work He’s doing,

when our lives are shaken

Soon we will be in the presence of the King

our sorrows will seem a small, small price

and not worth remembering.