When my oldest was going to get his driver’s license, I thought to myself, “How does anyone let their teenage just walk out the door and drive away?” When he got his license, I hurried him out the door so he’d be on time and then forgot he was out.
What happened? God gave me the peace that surpasses understanding when I needed it. Why didn’t I have it before at the times those thoughts would invade? I didn’t need it then. I was safe at home. He was safe at home. There was nothing needing peace about.
Worrying about something that isn’t going on doesn’t need special peace. It needs trusting God. It needs taking our thoughts captive. It needs thinking on good things, what is excellent, worthy of praise, pure, true…It wasn’t true that he was in any trouble at the moment. He was sitting down in his computer chair.
We’re given the commands: “Don’t be anxious about anything…Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Now, I do believe that command was spoken softly, not in any harsh way, like how Jesus spoke to Martha when she was “troubled by so many things.” There’s just one thing that matters.
We just need to keep our eyes on Jesus. That’s the only way we should be working on being “present,” looking to Him and following Him as He leads us through our day, the way He kept His eyes on His Father and did what He saw the Father doing.
The prayer for the times of troubling are to give our cares to the Lord with thanksgiving. “Thank you, Lord, that you are in control and have good plans and watching over us and always caring for us. Thank you that we can always trust those things are true.” And when we’re just worrying ourselves when nothing is going on, our prayer can be something like Psalm 25:17, “The troubles of my heart are enlarged; deliver me out of all my distresses.”
Turning to Him is the answer each way. Looking to Him for deliverance and salvation is the answer each way. Thinking about Him because He is good is the answer each way.
The Tribulation 