Just Give Up Now

The cycle goes like this, we stress out about it and then we pray but don’t feel any peace so we take it back out of God’s hands and try to handle it ourselves. Does that sound right? Although we say that we have given it to God we are still holding on to the problem and trying to figure it out for ourselves. Sometimes we might give it to God but we are looking over His shoulder and second-guessing every move He makes. When we refuse to give our worries to God or hesitate when we do give it up, we are saying that He is not powerful enough, He is not caring enough and we don’t trust Him enough to be hands-off. We are saying that we believe we can do a better job than God.

Throughout the Bible, we are given countless verses that point to the fact that when we trust in God He can provide what we need and so much more. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” We should give all of our worries to God because not only will He handle them but He also cares for us each deeply and will do what is right for us. God cares deeply for us and wants the best for us as a father wants for his children. He will not lead us into death but into His glorious kingdom. Unfortunately, as humans, we only see part of the story, we see only what is in front of us and so we have a hard time determining what is really right for us. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.” The truth is simple, we are not smart enough to know what the future holds so we should ask God who does to handle the situations in our lives and lead us down the correct path. He is the ultimate resource, someone who knows it all, yet we refuse to use Him as a resource. God knows what happened yesterday, what will happen today, and even what will happen tomorrow. There is nothing that happens that He doesn’t already know about and have a plan for. When we put our trust in Him and really give our concerns to the Lord, He builds us strong. Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” We learn that not only will He make us strong but He will make us unmovable. So when we pray hard for something that doesn’t work out we can find peace that God has a better plan for us and that He will guide us down that path. So often we are like the kid with our teddy bear that we love and don't want to give up, but Jesus has something much bigger and better for us if we just trust Him.

I have always struggled with giving things to God and leaving it in His hands. I trust that God will provide but I also like to be in control so I pray about it but don’t actually give it to God fully. I have spent so many years trying to figure out how to break myself of this habit with little success. In hopes of finally finding the answer, I have created a give it to God box. This is an old piggie bank I had just stilling around the house that I have repurposed into my give it to God box. When I have a big decision or something that I can’t seem to get off of my mind I write it down on a sheet of paper and put it in the box to simulate giving it to God. The physical act of putting the paper into the box represents the act of giving my worries to God and when I start worrying about it I can remind myself that I have given it to God and it is out of my hands. It has only been about a week since I started this and I have still caught myself reverting to my old ways and worrying about things, but in doing this I am able to remind myself quickly that I gave that to God and it is not my concern anymore. It is my hope that I can practice Giving it to God so it becomes much easier the longer I do it.

I know I am not alone in this! There are many others who struggle with giving up and giving it to God. If you have any tips or tricks that you use to give your concerns to God and leave them at His feet, please share them in the comments. I would love to hear other ways to truly give all of my concerns and worries to the Lord. I hope that we can help one another through the struggles we face.