5/4/2023 This is an update to this year-old post.

This is my take on my devotional for today and Diane and I have had a number of things happen in the last week and a half that could cause a lot of stress if we let it. I went to the hospital for two nights, three days last Monday after a normal doctor's visit. It was our first in a very long time. I had extremely high blood pressure and didn't feel any symptoms but I was told to report to the ER right away. I was tested for a lot of things and passed them all with very good results. I do have one problem, a narrowing of a renal artery which may need a stent way down the road. To sum it all up, I take four pills a day now and will need to for the foreseeable future, but my BP is okay now.

The day after I was discharged from the hospital we were hit by a huge windstorm and power problems, with no warning, and our patio awning fabric was ripped from the coach. The next day the rear AC on the coach quit, and Diane's back went out. We have a new awning and waiting for the Tech to install it and repair the air. Diane is working to repair her back, she knows what to do. We hope to be heading north by the 15th. The mountains, which are great stress relievers, are calling us.

From Google: Anxiety is a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness. It might cause you to sweat, feel restless and tense, and have a rapid heartbeat. It can be a normal reaction to stress. For example, you might feel anxious when faced with a difficult problem at work, before taking a test, or before making an important decision.

Life can be depressing. The news adds to that depression when we watch it or read it of course. Much of it is not true, but it still makes us anxious. We see evil, and that evil includes war, poverty, riots, murder, and persecution. The economy is worse than bad, one tragedy after another seems to take place all day long. It is hard, if not impossible to not be anxious. The thing is we Christians are told not to be anxious, about anything. We are told to instead pray about everything.

Philippians 4:6

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Did you catch that? We are told, commanded, not to be anxious, but to pray instead. While the world ponders why it is so full of evil and tries to convince itself that there is no God, we are to pray and keep anxiety and fear at bay. Yes, sometimes I ask God why He doesn’t do something about all the trouble in the world, and His response is simply to tell me that I am not of the world, that I am His, and for ME not to be anxious.

Like the Psalmist, I will trust in and praise God for who He is and for knowing that He will ultimately judge the whole world for its wickedness and for turning its back on the one who created it. Evil will end, and the curse of sin will end, in God’s time.

Psalm 47:3

God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.

Don’t want to be anxious about anything? Then give thanks to God instead, for everything.

Psalm 75

1 We praise you, God,
    we praise you, for your Name is near;
    people tell of your wonderful deeds.

2 You say, “I choose the appointed time;
    it is I who judge with equity.
3 When the earth and all its people quake,
    it is I who hold its pillars firm.
4 To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’
    and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.
5 Do not lift your horns against heaven;
    do not speak so defiantly.’”

6 No one from the east or the west
    or from the desert can exalt themselves.
7 It is God who judges:
    He brings one down, he exalts another.
8 In the hand of the Lord is a cup
    full of foaming wine mixed with spices;
he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth
    drink it down to its very dregs.

9 As for me, I will declare this forever;
    I will sing praise to the God of Jacob,
10 who says, “I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,
    but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”