Sustained And Maintained

Sustained and Maintained

By M. Roper

Wit and Witticism: A man went to his psychiatrist and he said, “Sometimes I think I’m a tepee and sometimes I think I’m a wigwam.”

The psychiatrist said, “Your problem is you’re too tents.”

Topic: Through Jesus we can learn to handle everyday stress

1. Without a doubt, we will face frustrations and setbacks on a daily basis.

2. God’s people are not without trial — nor without God in time of trial.

DO YOU EVER FELL EMOTIONALY PARALYZED

William H. Hinson tells us why animal trainers carry a stool when they go into a cage of lions. They have their whips, of course, and their pistols are at their sides. But invariably they also carry a stool. Hinson says it is the most important tool of the trainer. He holds the stool by the back and thrusts the legs toward the face of the wild animal.

Those who know maintain that the animal tries to focus on all four legs at once. In the attempt to focus on all four, a kind of paralysis overwhelms the animal, and it becomes tame, weak, and disabled because its attention is fragmented.

When your vision is fragmented or obscured, you walk in darkness and are greatly molested by doubts and haunted with fears

Ps 121 NIV - Lift your eyes upon Jesus

121:1 A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip — he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches over you — the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life;

8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

God is the Creator of all things, and since all things are His handiwork. The Creator has made everything we can see or touch or imagine; when we cast our hopes on Him, we’re not only coming to a God who cares, but a God who can.

God is not merely the Creator of all things, but He is the Sustainer of all things as well.

In writing to the Colossians, Paul writes: “By Him all things are created.” And he goes on to say, “He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Col. 1:16–17). This is very important, for at some times during history God has been characterized by philosophers as a “cosmic watchmaker” who has created the world and then abandoned it to its own devices to tick away the moments until it runs out of time.

That’s not the God of the Bible. After creation, He is intimately involved with the work of His hands, holding it all together. If, even for a moment, He were to remove His hand from this universe, it wouldn’t tick happily away like a watch in the grass; it would all fly apart into oblivion. But our God doesn’t do that. Instead, He continues to sustain us. He creates and He sustains.

On that day when your journey brings you to a bend in the road, you’ll be filled with an unaccustomed sense of helplessness. You’ll cry out, “Lord, I need help!” In your moment of deep anxiety, remember this: The One to whom you are praying is the One who made heaven and earth.

He is the Creator God. I don’t know what kind of problem you may be facing—in the weariness of the journey, I’m certain it can seem all but insurmountable. But take a deep breath and a new look, in the perspective of the One who created and sustains every atom of the universe. He’s up to the challenge, don’t you think? That thought renews our strength to carry on.

Transition: You need God’s power throughout the day.

God gives us 3 promises in Psalm 55.

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22).

Text: Psalm 55:1-23

1. Talk to God, and he will hear you.

Though God doesn’t do everything we ask him to, when we talk to God we know he will listen.

You can return to God again and again throughout the day, talking to him about your problems, and you can be sure that he will listen to you.

2. Cast your cares on him, and he will sustain you.

When the complications of a particular day become too much for you to handle, you can turn them over to God, and he will give you the strength to make it through.