Stop Over-Thinking Things

If you want to have joy, you must stop trying to figure everything out. You must stop rolling your problems around in your mind. You have to quit anxiously searching for an answer to your situation, trying to find out what you should do about it.

When Jesus saw that His disciples were trying to "figure out" what to do about the fact they had forgotten to bring bread to feed the crowd, He said to them "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?" ( Matt. 16:8).

We spent many years attempting to solve our own problems and finally discovered that it is not God's will for us to do that. All our efforts did was make us frustrated and more selfish and self-centered. We focused on our self and expected everyone else to focus on us too. I looked to others (and myself) to do for me what only God could do.

We reason and try to figure things out, asking, "Why God, why?" and "When God, when?" We want to know the answers to our situation so we won't have to trust God. We don't want any surprises; we want to be in control because we are afraid things won't turn out the way we want. This driving desire to be "in the know" will usually produce one thing - a mind riddled with excessive reasoning.

"Why God, why?" and "When God, when?" are two questions that can keep us frustrated and prevent us from enjoying the lives Jesus died to give us. Many times we do not understand what God is doing, but that is what trust is all about. Nobody says we have to know everything; no one has ever told us we have to understand everything. We need to be satisfied in knowing the One who does know, and that is God. We need to learn to trust God, not ourselves.

Stop over-thinking things. Trust means not needing to know the whys and the whens in order to be at peace.