“I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize that He is able to carry out His will for me. It does not matter where He places me, or how. That is for Him to consider, not me, for in the easiest positions He will give me grace, and in the most difficult ones His grace is sufficient.” – Hudson Taylor
The prospect of attaining a worry free life is a wonderful proposition for many but has, at the same, seemed like a pie in the sky ideal that is completely unreachable. The lesson we learned in Part 1 is that it’s not an unattainable goal but actually a completely Biblical one that Christians can make part of their daily lifestyle.
We saw how both Hudson Taylor and the Apostle Paul claimed to achieve that state of being and we also learned that Jesus taught that living a worry free life should be the kind of life that His followers should experience.
In today’s lesson, we are going to learn where to start in the development of that worry free disposition. Every journey starts with taking the first step. So, today we are going to look at the first step in ridding our life from the stress, worry and anxiety that life throws at us.
Lesson #2:
Trusting In The Sovereignty Of God
We will start this lesson by looking at the second statement that Hudson Taylor made in his quote.
“ … I realize the Lord is able to carry out His will for me…”
In this one short phrase, Hudson Taylor gives us the starting point for developing the worry free life that we’ve been talking about. For him there could be no other first step. All other subsequent steps are dependent upon this first step being actively embraced. If a Christian fails to take this first step, then all the other steps are unattainable for this first step lays the foundation upon which to build all other steps.
What is that first step? It is simply this: Trusting In The Sovereignty Of God!
While that may sound profound, what exactly does it mean? To help us answer that question here’s a definition that resonates with me:
“God, as the ruler of the universe, has the right to do whatever He wants and whenever He wants and also has the ability and power to bring it about.”
In other words, God has both the authority and power to do whatever He decides to do. It means that nothing is out of God’s control or outside His authority. Or, you might even say that God’s will, will be done!
From this statement in Hudson Taylor’s quote, we can conclude that he came to the place in his walk with Christ that he sincerely believed that God is able and willing to accomplish whatever He has planned. Taylor realized that there was no need to worry since God would be successful in accomplishing His endeavors. He knew that God would be successful and would never fail.
Taylor wasn’t concerned that people, in their sinful actions, would mess up God’s plans. He wasn’t concerned that Satan with all of his scheming and deceitfulness could alter God’s will. Why? The answer is, because Taylor understood all of creation, whether angel, man, or demon, is under the complete authority of God. Taylor truly believed that with just one word from God all of creation, both willing and unwilling, would do His bidding.
Listen how the Bible describes the power and authority of God in Romans 9:19-21 (NIV):
“One of you will say to me: ‘Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?’ But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?”
In this verse, the Apostle Paul asks a couple of rhetorical questions,
- “For who is able to resist God?” And the obvious answer is, no one.
- “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?” And, again the answer is, no one.
Here’s the point of this whole verse: God is in control! Nothing exists that is outside of God’s control. This was something that Hudson Taylor understood and believed in the very depths of his heart, and it was the foundation that brought him peace and allowed him to live a worry free life.
Hudson Taylor also applied this truth to his own life! Take a look at that quote again. Notice that it says,
“…I realize the Lord is able to carry out His will for me…”
The last two words at the end of the quote make it so powerful and so personal at the same time. The phrase, “For me,” is so powerful. Why? The reason is because if one doesn’t truly believe that the truths of God apply to them personally then they will never experience them personally. Hudson Taylor could say that he no longer got anxious about things because he applied the truth of God’s sovereignty to his own life.
How peaceful and restful it is when we finally come to the place where we truly know and believe that nothing is able to hinder or prevent God’s will from being worked out in us and through us. Think about it for just a moment. Other people cannot mess up God’s will for your life. You can’t even mess God’s will for your life!
Once a person truly understand and believes, with their whole heart, that God is truly and completely in control and His will, will be done there’s no need to worry. THINK ABOUT IT:
- Worrying about something will not change God’s will!
- Stressing over the outcome of something is not going to change what God has planned.
- Being filled with stress about whether or not something is going to happen is not going to change the final outcome.
Jesus said it well in Matthew 6:27,
“Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worry?’
The obvious answer is “No.” And here’s the lesson: Worrying over something cannot change what is or will be!
- God has made you so tall so accept it and stop worrying about!
- God had you born into a certain family. Deal with it and stop stressing over it.
- Worrying over something has never changed the facts or the outcome!
If we truly want to join Hudson Taylor and the Apostle Paul in a worry free life, then three things need to take place:
- We must become convinced that God is fully and totally in control of all things, including our own lives;
- Understand there’s absolutely nothing we can do to change His will.
- Total surrender of our lives to the care and control of God.
Once we successfully accomplish those three things, we will have laid the foundation from which a worry free life can be built.
Click Here To Read Part 1
