The Circumstances of Life

“casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].” – 1 Peter 5:7 (AMP)

The movie The Martian involves a mission to Mars that goes wrong: the half-dozen American astronauts jovially collecting samples of Martian soil to bring back to Earth find themselves confronted with a storm of deadly intensity and are forced to abort their mission. As they prepare to head home in a big hurry, one of their number, Mark Watney, is struck by flying debris, his space suit damaged. The crew thinking he is dead leaves. Now he has to figure out a way to live until he can be rescued.

That is how life is sometimes. We are all faced with unforeseen obstacles at one time or another in our lives. The question is what do we do when negative circumstances threaten to overwhelm us. We can either dwell on them or seek answers and ways to rise above our circumstances. 

The enemy wants you to believe that the circumstances are yours and must be faced alone. But we are not alone. Psalms 34:19 says, “The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.” And Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

So the question is a simple one: who would you rather have watching over your circumstances, you or God? With circumstances come anxieties, worries, and concerns. Don’t ignore the fact that God is bigger than your circumstances. Don’t tell God you have a big problem, tell your problem you have a big God. We should be asking “What, God, what are you trying to show us?” And then consider transferring your circumstances to God. 

It’s imperative that we allow God to deal with whatever circumstances we are or may have been facing. If we make the circumstances we’re dealing with bigger than our God, then we have drastically overestimated the circumstances and drastically underestimated God. 

Discussion Questions:

1. What circumstances are you facing right now?
2. Who do you think is best able to handle those circumstances?
3. What can we do this week to transfer our circumstances to God?