🙌It's the Friday Call to Worship!🙌

We are doing a lot of vocabulary shaping in our house right now as our youngest boys absorb the lingo of the world around them. I'm reminded of my oldest son coming home from primary school years ago, echoing his peers by starting every sentence with, "The problem is..."

“The problem is there’s not enough…” “The problem is that he always…” “The problem is we can’t….”

Yes; there's great value in identifying problems you're trying to solve. You end up with much bigger problems, however, if you stop there.

The Israelites said, “The problem is we’re trapped between an ocean and an army.” (Exodus 14 paraphrase) The disciples said, “The problem is they're hungry, and there isn't enough to eat.” (Matthew 14 paraphrase) Peter said, “The problem is I’m stuck in a giant storm.” (Matthew 14 paraphrase)

Those are all very real problems, and my sons's were too. We are all guaranteed to have a lifetime of evolving problems (John 16:33). However, if our lives (and sentences) are led by our problems, those problems eventually contour our relationships and direct our identities.

So what does God say to our problems?

He said to the Israelites, “I will make a way for you to walk so you know I'll always be your waymaker”. Jesus told his disciples, “If you give me what you DO have. I’ll give back so much there will be leftovers.” Jesus reached for Peter, “The storm is under your feet when you're walking with Me.”

We challenged (required) our son to replace "The problem is..." with "The truth is..." Sometimes he'd stay quiet when he couldn't think of a reframe. Eventually, he learned to speak about what was true while his problem remained. “The truth is, we have a lot to be thankful for.” “The truth is that kid might have had a bad morning before he left for school.” We found out together that focusing on truth ushers in inexplainable peace in the midst of the problems.

Your loving Father sees the very real problems you grapple with and does not discount them. In fact, He sent His Son and gave you His Spirit so you'd never be alone in them.

Listen to "Truth Is" by Danny Gokey.