If you take the challenge of the Psalm 9:10 Part I post, you might end up in this boat with me. Character traits of God:
God is all-knowing.
God is all-powerful.
I immediately recognized two things. While I believe the statements to be true, I also know that I am guilty of attaching a but to each statement that ends up robbing me of peace and security in my heart.
He knows everything. Yes. BUT that means I must grieve Him often. He knows my purpose and He knows I’m not living up to it or fulfilling it. (Obviously, this is my fearful interpretation of what He knows.) He knows I doubt Him. He knows all my sins. He knows other people are doing a better job of living for Him than I am. Bottom line, He knows my failures and He is not happy.
He is all-powerful. Yes. But He doesn’t fix everything. There is suffering in the world. So why should I think He would bother to help me with my anxiety and panic attacks?
All the buts were getting in my way and keeping me from that beautiful sweet spot of security. They were like lead around my ankles preventing me from moving, keeping me stuck in anxiety.
What did I do about that? I did what you might need to do as you work to straighten out the truth you hold to in your thoughts about who God is. I did the work! I found five scriptures that showed what the Bible says is true about God so that I could shrink all the buts out of the picture.
Write down what is in your head. Sometimes the act of writing takes the knots out of your thoughts. PRAY for understanding. All of this will help you have a deeper understanding of the character trait you believe to be true yet it is being squashed by the buts.
Maybe you can relate to what I’m writing about in this post regarding all the buts. However, maybe your search will bring you to other tangles you need to undo. Do what it takes. Search your Bible (God’s very words, for goodness sake). Journal. Pray.