But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength … 2 Timothy 4:17

Likewise, the Lord stands by our side and gives us strength to cope with whatever we have to face. If you’re anything like me though, you would prefer that the Lord removed the difficult circumstances! However, God is more interested in supplying us with his enabling grace than rescuing us from trying situations. He wants us to be strong and courageous in his strength.

Recently in Word for Today (12/10/09) the writer asked this question: “Would I still be anxious if I knew for certain I could handle anything that came up? The answer is no.” We become anxious when we aren’t sure if we can handle difficulties, situations, or relationships. We see future problems rising up and we feel overwhelmed. God’s solution is to give us grace, one day at a time, like manna.

Manna was God’s provision of food for the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 16). For six days they collected manna, and on the sixth day they collected twice as much. On the seventh day, they rested. It sounds simple enough. Yet, I suspect if I had been there I would have wanted to collect extra manna on those days when I wasn’t supposed to. I would want my own private stockpile of manna. I feel the same about grace. I want God to supply grace before I need it, just so I can be sure it’s there when I do need it. But the stored manna was smelly by the next day and God doesn’t give grace in advance.

If we want to live without anxiety, we have to trust God and believe that we can handle anything because he is at our side strengthening us.