Do you ever feel like it would be easier to solve all your problems yourself?

Wouldn’t it feel great to make your financial worries disappear? Or bypass uncomfortable conversations with friends? Don’t you wish you could make yourself more patient, more disciplined, or more talented? In a moment, your entire life could be free of stress, worry, and pain. Or so you might think.

The problem with fixing all your own problems is that, in a broken world, there will always be more problems. Your neighbors divorce. Friends and loved ones become sick. Your children struggle to make friends at school. Your church goes through a season of difficulty. Your hometown is struck by tragedy.

We weren’t created with the ability to solve all the world’s problems, or even our own. None of us have complete control over what happens in our lives. Instead, we were made to enjoy a deep, everlasting relationship with God, trusting in his power

to use even the most difficult challenges in our lives for our good.

LEARN WHO GOD IS THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES

In the Bible, God introduces himself to us. He tells us everything we need to know about who he is. In seasons of joy, worry, and sorrow, we can always depend on him to be the same. Here are four lessons from Scripture to help you surrender your life to God’s control and trust in his plans for you.

There is no one else like God.

God is a singular being. There’s no one else like him in the universe he created. God promises us that he will accomplish everything he intends to do.

Remember what happened long ago; acknowledge that I alone am God and that there is no one else like me. From the beginning I predicted the outcome; long ago I foretold what would happen. I said that my plans would never fail, that I would do everything I intended to do.

Isaiah 46:9-10 GNT

God is all-powerful.

Job confessed this truth as he talked with God following unimaginable tragedy. God is powerful enough to do anything he wants. Isn’t it amazing that God uses this power to rescue our souls through Jesus’s sacrifice and communicate his love to us through his Word?

I know, Lord, that you are all-powerful; that you can do everything you want.

Job 42:2 GNT

God is infinitely wise and acts with ultimate authority.

None of us can act with ultimate wisdom. And none of us have the power to make life go our way. God, on the other hand, possesses both wisdom and power.

Old people have wisdom, but God has wisdom and power. Old people have insight; God has insight and power to act. When God tears down, who can rebuild, and who can free those God imprisons?

Job 12:12-14 GNT

For those he calls, God works all things together for good.

Perhaps the best comfort when we wish we could solve all our problems is God’s promise that he is working all things together for our good. Every painful experience and every problem that doesn’t make sense can—and will—result in good. Like Joseph said to his brothers: “You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good” Genesis 50:20a GNT

We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 GNT