Why So Serious?

Luke 24:38
Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?

It’s easy to allow your mind to become frazzled after you’ve experienced trauma. It’s a wonder that many of us haven’t lost our minds after all that we have been through. Many times people will see great consternation upon your face and not realize the hell you’ve experienced. They want to know why you are so serious. It’s not that you want to walk around with a mind clouded with troubling thoughts and doubts swirling around like turbulent waters it’s just that you’ve been through so much lately. That’s why I appear to be so serious.

What was it that kept our ancestors through slavery, Jim Crow, and integration? What was it that kept the Jewish people through slavery, wandering through the wilderness, and surviving Babylon? What was it that kept the Native Americans through war, the trail of tears, and the colonization through reservations? I have to believe it was the presence of the Almighty God. It is the Spirit of God that can give us peace which surpasses all human understanding. The things you went through this past year would have taken the average person out but because God put some “Super” on your “Natural” you made it this far by faith.

Oftentimes, we allow our minds to be filled with doubts and to be troubled because we fail to recognize His presence. When Jesus reappeared to his disciples he didn’t look the same. Remember he had been beaten and crucified. He told them to look at his hands and feet. He was showing them the evidence of his crucifixion. It was the evidence of his crucifixion and now his resurrection that put their minds at ease. The thing that is going to put our minds at ease is the evidence. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. We walk by faith and not by sight. In order to overcome our troubling thoughts we have to get in the presence of Jesus.

This morning if you believe that Jesus is alive in your situation you shouldn’t let your minds be troubled. Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. If you believe in God also believe in me. Whenever doubts begin to rise get yourself into the presence of God through:

1. Worship. That is why regular worship attendance is so crucial during hard times. Where 2 or 3 are gathered in his name there Jesus will be also. He will show up and say, “Peace be unto You!”

2. Singing praise songs. Africans in America, Jews in Babylon, and Native Americans on reservations have all had songs that reminded them of who God is. I sing because I’m happy I sing because I’m free, his eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches over me!

3. Prayer. God is just a prayer away. Prayer is the key and faith unlocks the door.

4. Meditating on the Word of God. Psalm 1 says that we will be like a tree planted by the streams of water when we meditate on the Word of God.

Dear God,

I thank you for putting my mind at ease. I will not allow doubts to swirl around in my mind; instead I will exchange the garment of despair for the oil of gladness. I feel you in my heart right now and I know there is no problem so hard that you cannot solve. Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. Today, I will have Joy!

In Jesus Name,
Amen