“In the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Proverbs 11:14b

Solutions

Walk His Way Revisited

Yesterday I promised to tell you the two most important things the Christian psychologist said to me during my months of treatment for panic attacks. These are truths we can apply to so many areas of our lives.

The first was, “You will know God’s answer.” I discovered that I was so afraid of making the wrong decision about something that would definitively and dramatically change my life irreversibly, that I was incapacitated. I could make no decision either for or against; I could make no decision at all. Here was a professional doctor telling me that I would know what to do.

Oh, how I argued with him in my own mind. I wanted to shout, “This is what I am paying you to do! Tell me the right way to go!” But he wisely would not. He calmly and repeatedly reassured me that I would know, because God would reveal it to me.

He was right, of course. I prayed, I journaled, I read the Psalms for comfort, I cried out to the Lord. I struggled mightily—and this was exactly the right course of “treatment” from one Christian to another. God has a soft spot in His heart for the brokenhearted among us, but He surely wants us to cry out to Him, to seek His help. One day, I suddenly knew the answer. I just knew. Looking back, I can see that the Lord had slowly revealed truth to me, until I was able to receive it.

The second thing I’ve never forgotten is when he said, “God is the great solution-finder.” I had never heard God called this before, and it struck a deep chord within me. I had discovered that the panic attacks were because I was facing a huge dilemma, and I wanted—needed—answers RIGHT NOW. I could not see any way out of this mess. No matter what I decided, someone was going to be hurt—and yet it was a situation where a decision HAD to be made and therefore someone WOULD be hurt, and it would be ALL MY FAULT.

I kept telling myself that God is the great solution-finder! He sees a way where I see no way. He knows the way across the Red Sea. He knows the way to get from Egypt to the Promised Land. He knows how to change a Saul into a Paul. He knows how to create the world, how to save the world, and how to end the world. He knows how to raise the dead. He has SOLUTIONS!

I pray that you are encouraged by these two statements. In everything we face, He knows what to do; and there is no problem that He cannot solve creatively.

Father, You have solutions to all problems, and You can be trusted to do the best thing for each of us. Help us to lay it at Your feet and trust You.