God gives us power to deal with life’s frustrations

Have you ever had computer problems? How does you feel about dealing with problems your computer has? Do you feel frustrated? Confused? Angry? Discouraged?

Last week my primary email account was suspended. To make matters worse, this was the second time in less than a month this has happened. Now, I’ve heard of and experienced computer viruses and computer worms. I’ve seen problems with the hardware of my computers. I’ve struggled to work with a website. But I’ve never before heard of an email address being suspended.

Both times in the last month that I dealt with this issue I was required to go through certain steps to reactivate my email. I had to scan my computers for viruses; my work desktop, my home desktop and my laptop computers. This scanning took quite awhile because I have a lot of files, and because when I leave the office or home the computer went to sleep and stopped scanning. I have also had to change the password to my account twice.

Also, as I worked on this problem with my provider, I was not receiving email for at least three days. Maybe you sent a message that did not get through. And, while I use computers, I don’t necessarily know how they work. So, as you can imagine, for someone who uses email as a regular tool of communication, this caused challenges for work and, yes, some frustration and maybe even anger that this tool had stopped working.

That is a long explanation of the cause of a recent frustration, but I think you have probably experienced similar frustrations, if not with your computer. How do God’s children deal with these frustrations? Frustration and anger are part of life. Sometimes we get upset that our plans did not go as we hoped. Sometimes it seems that life is unfair. Sometimes we may bring some of these frustrations on ourselves. When we are frustrated, when we are angry, what do we do? Where do we go?

I served as volunteer chaplain at the hospital last week. As I visited patients, many faced a different kind of frustration, that of being ill and sometimes not even knowing the cause of the illness. As I visited I shared one of my favorite Bible verses, 1 Peter 5:7, which says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

When we have anxiety, frustration, discouragement, anger or confusion, God says to cast those feelings at him. He basically says, “Throw it at me; lay it on me.”

This is not just some plan to ignore our problems and hope they go away. We can lean on the Lord because he loves us and has taken care of the problems. All the frustrations and anger of this world can trace their origins to our rebellion and sin against God and others. God didn’t just say he cared, he sent his son into this world of trouble. Jesus did the big job of living a righteous life for us. Jesus loved us enough to suffer for us and to sacrifice his very life for us. Jesus rose and won victory over our sin and the source of our troubles. So, when God says to “cast all your anxiety on him,” we can do it because he really does care and because he not only can help, he has already taken care of our troubles in the long run.

So, I worked with the host of my email address. They were afraid my computer had a virus and was sending this virus out in messages I didn’t even know I was sending. I understand this fear. I have received those messages myself, even from friends, even today (isn’t technology wonderful?). However, even though my computers are now supposedly free from all viruses, it turns out it wasn’t even my computer that was the culprit. Someone else’s computer was reacting to my messages in such a way that the computer of my email host thought I was sending spam, when it seems I was not. Imagine, all that frustration because of the response of computers, not people. The second time this happened was a little less frustrating. I knew what to do.

When we see God in his love help us with our troubles and problems, we can face life without anxiety. We know God doesn’t just say he cares about us, but in love for us God has really overcome the source of all problems: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Jonathan Rockey is pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Palmer. Contact him at jonrock53@mtaonline.net.

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