I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.
Overthinking can become one of life’s most paralyzing and debilitating habits. Certainly we must use our minds to make good and right decisions. We should utilize our memories and past experiences to help us make wiser and more prudent choices today. God’s Word tells us that what a man thinks, he becomes. All true.
However, there is a dark side when it comes to overthinking everything. When we mistakenly believe we are in control of all of life’s outcomes, we become overthinkers. Why? Because we fall into that faithless space where we believe everything is up to us. Once we fall into that kind of faith-less thinking, we leave God out of the equation.
Too often overthinkers fixate on the what-ifs, the whys, the how-tos, and the when’s. Instead, Christians should first and foremost make concentrated effort to focus on the present tense goodness and glory of God. How do we change our faulty focus? By renewing our minds day by day through Bible reading and prayer and praise.
As this lovely portion of Scripture tells us about God’s love for us, we must learn to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. We can choose to place our focus on God and as we do so, God in all his glory outshines the problems and struggles we face. Each time we decide to make much of God through our thoughts, we minimize our trials because we discover peace and rest in his love.
The more time we invest in pouring over God’s Word, the less compulsion we will feel to try to be masters of our fate. God never designed his children to live independently apart from his always sustaining strength, abundant grace, and perfect provision. God wants us to understand that we are totally dependent upon him each and every moment of every day. As our Creator and Sustainer, God desires for us to live in constant communion with him and there is no better way to live out this truth than to continually talk to him through prayer and praise.
Questions for Personal Reflection:
- What if I chose to focus on God’s enduring faithfulness today instead of trying to figure out how to meet my needs all on my own?
- Why might I falsely believe that everything depends upon me? How does this mistaken belief place a barrier between me and God?
- How might I learn to discipline my thoughts so that I don’t spiral into an overthinking mode whenever something difficult faces me?
- When I feel overwhelmed by life’s challenges and trials, what are some practical steps I can take to draw near to God as my provider and rescuer?
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