"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3, ESV
Do you ever wonder if you can be okay when you know people you love are struggling?
I’m wondering if one of these situations resonates with you:
- -ou are a parent with adult children who struggle spiritually or financially.
- You have a loved one who struggles with an addiction.
- You have aging parents who need care.
It can be so hard to stand by and watch from the sidelines as our loved one’s life seemingly spins out of control. Not allowing their troubles to become our trepidation and inner turmoil is even more challenging.
When we see our loved ones walking through difficulties, our thoughts spiral. We hyperfocus on worst-case scenarios. Our loved ones' discomfort makes us so uncomfortable that we mistakenly believe the responsibility to rescue them is ours. We can even think that the loving thing to do is jump in and solve their problems. Don’t get me wrong; there are times when the Holy Spirit may be prompting you to intervene. God certainly uses His people to help others. However, these decisions must be made carefully. We must pray for wisdom and seek godly counsel because our help is not always necessary, and sometimes, it can cause more harm if we attempt to usurp God’s sovereignty. We may never know why God allows our loved ones to walk through trials and troubles. But we can learn from Scripture that God instructs us to rejoice in suffering because it produces endurance, character, and hope (Romans 5:4-5). We also know that God utilizes affliction to refine and purify us. He uses the troubles in our lives to make us look more like Him to the world around us (Isaiah 48:10-11).
We know from God’s Word that despite how terrible the suffering of our loved ones looks on the outside, God is always using it for our good, their good, the good of others, and His glory. This is why it's so important for us not to interfere without God prompting us to do so. We would never want to hinder the good growth God wants to do in our loved ones by interjecting ourselves into a situation God is using to reveal more of Himself to the ones we care about most. They need God way more than they need us!
Now that we have worked that out, what in the world do we do while we wait? I’ll tell you what I don’t recommend, but it's what I fear most of us do—we fret. But we don’t have to make ourselves sick with worry. Our key verse tells us exactly what to do to experience God’s perfect peace:
"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3, ESV
Friend, if God tells us to step out of the way of His work for our loved ones, we can trust that He will take care of them. And He will do a much better job than we ever could because He is all-powerful, everywhere at one time, and He knows everything. I don’t know about you, but remembering God’s omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience gives me peace! It's that simple. We can use our thoughts to worry and fret over worst-case scenarios, or we can fix our thoughts on the character and nature of God and remember His trustworthiness. The first way will make us crazy and the latter will fill us with peace! We, indeed, can be okay even if the people we love are not.
Let’s pray:
Dear Lord,
Thank you so much for having access to peace despite our external circumstances. Lord, please help us remember that while we cannot control the circumstances swirling about in our lives or the lives of our loved ones, we can control our thoughts. Forgive us for thinking we need to be you. You certainly make a better God than we ever could, and you are trustworthy. Jesus, help us fix our thoughts on you so we can experience your perfect peace. In your name, we pray,
Amen.
What truth from today’s devotional is God using to encourage your heart? Share your reflection and join our conversation in the iBelieve Truth Devotional Forum.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Jachan Devol
Related Resource: Instead of Doing More This Summer, Maybe You Need to Do Less
If you've been feeling tired, overwhelmed, depleted, or just quietly wondering where God is in the middle of a very full life — this episode is for you. And honestly? It might be for me too, because I'm recording this in one of those seasons myself.
Today we're doing something a little different. Instead of going deep in a passage, we're talking about what to do when deep feels like too much — when you need less, not more. Specifically, I'm walking you through one of my favorite practices for weary seasons: handwriting scripture.
Not typing it. Not scrolling past it. Actually writing it out, slowly, in your own hand — because something happens in your brain when you do that. The words land differently. They go deeper. And over time, they become part of that personal library of God's voice that the Holy Spirit can pull from when you need it most. That's what Psalm 119:11 means when it says I have hidden your word in my heart — it's scripture moving into your long-term memory, where it lives and stays even when you haven't opened your Bible in weeks.
I'm sharing the five verses I wrote out for myself today — and why each one hit me fresh even though I've known some of them for years. This episode is part of our How to Study the Bible Podcast, a show that brings life back to reading the Bible and helps you understand even the hardest parts of Scripture. If this episode helps you know and love God more, be sure to follow the How to Study the Bible Podcast on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
Originally published Wednesday, 24 June 2026.
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