“And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”( Rom 9:33 NAS)

Are you hurting inside? There are many on our street corners pandering promises through their treatment programs and various treatment methodologies. Many of them are based on secular psychology principles. If we, as believers, follow the guidance given, should we realistically expect to get a better outcome as the general public gets?

Have you ever heard anyone say, “Oh, I had so many problems until I went to the psychologist? But now my life is wonderful!” As a therapist working in the field for some 35 years, I haven’t heard it anywhere (until my practice began to change focus). Of course, over the years, I have heard some positive comments about my work and the work of others. Yet, I have rarely if ever, heard anything like “profoundly changed, or permanently freed.” This is especially the case when the person had deep or serious psychological wounds.

The above verse, I have come to realize, was not only referring to some future reward in heaven. It was also, and maybe more pointedly addressing a guarantee regarding our lives here on earth. Jesus cares for His sheep. He refers to Himself as “The good shepherd” (Jn. 10:14). Do we think He is lying to us? Does a good shepherd treat the sheep badly or kindly? If our experience of Christ and God is different than this, we are well-advised to take stock. We are being invited to open the door to “learn of (Him).”  He says he is “gentle and humble of heart and that we will find “rest for (our) souls as we learn to take on His yoke. (Matt. 11:28)

Notice that Jesus does not qualify this statement. We don’t hear Him say, “this is true as long as you don’t have some significant emotional problem in your life.” A saying in earlier days of our country of a genuinely trustworthy man was that he was a “man of his word.” Not much higher praise one could receive in the day when Americans as a nation valued good character above all other things. So, again, we must ask ourselves, is Jesus, a man of His word?