What, Me Worry?
“Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6: 25-27; 31-34
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7
(It’s been a while since I’ve written a devotional! I have let time get away from me for the past couple of months or so, with some unplanned event coming up nearly every week, eating my free time. I’ve missed writing these!)
A dear family friend reached out the other day, asking me to pray for her husband. He was having surgery and while the doctor said that the surgery went well, he’d been in recovery twice as long as the doctor said he would be there, and she’d just heard a code blue call (medical emergency like cardiac or respiratory arrest) announced in the hospital. She was afraid that it was for her husband. While I can’t say that I blame her for what seems to me to be a bit of a reach or overreaction, I’m still thankful that she asked for prayers, and that the Lord answered them not too soon after I’d said them. Her husband is now home, recovering nicely (thank You, Lord!).
This isn’t the first time this friend has been overcome with worry—when her granddaughter came home kvetching about customers at her local Panera Bread restaurant, this friend tossed and turned all night, worried that her granddaughter’s temporary attitude was the depiction of who she truly was, bereft of humility and gratitude for having a job during a pandemic. She also found herself wide awake and in a panic after my husband shared that he’d interviewed for a job (years ago) and didn’t follow up as quickly afterwards with the interviewing manager as she felt he should have. She was ever so slightly upset with me when I gently and lovingly chided her for not having a bit more faith in the fact that the Lord had it all, and if it was part of His plan that Don should get the job, he would (and he did. And lost it last year because of the pandemic, but that isn’t the point here. He’s since gotten another job and all is good!).
She worries about her adult children, too—choices that they’ve made, how they’ve dealt with the consequences of those choices, how their walk with the Lord is, and the like. When it comes to worrying, no one has anything on her—she has got it down pat. I have to admit that at times, it would seem that she’s well served by the worry, as it has allowed her to anticipate something that she hadn’t accounted for in travel. But most of the times, I’ve seen her worry rob her of physical and emotional rest, and peace. It hurts my heart to have her experience this, and that pain is made worse by the fact that she is a Christian. (I almost typed “and should know better”, but that’s not a fair statement for me to make).
Because we are still on this side of heaven, in these fleshly bodies, we can experience a variety of emotions and reactions to life’s situations. It can be difficult to abstain from wondering about the next step when you’re walking through the valley of the shadow of death, or in the midst of chaos over which you have absolutely no control. The world tells us that we should be self-reliant and masters of our own destinies, and it is difficult to overcome or drown out that sentiment. When we finally acknowledge that the Lord is in control and surrender to His will, oftentimes we’ll realize that we had surrendered 99.98% of our problems or life to Him, and kept the remaining .02% for ourselves.
Folks, when we don’t give the Lord 100% of us, whether it’s our problems, our burdens, our joys, or our lives, we are essentially telling Him that although He is the sovereign and almighty Lord, the One who made the heavens and the earth by speaking them into existence, the One who was, is, and is to come—we are telling Him that we have a better understanding of what to do with our problem/burden/joy/life than He does. O, what folly! He is the God of the universe, and we don’t trust Him to handle all of what we are experiencing?
Here’s the thing, y’all—He knows what’s going to happen in our lives already. He knows the outcome of our current problem, and the next one, the one after that, and oh, that big ol’ one that is threatening like angry thunderclouds to ruin our day and our outlook. We see through our own limited viewpoint, and because of this, we perceive that things are happening to us, and not for us. And because we don’t have the sense of control we feel that we should have, we begin to worry. The enemy jumps when he sees the slightest of crack in our resolve, and spins us up by encouraging our minds to think of all of the things that could possibly go wrong—and we worry more. Anxiety takes over and begins to cloud our thinking, and our emotions and thoughts run wild.
Lest you think I am an unemotional Vulcan-like humanoid who sees the logic in Jesus’s question “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:27), I assure you I am not. I fret, although I can admit that I seem to do that less the longer I live on this earth. When things were at their most stressful over the past couple of months with various things converging (potential loss of a job that turned into a new job where I find myself drinking from the proverbial firehose daily; major conflict within two separate friendship groups; social unrest, and oh, yeah, this pandemic!), I found myself flailing about in stress and unease about the future. What helped me was the realization that the Lord had it, and the Lord was going to use it to do something in me.
I don’t know where I heard this concept, but I have glommed onto it and say it so much that I’m sure folks are tired of hearing it: “the Lord either causes things to happen or allows things to happen.” Regardless of which one applies to my current situation or the one three days from now, I take comfort in the fact that He is in it, even when it doesn’t seem like He could be. If He is allowing something painful to happen to me, it is obvious that He wants me to learn something from it, or grow from it. How incredibly awesome is that? How can we be upset about circumstances that will do a good work in us, or will prune us for better growth later, or that will allow us to experience something so that “we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:4)?
The Psalmist states, “For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100:5). He is good, and what He does for us, in us, and through us, is good as well. So let us cast all of our anxieties upon him, because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).
Prayer Requests
Prayers for:
Christine Jeans, who faces an aggressive form of brain cancer and the loss of her mobility
Steve Sloniger, who wasn’t feeling too great this morning
Those who have lost loved ones to COVID and other health conditions
Dear one, regardless of the problem before you right now, know that I am praying that you seek His comfort and support, and that you experience His peace immediately as you share your burden with Him and worry naught.
Quotes
“Don’t ruin a perfectly lovely present by worrying about a totally unknowable future.”
--Elle Sommer
“Worry often gives a small thing a great shadow.” - Swedish Proverb
“We worry about tomorrow like it’s promised.”