Have you ever been worried about something? It’s so easy to make it about yourself. For example, I’m only worried about my child because I’M a good parent or I’m only worried about my finances because it’s MY responsibility to take care of my family. It may be hard to swallow, but worry is actually not trusting in God’s ability.
Now, you may think, “What? No way! I trust God!” But, worry is a pretty clear sign, that you haven’t totally given it over to Him. The thing is, just like the children of Israel, who had PLENTY of times where God came through for them, we can probably name some instances when God came through for us. And yet, so many times in the Old testament, we see again and again, how the Israelites began to worry as they looked at their circumstances and responded to THAT! We do the same thing. We look at our situation and then we allow worry to determine the outcome we’re going to experience.
God has not done so many wonderful things in our lives, just to bring us to a place of failure. When facing a trial or tragedy, it’s easy to lose sight of all the blessings God has done for us. When we worry, we are saying that even though God has taken care of us, there is still this slight possibility that tomorrow He will fail because His grace ran out today.
In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus preached His famous “Sermon on the Mount.” This sermon has a tremendous amount of teaching in it, but one thing is often overlooked and that is this: Jesus commanded us, over and over again, to not worry. Some people feel that they have no control over worry. They ask God to take it from them. It’s our responsibility!
Some things are spiritual and some things are dealt with in the natural. Worry is almost always experienced in the natural. What I mean is, Jesus did not tell us to cast out worry. He said, don’t do it. He said to quit worrying. He told US to take care of it.
Let me ask you something. Would Jesus command us to do something that we had no control over? Would He tell us to do something that was impossible for us to do? No! Of course not. That would be cruel and that is not the nature of our Lord.
When you become worried about the different areas of your life - your marriage, your job, your kids, etc. - that is an indication you’ve assumed the responsibility for them. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:7, to cast all our care upon the Lord.
What is a care? It’s simply another way of saying “worry.” Worry is rooted in either the past or the future. When your worry is rooted in the past, you are regretting things you’ve said or done. What does the Bible say about our past? Phil. 3:13 says, “...forgetting those things which are, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”
The harder it gets to stop worrying, the more you need to praise Him. Praising God will turn that situation around. It will break the force of worry trying to attach itself to your mind.
There is an old Swedish proverb that says, “Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.” Worry is simply the misuse of God’s creative imagination, which He has placed within each of us. When fear rises in our mind, we should learn to expect the opposite in our life.
Don’t give in to worry. The more you meditate on that Word, the stronger your faith becomes. You are praying effective prayers because you have an inner image of that Word coming to pass in your situation. The more you worry, the less power the Word will have on your thoughts. Learn to take those worries to God in prayer and give them to Him.
So, today remember, don’t worry!
-Pastor