God Speaking

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)

If you ask any member of my family who is the worst worrier within the family, they would be in agreement and select me. One of my daughters recently said to me, “You even worry that you are not worrying enough about us all.” I am ashamed to admit they are right and I constantly seek the Lord’s guidance to deal with what I know is a useless waste of time and time that would be better spent in speaking to the Lord, but I am not the only one with this affliction, in Canada there was a survey taken of a thousand workers and nearly half of them admitted that anxiety and depression affected their capacity to work efficiently. We live in a society that seems to be consumed by worries of all kinds, from financial, to health to job security. Apart from personal worries we have the looming threat of terrorism that lurks at the back of our minds, natural disasters are not far behind in creating anxiety when we read of earthquakes and floods. I decided to check out what the internet has to say about worry.

I was fascinated with what I found. Some of the quotes made me laugh, some were good advice. All of them were in agreement that worrying about anything was at least a waste of time and achieved nothing. I liked this one;

“Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do and gets you nowhere.” – Glen Turner

This Swedish proverb also caught my attention;

“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.”

My favourite was this one;

“Do not be afraid of tomorrow, for God is already there.” – Unknown Author

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was imploring us to focus on what does really matter, not on what we imagine might happen.

“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25)

The word that stands out for me in that passage is “life”. We have been created by a Heavenly Father who loves his children. When we dwell in his kingdom we automatically become recipients of all the benefits that citizenship has for those under the King’s protection. Life with him is what Jesus is telling us is the one true thing to concentrate upon, leave useless worrying behind. The psalmist reminds us of how mighty our God is;

“Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them – the Lord who remains faithful forever.” (Psalm 146:5 – 6)

Of course none of us go through life without some sort of trouble to worry us. Jesus tells us that quite plainly.

“…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

I have decided to do something about my excessive worrying. I have begun by researching all the comforting words in Scripture about how to deal with it and then my course of action is this. I now set before the Lord, each morning exactly what is worrying me. The list is long, but there is great relief just telling him, even some of the quite ridiculous ones, and then asking him to take care of them for me for the day. I  have to do it every day or those worries creep back and take me over again. A friend gave me a sweet little prayer which is also helping.

Healer of our every ill

Light beyond tomorrow

Give us peace beyond our fears

And hope beyond our sorrow.

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• Today’s Gospel Reading (matthew 6:24-34) (prayers4reparation.wordpress.com)