Thursday, March 27, 2014

Worry

One thing that has always been difficult for me is not worrying. It seems to be naturally engrained within me to want to fret about every little thing. Despite my knowledge that worrying does me absolutely no good, I really try to worry my way into solutions to problems. Over time I've really tried to worry less, and to have a more accepting attitude of things that are happening in my life.

Sometimes I feel as though I have conquered my penchant for worrying. However, every once in a while I understand much more clearly that the battle against worrying is something I am still fighting.

Monday was one such occasion. I realized seemingly all at once that I wasn't going to get all of my assignments done this semester, that I had nowhere to live come August, and that I certainly was not going to graduate on time. All of this uncertainty sent me into a panic of worry. Suddenly I needed to know the answers to all of these things. And I needed to have a plan to get everything accomplished. And I needed to know how everything was going to play out. And I didn't know any of those things and it made me scared, and sad, and stressed. I cried and cried and cried about the fact that there were all these things that were outside of my control and that I didn't know what was going on and that I felt unprepared for the mystery that was my future.

Lucky for me, I have a great mom and a great friend who can help me get it together by encouraging me from God's word.

Here are some of the passages which they encouraged me with, and some that I thought of as I was trying to overcome my worry:

Matthew 6:
25 “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? 26 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? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

God is going to take care of you. And whatever sort of way that he takes care of you is going to be way better than what you think you need.

Jeremiah 29:
4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.
10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Things might be pretty bad right now. Well guess what: they might stay bad for a good long time, so you need to make the best of the situation you are in and do the best you can. God isn't going to forget about you--he has a plan for you even during this hard time. It's going to turn out okay.

Ephesians 3:
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

His plan for you is better than you could possibly imagine. You can't even ask for things to be as good as he is going to make them be for you. If nothing else, God is using hardship to prepare you for eternal glory and that's much better than him granting you relief from any trial.



These aren't necessarily always easy sayings. We can see them and we can know them, but maybe its hard to be fully confident of them in the heat of worry or hardship. But let's just remember the example of the father of the demon possessed boy in Mark 9:  

20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

This mad had doubts about Jesus' ability to help his son. Clearly no one had successfully cast out this demon in the past, and this man didn't really understand how one would even do such a thing. He didn't fully believe in Christ's power. But instead of being content with a measure of unbelief, he asked the Lord to strengthen him. 
When we are faced with trials and we are prone to worry, let us remember that the Lord is our helper and our greatest asset. He wants to strengthen our faith and ease our worrying. It's all going to be okay.  
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment