The Waste of Worry

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"Don't worry about your life..."    (Matthew 6:25)

Worry....we all do it from time to time, some of us more than others.  But it is always the enemy of trust in God, every time we fall prey to it.  Whether we are worried about our family, our finances, our material goods, our education, our health, or any other of the many things we tend to worry about, we are always making a decision to not trust God.  And the truth is this:  Something to worry about will always be seeking to attach itself to our thoughts. Always.  And like a flood.

So what are we supposed to do?  Good question....

I have noticed in my own life that the best answer to the question and solution to the problem of worrying begins with taking the worrisome thought captive.  When I am able to capture the thought and look at it for a moment, then I am faced with a choice.  Secondly, because emotions can play such a huge role in what I will choose, then I have to crucify my feelings about the circumstances I am worrying about.   They have to be dead to me or I will choose to continue worrying because I can't get away from how I feel about it.  Here is an example:

Let's say that you have just had to take a cut in pay.  You are worried about whether or not you will be able to pay your bills.  This thought then creates feelings of fear, maybe even anger over why you had to take that pay cut.  If you can not set your feelings of fear or anger aside, then you have taken the thought of worry captive, but it won't last long.  I you do set your personal feelings aside, though, you can take worried thoughts captive, and look at God instead of yourself.  

Having captured the thought of worry, and then setting yourself aside, you will be able to look up, see God, and begin a dialogue with Him.  Your heart will then be enabled to hear what He will have to say to you.   With focus on who God is and your relationship with Him, the Holy Spirit will begin to "raise a standard against" your worry.  

Oswald Chambers says it this way:  

"Common sense shouts loud and says, 'That is absurd, I must consider how I am going to live, I must consider what I am going to eat and drink.' Jesus says you must not."

To claim that "you must" try and think it all through is to say to Jesus that He surely does not understand your circumstances.  Oh how we forget that He understands them -- and their godly purposes in our lives -- far better than we do!  Worry is of no value to the difficult circumstances of life. Worry is nothing but a waste, if we truly trust our God.

PRAYER

Oh, Jesus, how often I have worried when I should have been fixing my gaze on You!  How my flesh wants to think it all through and try to figure out how I am going to fix the circumstance.  How often I haven't even seen You in the circumstance, waiting patiently for me to seek You out.   There is nothing in this life that I need worry about, but just to trust in Your plan for me.  Forgive my self-sufficiency, and forgive my nature of learning so slowly.