“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)
This verse and several others throughout the Bible repeatedly state God’s promise to us that we are never alone—that he is always with us. And in the words of Paul, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).
In spite of God’s repeated promise, though, we worry. Isn’t that sad? It is especially sad for those of us who call ourselves Christians because, quite honestly, when we worry we are exhibiting a severe lack of faith. We are saying we don’t trust in God’s ability to see us through a tough situation or to supply our needs. And to that I say, “Shame on us!”
When I look at people around me and even in the mirror at my own self, I see two major areas of concern, or things we have trouble giving over to God. But the great news is that we’re worrying needlessly because God’s got everything under control—or he would have if we’d let him do what he does best.
So instead of wasting valuable time, energy, and resources you could be using to do something much more enjoyable than worrying, take a few minutes to discover what the Bible says you don’t need to worry about and why…
1. Money
Oh, that’s a big one, isn’t it! We worry about having enough to make ends meet. We worry about saving enough for retirement and putting the kids through college. We worry about the rising cost of health insurance and whether or not we can afford the house we really want.
Some of us even have to worry about answering the phone because we don’t want to have to acknowledge our indebtedness to the bill-collectors on the other end of the line.
Before I go any further I want to say right up-front that there is a big difference between worrying about money and being a good steward of the money God blesses you with. And here’s the difference: Worrying about money is obsessing about the amount of money you have to the extent that you hoard it, spending every possible moment working to get more, and measuring your self-worth and security by the number in your bank account and/or investment portfolio.
Or perhaps you are so focused on the fact that you don’t have what you think you need or deserve that you are consumed with jealousy and bitterness toward those who do.
Being a good steward of your money is being mindful of how you spend it, being thrifty, living within your means and first and foremost, acknowledging the fact that your money is really God’s and you share back with him first before you do anything else.
So how do you stop worrying about money? By giving it back to God before you do anything else with it. That’s it. It really is that easy. Show God you trust him to take care of you—that you see money as nothing more than a gift. Go ahead. God promises you he won’t let you down. In fact, in some ways, the words God spoke to the prophet Malachi are almost a dare. They are also as relevant and trustworthy today as they were then. So grasp hold of these words and engrave them on your heart and mind:
“‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.’” (Malachi 3:10)
2. The future
We plan, worry, and stress ourselves into a tizzy worrying about the future. We worry about having enough money (but we’re not going to do that anymore, right?). We worry about our health and what might happen if we don’t enjoy good health. We worry about our children and the choices they make. We worry about what will happen to our stuff when we’re gone.
We worry about what other people think about us. We worry about what other people are doing and if they’re getting ahead of us in the game of life. We worry about the ‘what if’s’. We worry about dying or dealing with the death of a loved one. We even worry about whether or not the barbeque we have planned for Father’s Day will get rained out and what to do with all the food we have in the fridge if it does!
Worrying about the future vs. making wise choices and decisions is somewhat like the issue of money. Because every action we take and every decision we make has a consequence (good, bad, or indifferent), we do need to be mindful of our actions. We need to be conscious of the fact that what we do today does have an impact on tomorrow.
But making wise choices is not the same as worrying. When we worry about the future we are fixated on trying to predict it and dictate it. And sadly, some people are so worried about what may or may not happen in the future that they fail to enjoy the present.
In contrast, consciously making wise choices today removes a need to worry about the future, and when you are a Christian those wise choices are made prayerfully and with your eyes and heart wide open to living out God’s will for your life.
If this is seems a bit too vague for you, let me put it a bit more bluntly…
- If you eat a healthy diet and get plenty of exercise, your body will generally last longer than it will otherwise. But the truth of the matter is this: our bodies are temporary and death is one of the few things in life we can be certain will happen to us all. Worrying about it isn’t going to keep it from happening, so worrying about it is a waste of time.
- You can’t take anything with you so again, you’re worrying about something you don’t need to be.
- If you are living in such a way that you are mirroring the love of Jesus, you won’t have to worry about what anyone thinks about you.
- I know it’s only natural to want to protect your children from making mistakes and to want the best for them, but you can’t live their lives for them. All you can do is raise them to know the LORD and pray they walk with him. But remember this: prayer is a powerful thing.
- As for the weather raining on your barbeque…check the forecast.
I think Solomon said it best when he said worrying about the future is useless because there’s nothing we can do to stop it from coming (that’s my very brief summation of Ecclesiastes). But here is one thing you can do: You can live each day knowing your future is secure when you give your present and your future wholly and completely to God.
~ By Darla Noble
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Comment(1)
Linda says
November 5, 2016 at 12:05 amThank you, I needed to hear this today. Bless you.