Scripture: Matthew 6:16–34
“Do
not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink;
or
about your body, what you will wear” (v.25)
Observation: This past week was challenging in a lot of
ways. One of our family pets died and I’m
watching my husband go through that grieving process. It also meant we incurred some unexpected vet
bills. My son had a dental procedure
which also incurred some extra expenses.
Summer is coming which means (as a teacher) I will not have a steady
income and with summer comes the hope and expectation for summer camps for the
kids and perhaps some “vacation” type wishes.
With spring here it also means my husband has started our garden and
started watering it twice a day and the water bill came in last night and was
up $25.00 more than usual. Then I read …
“Do not worry about your life …”
I’ve walked this journey long enough
to know my Jehovah Jireh, my GREAT Provider, will provide so I don’t worry like
I used to, but I still wonder how it will all come together and how every need
will be met. I’ve seen Him provide in
amazing and unexpected ways through unexpected refunds or a special gift from a
friend or $20.00 left on my car from someone whose heart was moved by God to help
us and in so many other ways.
Perhaps this is not your journey. Perhaps there are other things that bring you
wondering on some level. Sometimes it is
just wondering, but if we are not careful that wondering will turn into worry.
So how do we keep ourselves from
worry? The first thing He says is this, “Do
you not know you are valuable?” He says
that He takes care of the birds and the flowers and we are SO MUCH MORE
valuable to Him than they are. He feeds
them and makes them beautiful in every way.
He can and will do the same for us.
We keep ourselves from worrying by knowing our value to the God of
the Universe, our Creator and Sustainer.
Secondly Christ asks a valid question,
“Can all your worrying add any time to your life?” Of course not, if anything it drains it away. I’m good about “solving” all of my life’s
problems in bed when I wake up. If I
wake up at 2 a.m. I can lay there and think about things for HOURS! What have I really solved? I won’t have to worry about being tired
anymore because I will be tired!
Sometimes when I wake up at a more decent hour around 5 a.m. if I allow
myself to do it, I will lay there and begin to pray before I get up, but then
sometimes that prayin’ turns into thinkin’ and then I find myself not having
enough time in the morning to do what needs done, which then creates stress. Again overthinking something or just plain
worrying does nothing to add time to our lives – it just takes it away and
creates other problems like stress which produces other problems like strained
relationships, etc.
Years ago a good friend of mine
responded to me in an angry way. I had
not done anything that I could think of to upset her. I made a conscious choice that every time she
came to mind that day I would give it to God.
I would say a 5-6 word prayer – nothing long, just God you know this
situation or I give this person to you.
I just turned it over to Him minute by minute, hour by hour – whenever the
person came to mind. I could have mulled
over it, planned out my response, made a plan to win her back over or any other
number of things we try to do to work out our problems, but for that day I
decided I would give it to the Lord.
The next morning the person approached
me and apologized. She said it had
nothing to do with me. I’m not even sure
she explained everything that was going on, but she came to me. That was God!
I didn’t have to worry or fret over losing my best friend at the
time. I didn’t have to make a big deal
or a big plan on how to fix it. God took
care of it! Since then I have used this
method of turning things over to Him. It
doesn’t always work in less than 24 hours, and sometimes I forget that I have
turned something over and then a week or a month or two later something happens
in my life and then I remember, “Hey I prayed about this!” And I see His answer in unexpected ways. RARELY is it ever the way I think it will
come about!!!
I’ve heard it said that God
can do more in five minutes with something we place in His hands then we can do
in five years of trying to do it ourselves. I know this to be true from my own experiences. The next time you are prone to worry about
something I encourage you to turn it over to Him. You may have to keep turning it over, but
EVERY TIME that person or situation comes to mind just say, “God I give it to
you.” Then choose NOT to think about
it. If you still want to think or mull
or talk about it to everyone you meet just pray again, “God I give it to you.” You may feel like you are having to do this
100 times a minute, but I can almost bet that your faith will be increased and
so will your joy as you focus on Him and His kingdom (vs. 33) and see how He
works it all out.
Application: Do you have a testimony of how God has helped
you to overcome worry in a particular situation. Share it today in the comments and encourage
one another. Are you a worrier? Do you deal with anxiety? After reading these verses how can you apply
them to your own life?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding us
today how valuable we are to You. God it
is not just those of us who seek You on a regular basis either that are
valuable to You, but ALL people matter to You.
You are a God who takes care of everything and everyone You have created
from the tiniest flowers to each person on this earth. God I pray that we would let You be God and
that we would give over ANYTHING that concerns us today from the tiniest
concern to the ones that are weighing big on our heart. EVERYTHING matters to You God. EVERYTHING!
Thank you for seeing us through this week. I know some weeks are harder to get through
than others. I thank You for the Sabbath
rest that is coming this weekend and for the blessing of stopping and resting
and resetting our minds on things above.
Thank You for Your love and care and for meeting each need that we
have. Through Christ I pray. Amen & Amen.
As we come to this weekend, is there
anything we can pray for you with?
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