Saturday, June 20, 2009

Why Worry?

I have had a very rough two weeks. My husband became ill, which he never does, and I began to worry. I did a very unhealthy thing. Instead of turning to God in my fear, I turned to the internet for answers. All I got was confusion and more fear! The information I found led me to such a state of mind. Wow! I even made my husband fearful and unable to function for days. Why do we do this? I was led to share something I wrote eight years ago for a support group I was in. I'll tell you how the situation with my husband turned out afterwards.

Why Worry?

What do you worry about? Do you only worry about major things or do you find yourself all stressed out by everyday things? We worry about our jobs, having enough money, enough food, what kind of house we live in, health, death, and the list goes on. Are we giving these worries to God or do we just keep them for ourselves? If we are not giving them to the Lord, then we are trusting ourselves to provide all these things and to take care of all situations. That is a big load to carry! "Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall." (Psalm 55:22 NIV)

We can be concerned about something without being worried. When we worry our mind is troubled or bothered. If we are merely concerned, we care about the outcome of a particular situation. We should concern ourselves about one another. This means that we become involved-we care, we love, etc. The Lord said that the second greatest command is to love each other. (Matthew 22:39 NIV) We cannot truly love each other without being concerned. Concern is caring. Worry, on the other hand, is not trusting God to provide all of our needs. If worry is not trusting God, then when we are worried by something, in effect, are we not calling Him a liar?

In our humanness, we sometimes cannot help but worry, especially when there is an emergency of some type. God says that He will provide for us, help us, teach us, guide us and protect us. We have to believe, by faith, that He will do what He has promised. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7 NIV) God does the worrying for us so we don't have to!

Worry takes our focus off of the really important things of life. When we allow ourselves to become so troubled that we become known as the neighborhood "worry wart", we will miss out on the joys of living. Why do you think worry is called a "wart"? A wart is an unsightly, if not ugly, thing; no one wants one! And worry is just as unsightly, and it can become ugly if left unattended. Worry is negative and anything negative is not from God. Worry is useless! "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:27 NIV) If it does not add to our life in some way, it is not worth the effort.

Seek God's promises about our provision. Start with Matthew 6:25-34. If we belong to the Lord, then we do not have to worry about anything ever again; our life is secure and our future is sealed! Concern yourselves with each other-care for each other, love each other, involve yourselves in each other's lives-but do not worry! Have faith, friends, God is in control and we are His priority!!

It's too bad I didn't remember this when my husband got sick. He went to the doctor and found out he had nothing more than an infection. But, we also found out that he has pre-diabetes. If he hadn't had the infection, we wouldn't have gone to the doctor and this thing could have progressed to full-blown diabetes. I say this all the time but, God is taking care of us even before we know we need it!! I lost two whole weeks because of worry. I will remember to seek the Lord in all things---FIRST!

2 comments:

  1. Ah! Yes just today I was sharing with my eight year old grandson these awesome passages in scriptures: Trusting Leaning ....completely on HIM to bring about His Purposive Will for each moment of my day, week, month, year ~ Life ~

    ReplyDelete

About Me

I have been writing since I was a child. Now that circumstances have changed in my life, I have begun to take my passion for writing to a new level. First and foremost, I am a child of God. I am a wife of 26 years. We have 3 wonderful children who have all begun lives on their own. I love all my pets, they really are like little children!
"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."~Toni Morrison

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