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I was talking to my best friend yesterday and she
was expressing the fact that she can now more easily see the hand of God
at work all around her. I thought about what had changed about her and
realized that she no longer worried as she had in the past. Praise God!
Worry tends to veil our vision. We can't (or don't) see how God is
working in our lives when we are worried. But, when we turn our worries
over to the One who is really in control, we are free to see all of the
wonders that are around us! I, too, used to be a worrier. That is, until
I realized who was really in charge of my life!
Worriers focus their eyes on the consequences of
events that have not yet happened. They feel vulnerable and expect the
worst. They take responsibility for things that are out of their control.
But if they will turn to God, they will find in His character the answer
to their vulnerability. God's character is best seen in His Word.
God is in charge. The Bible teaches that nothing
happens in this world that is beyond the knowledge and control of God.
"The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom
rules over all" (Ps. 103:19). He is God Almighty (Ps. 66:7). He is
the sovereign Lord of all.
Worriers feel that things are out of control--that
something terrible is about to happen and they can't stop it. When the
questions raised by those feelings create anxiety, worriers need to
remember three important truths about God.
1. God is everywhere (Ps. 139:7; Jer. 23:23-24). We
can't get to a place where God is not. There is no place, no matter how
alone we may feel, that God cannot be. He is everywhere!
2. God knows everything (Job 7:20; Ps. 33:13). He
knows how afraid we are, how bad we feel, what scares us. The more
worried we become, the more we act as if God were ignorant of our
situation. We don't know the future, but God does. He knows how
everything is going to turn out. He knows our needs.
3. God is all-powerful (Gen. 17:1; 18:14; Matt.
19:26). Worriers feel that no one has the power to stop the bad things
that might happen. Not even God, they think, can keep their daughter from
getting pregnant or their son out of jail. But God has limitless power.
The answer to the question, "Is anything too hard for the
LORD?" (Gen. 18:14) is no!
William Backus, in The Good News About Worry, wrote
about his brother-in-law, an athlete who was in the hospital recovering
from an angioplasty. The procedure was successful, but he remained in
danger the next 24 hours. He was worried! As he lay there, he said,
"I'm an athlete. I've always made my body do whatever I wanted and
my body responded. But when I tell myself I must stop being anxious and
stressing myself, I can't." The more he told himself to control his
anxiety, the worse it got.
Then it was as if God spoke to him. "Who's in
charge here?" "You are," he answered meekly. And as that
truth and commitment came to his mind, peace flooded his heart.
God can carry our burdens. The cares of life that
weigh on us so heavily can be placed on the shoulders of God. He is more
concerned than we are about our health, our children and grandchildren,
our loved one's salvation, world peace. He helped David kill the bear,
the lion, and the Philistine giant. He protected David from the murderous
rages of Saul. He kept him safe in enemy country. Perhaps that's the
reason David could write, "Cast your burden on the LORD, and He
shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved"
(Ps. 55:22).
But how do we give our burdens to God? How do we
place them on His shoulders and leave them there? By acting on what we
know. We know that He is an all-powerful,trustworthy God. When we worry,
we hold back from trusting Him. We are putting ourselves in His place.
We're saying we can do better. We need to turn it over to Him.
I heard a story, once, about a man that was walking
along a rock-strewn beach. A little boy was trying to carry a sack of
rocks he had collected. He couldn't keep up with his family. Once or
twice he fell. He didn't have the strength to lug that big load. Then his
big brother saw him. He went back, picked him and his sack of rocks up,
and carried them both. That is what God is waiting to do with us once we
hold our arms out to Him. "Commit your way to the LORD," the
psalmist said, "trust also in Him" (37:5).
God can take away our fear. Worry is how we express
our fear of the future. We're afraid of the consequences of what lies
ahead: What questions will appear on the exam? How will I do at the
dentist? Will our city be hit by a tornado?
Worry began in Eden after Adam and Eve had sinned.
They hid from God because they were afraid of the consequences of their
choice to eat the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:10). "I was afraid,"
Adam said.
Knowing that God is a good God--that nothing evil
can originate in Him--helps drive fear away. When we can say with David,
"Good and upright is the LORD" (Ps. 25:8), we find assurance.
When we are worried about the future, we can follow the example of the
psalmist and "taste and see that the Lord is good" (34:8).
Accepting God's love for us also helps drive fear
away. If we are to have any fear, the Bible tells us, it is to be a fear
of God (Deut. 10:12,20; 13:4). Yet to fear Him is to love Him and to
accept and feel secure in His wonderful love for us. How much better it
is to fear the Creator than anything He has created. How much better it
is to fear One who loves you to the point of giving up His Son than to be
afraid of the nameless, faceless, powerless apprehensions of the future.
David knew God's goodness and love by experience.
That's why he could tell us that even when he was in the darkest valleys
of life, he feared no evil (Ps. 23:4). In Psalm 31 he wrote of terrible
life experiences--being forsaken by his friends (vv.11-12) and attacked
by his enemies (vv.13,15). Yet he could say, "But as for me, I trust
in You, O LORD" (v.14), and "My times are in Your hand"
(v.15).
When we're afraid, we can do something about it.
Time after time the Bible tells us not to be afraid. Our responsibility,
accepting the goodness and love of God, is to make the same choice David
did. We must say, "Therefore we will not fear" (Ps. 46:2).
God can sustain us. In a context where he had spoken
of war, famine, and evil men, David said that those who trust in God
"shall be satisfied" (Ps. 37:19). The basic meaning here is
that they will not tremble; they will not be shaken. In the midst of the
legitimate concerns of life we need not quiver with fear. Why? Because
God can sustain us by His power.
When we feel vulnerable, we become distracted by the
concerns that are on our minds. We're like a father whose 3-year-old son
is in the hospital fighting a dangerous infection. He goes to work while
Mom stays by the bedside. But even while he works, part of his thinking
is always in that hospital room with his little boy. Every mother who has
seen her son go off to war knows that feeling. So does Dad when his
daughter is on her first date or his teenage son is late getting back
with the car.
God can sustain us during those worrisome times.
David wrote, "Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain
you" (Ps. 55:22). The God who cannot be moved will keep us from
being shaken by the worries and cares of life.
God will always be with us. Worry is a solitary
burden. We tend to carry it alone. The more we worry, the more alone and
helpless we feel. But as children of God we are never alone. We will
never be abandoned. David assured us of God's presence in Psalm 139,
where he said that God knew everything about him before he was even born
(vv.13-16), and that he could never escape God's Spirit (vv.7-12).
Morning or night, land or sea, heaven or hades, God is there.
Yes, David knew of God's ever-present care. He
wrote, "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will
take care of me" (Ps. 27:10). Who among us didn't fear parental
abandonment as children? Sometimes those terrible feelings return to us.
It is then that we must remember the promise of God that He will always
be with us.
Isaiah knew of God's ever-present care. The Lord
said through him, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for
I am your God" (41:10).
Joshua knew of it. God said to him, "As I was
with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake
you" (Josh. 1:5).
Moses knew of it. "By faith he forsook Egypt,
not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is
invisible" (Heb. 11:27).
The disciples knew of it. Jesus said to them just
before He ascended, "I am with you always, even to the end of the
age" (Matt. 28:20).
We know of it too. When Jesus gave that promise to
His disciples, He was also talking to us.
The next time you start to be overcome by worry,
turn to God and remember that (1) He is in charge, (2) He can carry your
burdens, (3) He can take away your fear, (4) He can sustain you, and (5)
He will never leave you.
Curtis
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