Matthew 6:25-34

Do Not Worry

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[2] ?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Why do I still worry? We are called to not worry about the little things and yet I worry about those things all of the time, still! Yes, God takes care of the birds and all of the creatures that He created, big and small, and thus He will provide for us, His dearly beloved children, even moreso, yet... somehow I still find it a challenge to grasp that concept. Where does my disbelief come from? Surely not from my past experience because God has ALWAYS been faithful to me. I wanted to share about a particularly amazing recent experience that I had... just over the past week, in fact... yet, it is somewhat confidential. Maybe I'll tell you once it's all over and done with. The pattern, however, is the same. I felt in the "depths of despair," just the other night, feeling that the future was hopeless, feeling that I had made major mistakes in the past that could not be overcome. Although the situation was lifted up in prayer, I of little faith, still felt like a tiny boat stranded in the middle of a vast ocean in the midst of a howling storm being tossed to and fro with no anchor to hold onto. But I do have an anchor - God, who is the only one who can and always does meet my needs (and always more lavishly than anything I could expect). So a mere few days later, I find that new opportunities have arisen and not all hope is lost. On the contrary, again I see that everything has happened for a reason. The sense of hopelessness came from my feelings of futility at being able to create a good, solid plan for myself when I should have all along been more willing to offer my life to God completely - not to grasp so tightly to it and worry about it and be afraid that I had messed things up. In reality, if I did just hold onto it myself, it would be even more in disarray than now. Yes... ambiguity... the truth will come out in time. God always lifts us up when we are down. He always uses low points to show His power and love for us by bringing us up, higher than we could have imagined. God's goodness is beyond words.