Wednesday: To Carry All Our Worry
There is a plaque that some people have in their homes that reads “Why pray when you can worry?” It makes us laugh because we know how often we worry rather than come to God and give Him our concerns.
Someone once said that when our life becomes all tied up, give it to God and let Him untie the knots. How God must long to do this for us. Yet, amazingly, we manage to hang on to our problems until we are about to snap. Why do we wait until we are desperate before we go to the Lord?
Read 1 Peter 5:7. Peter is quoting from Psalm 55:22. What’s the basic message here for us? See also Matthew 6:25-33.
Image © Krieg Barrie from GoodSalt.com
1 Peter 5:7 is a very simple verse. There is no secret hidden in it, and it means exactly what it says. To cast means to do just that, to throw, to give away, so that what is causing the aching and the concern no longer has any connection to you. But, of course, our burdens are not thrown just anywhere. Our worry does not disappear into a void. It is given to our Father in heaven, who promises to sort it out. That’s what Jesus is telling us in the verses in Matthew. The problem in doing this is not that it’s hard; rather, it’s that it just seems too easy, too good to be true.
Anxiety is caused by all sorts of things. It could be pressure from work. Unexpected criticism. Feeling that we are unwanted or unloved. Health or financial worries. Feeling that we are not good enough for God. Believing that we are not forgiven.
Whatever they are, one reason we hang on to our problems is that we think we can sort them out better than anyone else can. But Peter urges us to reconsider any such idea. The reason we don’t have to worry is that God cares. But does God still care enough to intervene when a divorce is looming or we feel totally useless? The Bible says that He cares enough to transform any situation.
| What are things that cause you worry now? However legitimate they are, however troublesome they are, is there anything too hard for the Lord? Maybe our biggest problem is that even though we believe that God knows about it and can fix it, we don’t believe that He will resolve it the way we would like it resolved. Dwell on that last point and ask yourself how true it is in your own life. |
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From the lesson:
I had a retinal detachment and I thought it wasn't a big deal. My daughter who is an optometrist had different ideas. I woke up ahead of a busy day and noticed that there was a bit of darkening around the lower right of my left eye. I mentioned it to my daughter, Toni, who was living with us at the time and she took a quick look and wrote out a referral to an Ophthalmologist. I said to Toni that I would go and see him the next day as I was a bit busy. Toni, bless her heart, said, "No, you will go and sit on his doorstep right now and he will see you straight away. This is not something that you attend to when it is convenient!"
Suddenly I realised that things were beyond my control and I had to do what others told me to, or I would lose my sight. To cut a long story short, I went to the Ophthalmologist who sent me to the eye hospital in Sydney for immediate surgery. and my sight was saved.
How often are we guilty of wanting to take control when really the situation is beyond us? We think we can do it all by ourselves or it does not really matter. I have an ageing relative who thinks he can look after himself until he drops dead. This last week he fell over on the ground and was taken to hospital with loose teeth and cuts and bruises. Slowly after a week in hospital, he has finally admitted that he really does need care. But, it has been a painful process coming to that realisation.
There are two corollaries:
In our battle with sin and evil in this world we are out of our depth and need help. The situation is beyond our control and we need to surrender and seek help from someone who is a winner in this battle.
Secondly, the invisible God, needs us to act on his behalf in helping others who are out of control in this battle. It is when we extend our love to others that they may see the invisible God in us.
Yes, I know I quoted this yesterday. It is not a mistake. I am repeating it for emphasis; its that important!
What we SHOULD worry about is addressing our cares and worries God's way.
Matthew 6:33
Shalom in his directions.🙏
It's like having God vision instead of my vision.
Really, God has been amazing. Most of my worst fears have been completely ended... Only a few people, and for sure God Himself, know how much my pain was for sometime. An emotional pain, one that truly literally eats bones... But God has been amazing! Thanks to Him my struggles were transformed into blessings... Thanks to Him! God is amazing!
It was a pleasure to hear your insightful witness.
If I get anything from the study of this quarters lesson so far is that we must be practical. There are people in our church who have real struggles on a daily basis. They get the paycheck and after returning their tithes and offerings, rent etc., what remains can barely adds up to buy food. As one would have it like from one paycheck to homelessness.
Sometimes these situations goes un notice because individuals are fearful in telling their stories. Can these situations be categorized as been placed in Crusibles?
This example presents those who have to complete God's work to perhaps to buy a bag full of food and deliver it to the one who may often fall short each week. God may move those who listen to Him to make a meal for them.
I have had such a desire to observe others and look for their needs, so God can use me to relieve some of their burdens. God tells us in scriptures that we should take care of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
He may often lead us to help unbelievers so they may see Him in in us. He cares about everyone after all.
Today's lesson concludes with proposing that "The Bible says that He (God) cares enough to transform any situation." That statement could be take two ways - one of which would be correct, the other would not.
Does the Bible say that God will transform every situation itself - from a bad situation to a good situation? We certainly have some examples in the Bible where this was the case - such as Daniel's night in the lion's den hotel. But then we also have many examples where bad stuff still happened - such as the imprisioning and beheading of John the Baptist. In this instance God did not transform the situation itself into a good one, but did transform the outcomes of that bad situation into good - the effects of which we will only see in their full scope when this current world is concluded.
I raise this because if we pin our hope on God transforming the situation we are in and that doesn't happen, our worry will likely get worse. But if we pin our hope on God being with us in the situation and at the same time directing that situation, however it goes, to an ultimately good end that we accept we may not see till the other side of eternity, our worry will be lessened. Perhaps this is why Jesus warned us up-front that in this world we will have trouble, but that there would be an ultimately successfully outcome (John 16:33). God always works all things together for good (Romans 8:28) - though at times it won't necessarily look or feel like it along the way! So I would encourage you to anchor your hope to the One who is with you in the valley of the shadow of death, rather than on expecting God to get you out of, or take you around, the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4).
Here are a few additional suggestions to assist with reduction in worrying:
*) 1 Peter 5:9 hilights the benefit of keeping in mind that many others are also going through bad situations just like yours. As you will well know from your own experience, the more isolated and alone you feel yourself to be, the worse your worry feels.
*) Focus on assisting/benefiting others also really helps ease your worries by redirecting the focus of your attention and sometimes (not always) recalibrating the perspective of your own situation.
*) Intentionally recall that we have nothing to fear for the future except we forget the many ways that God has sustained us in the past. Recalling these times again and praising God for each one specifically also helps recalibrate our current perspective and revive our specific awareness of God's faithfulness. You can do this alone, or with one or two other people that you might meet with for prayer and support.
Perhaps you have further ways that you use to help combat worry in troubling times?
There are two bible text that I have found helpful in trying situations of life : the first one is Genesis 18:14- Is anything too hard for the Lord . The other is Psalm 55:22 -Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you…I have found these passages of scripture to be both comforting and true. May they be the same for each of us.
I consider worries to be born of the flesh, our limited ability/capacity to wrap our mind around a problem, and peace of mind and in our heart comes through the spiritual surrender to God’s Will and Way. ‘Not to worry’ does not mean that we would do less than what we know from and about Him in order to live a ‘successful’ life.
I am a proactive person trying my best not to tangle up things into knots in the first place. I greatly enjoy inspired order and efficiency; encountering small or big ‘disorganization’ causes me some stress; they are a challenge to keeping my 'peace', but now in a good way.
Someone advised me to remind myself daily to resign as the general manager of the universe; I have learned to let go and to give ‘it’ into God’s right hand😊. I do not think God supports a ‘laissez-fair’ lifestyle; after all, He gave us directives how to conduct our affairs to live peaceably and successful with each other.
Living proactively to prevent the worries to come about in the first place, my focus is now on living the Gospel message by faith. This brings about a great measure of peace in my life. The reason we don’t have to ‘worry’ is because God cares(worries) for us, says the lesson writer; - yes, that simple!
Matt.6:19-21 – Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
On what is our life focused more than anything else? To gather ‘treasures’ here on earth, or to develop our spiritual relationship with the Father who gives freely to meet all our needs – Phil.4:19? I believe that if we focus primarily on nurturing our ongoing, spiritual trust-relationship with the Father by continuing to love Him with all our heart and live according to His Will, many potential 'knots' will not manifest and the size of those who do we'll find ‘manageable'.
Jordan Peterson said at one point that our goal should be to help relieve the suffering of our families and ourselves. What can I do today to help relieve the suffering of the most important people to me? We all are sinners and live in a fallen world,so how can I brighten the corner or lighten the load of the dearest people to me? When I look at life through that lens it helps me to understand my purpose in life and focuses on what needs to be done, and it helps me worry less about things which are not in line with my aim.