Future in God's hands
How to deal with worry (2)
Worry, said Jesus, is the way of heathen people (Mt 6:32).
Their gods are so unpredictable, so untrustworthy. But the living God is your Father. He knows all about you.
The very hairs on your head are all numbered. He wants you to pass over all your worries about material things to him, and then carry out your proper task, which is to give him first place in your life, and live as he wants you to.
Worry is the way of the heathen.
So worry is a very great sin because it distrusts God, and distrusts all His promises. God's Word says "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." But worry says, "I don't believe it."
God's Word says, "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." But worry says, "I am sure He will not support my needs."
God's Word says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Worry says, "He has already forsaken me."
God's Word says, "He shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all thy ways." Worry says, "He will not."
God's Word says "He cares for you." Worry says, "He does not care for you."
So worry really turns the believer into a heathen. He says he believes in God, but he does not really believe him. He has no faith in the wonderful promises of God.
You know, there is a difference between believing in God and believing God.
This was pointed out to me when I was a young man, and I have never forgotten it. Let me put it this way. There are many Christians who believe in God, but they have not yet learnt to trust Him for everything.
Jesus really meant it when He said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He really wants us to hand over all our worries and anxieties to him.
He said that if we come to Him we will never thirst again, and that we will never hunger again and this is true. Why, then, do we live such unbelieving lives? Why are we so heathen in our practice? Why are we men and women of such little faith?
Yes, the secret of mastering worry, said Jesus, in verse 34, is quite simple. It is this "Don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow. Live one day at a time." God will take care. That is the secret.
Trusting God
Alistair MacLean quotes a story about John Tauber, the German mystic of the 13th Century. One day John Tauber met a beggar. "God give you a good day, my friend," he said. The begger answered, "I thank God I have never had a bad one."
Then Tauber said, "God give you a happy life, my friend." "I thank God," replied the beggar, "I am never unhappy."
An amazed Tauber said, "What do you mean every day is a good one, and every day is a happy one."
"Well," said the beggar, "when it is fine I thank God, when it rains I thank God. When I have plenty I thank God, when I am hungry I thank God. Since God's will is my will, whatever pleases Him pleases me."
Tauber looked at the man in astonishment. "Who are you?" he said.
"I am a king," replied the beggar.
"And where is your kingdom?"
"It is in my heart."
Can you say that "Since God's will is my will, whatever pleases him pleases me?"
Long ago, Isaiah said, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace." Why? "Because he trusteth in thee."
I am so aware that I am writing to worrying people. You mothers are worrying about your children. You businessmen are worried about a hundred things that make up your daily business life. You young people are worrying about your future. The world is such a mess, what kind of future is there for anyone?
I must confess I have my worries too. Well, here is the cure for us all.
First, let us all stop worrying about tomorrow, and about what might happen tomorrow. The future is in God's hands.
You say, I can't go on. I can't live any more with my wife, or my husband, who is so difficult. I can't cope any more with all my responsibilities, I can't bear this pain one more day. I can't endure all the misunderstanding and hatred that surrounds me. I am so lonely. I can't live anymore without love.
I can't, I can't, I can't.
But you can you know. Multitudes have had to live such a life before you and they have gone on and on, trusting in the God of the future. So let us stop worrying about it.
Do what you can, and then leave the rest to God.
Second, let us all stop worrying about the past.
So many of us are haunted by "the might have been". We took the wrong turning, we made the wrong decision, we trained for the wrong job, perhaps we even married the wrong person.
But it is no good worrying about such things now. The water has already flowed under the bridge, never to be recalled. So why worry about it?.
We must learn to bury the past and not to grieve over it. Our past sins are washed away, through the blood of Christ.
And everything we have said and done is gone, never to be recalled. So quit worrying it does us no good. "Forget those things that are behind," said Paul.
And third, let us stop worrying about the present.
Live one day at a time, said Jesus. And let us learn to squeeze everything we can out of that day. Begin by praising God for it.
I love the story of the woman who painted this verse on the inside of her bedroom blind, "This is the day which the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it," so that when the blind went up, she was already rejoicing in spirit.
Get rid of your self-pity by counting your blessings. Write them down and tick them off.
"I had the blues because I had no shoes until, up on the street, I met a man with no feet."
With praise and gratitude to God for all His mercies live every moment of the day as if it were your last.
"Redeem the time," says Paul. "For the days are evil."
Buy up every opportunity for happiness.
Yes, God has given you today to live for His glory, and only today. He has taken away all your yesterdays and all your tomorrows are in His safekeeping. But He has given you today.
So, in the dynamic of the Holy Spirit, make it count for Him. This is the way to conquer worry.
"Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ" (Phil 4:6).
Tuesday
ROMANS 12:14-21
"Beloved, never avenge yourselves" (v19).
This passage of Scripture could well carry the title, "How to live without worry," for every verse teaches us some aspect of living which is essential for our well-being.
Any living in contradiction to these instructions is bound to result in misery.
The determination to "get your own back" is a failing and it is found, to our shame, even among Christian people. Injured men and women, in their distress, may well ask, "What must I do with the wrongs and injustices inflicted upon me if not to avenge them?"
This thought of revenge can become an obsession which destroys all peace of mind, and which can have a most detrimental effect on the character and personality of the one involved.
The Christian, when suffering persecution, must ever remember the Saviour, and "follow in His steps," who, "when He was reviled did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten; but He trusted to Him who judges justly" (I Pet 2:3).
Wednesday
I CORINTHIANS 15:51-58
"Your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (v58).
One of our deepest worries is the nagging thought that all our efforts in the work of the Lord will come to nothing.
The Sunday School teacher, disheartened at the inattention of her class, is tempted to believe that nothing will eventuate from all her effort. The pastor, preaching from the heart, discerns no response from the glazed eyes of his congregation.
Certainly, as we scatter the good seed of the Word, it is often hard to believe that it will ever germinate. The worry of uselessness haunts many a Christian. We long for results, and see so little.
It is to the discouraged Christian that Paul writes, "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain."
The phrase "in the Lord" means "in union with Him". We labour on as co-workers with Christ, and it is in this assurance that we know that whatever we do for Him is never futile.
Thursday
PSALM 46
"A very present help in trouble" (v1).
One of our worries is the worry that we would be inadequate if something really dreadful happened to us. We can manage in the present, but what if the future held some terrible calamity? What if war broke out?
The psalmist could almost be describing a conflict with nuclear weapons when he spoke of the earth changing, mountains shaking and the sea roaring and foaming.
Yet even in the midst of such a situation he assures us that he would not fear, and would find God to be his refuge.
The reason why he would not fear is because he believed that God is so much more powerful than men.
"The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; He utters his voice, the earth melts" (v6).
Our only hope of keeping our mental balance in our day of great danger is to believe in a sovereign God who can and will "Break the bow, and shatter the spear," and "burn the chariots with fire".
We need to learn the secret of the psalmist's peace of mind and to believe in and act on the word of the Lord, "Be still and know that I am God" (v10).
Friday
HEBREWS 2:10-18
"Those who through fear of death were subjected to life-long bondage" (v15).
Most people fear death more than anything else on earth. A threat to their life would make them do things which nothing else could compel them to do.
This fear is "a life-long bondage". Christ came and died, and, through His death destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the Devil" (v15).
This victory of Christ over death should deliver every Christian from this bondage, for to us death is not the end but the beginning. It's not loss but gain. It is not a journey into darkness but a journey into God's marvellous light. It is not the end of happiness, but its true beginning, for "in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Ps 16:11).
So why should we worry about death?
If we are true believers we will love this wonderful life God has given to us, but we will love even more that much more wonderful life he has "laid up for you in heaven" (Col 1:5).
Like Paul we should be able to say, "Living to me means simply Christ, and if I die I should merely gain more of him" (Phil 1:21 Phillips).
Saturday
DEUTERONOMY 32:10-14
Moses the aged, in looking back over the 40 years of wandering in the desert, became lyrical in his remembrance of the mercy and goodness of God to a wayward people.
He compared God to the eagle, "that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings catching them, bearing them on its pinions."
This picture, etched against the blue sky and rocky crags of Sinai, is quite unforgettable.
If we apply it to ourselves we can say truly that when we launched out on the Lord's work as a fledgling we were certain we would fail and fall. But the Lord bore us up on His wings.
We worry needlessly about our inability and inexperience; but all the Lord requires of us is to launch out in faith, and leave the outcome to his care and keeping.
Sunday
ISAIAH 26:1-2
"Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee" (v3).
We were not created to stand alone in life. So it was that God created a "help meet" for Adam (Gen 2:18) saying "It is not good that man should be alone."
Husbands and wives are meant to be a support for each other, as are parents and children. We have friends for the same purpose.
It is so good to have a shoulder to lean on, but what are we to do if all our supports in life fail us, or are removed from us? What then?
Many people fall to ruin at this point, but not if their trust is in the Lord, not if their lives are anchored to the "everlasting rock" (v4).
If our minds are stayed upon God nothing can take away our peace.
Monday
ISAIAH 40:27-31
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (v31).
One cannot be certain that Isaiah was writing here about the strength that comes to us through prayer, but that is how it is best understood.
Multitudes of people can testify that "they kneel how weak, they rise how full of power."
The kind of power emphasised here is what we can call staying power! In our youth we soar with the eagle, in middle life we run and are not weary, but in old age we walk and hope we will not faint.
The real point is that we are kept going to the end if, and only if, we make a daily practice of waiting on the Lord.
No words can tell what sweet relief
There for my every want I find,
What strength for warfare, balm for grief,
What peace of mind.
Charlotte Elliott