Do Not Worry

The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus. Hudson Taylor

Do you have a tendency to fall into worrying?  I know I do.  There are times when I abandon God and worry.  I like to break this word down into two parts when I start worrying.  The first part is “Wo” (i.e. whoa) and the second part is “Rry” (i.e. restart).  When we get buried in worry we have let fear overtake our thoughts.  Fear of the unknown.  If it’s unknown why are we worrying about it in the first place?  When that happens we stop depending on God to know what we need and we don’t let Him take care of it. We need to stop and restart with the knowledge that God will take care of our circumstances.  He doesn’t really need our help.   

It reminds me of when you ride a horse.  When we were kids we rode horses all the time.  When you get up in the saddle you kick the horse’s flanks to get him moving.  When you want him to stop you pull back on the reins and say “whoa Nellie”.  We did actually have a horse named Nellie; although Nellie was about 18 years old in horse years so you never really needed to be concerned about her moving too fast and not stopping.  It was more of a challenge to get her going.

Matthew 6:25-34 it is an excellent reminder of how we should live.  Stop worrying about your life, what you will eat or drink, what you will put on each day.  Life is about more than those things.  If God takes care of the birds and they don’t store up stuff to eat later, how much more important are we His children?  If Solomon with all his wealth was not clothed as beautifully as the lilies of the field why do we worry about stuff like that? He even compares it to growing taller.  How many of us by worrying can make ourselves taller?  It’s really rather ridiculous. 

My favorite verse in this passage is verse 33.  Seek God first and His righteousness and all the stuff you were worrying about will be given to you.  Worrying doesn’t add one iota to your life.  When you find yourself heading toward worry pull back on the reins and say “whoa Nellie”.  Stop and restart. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, remind me that worry is allowing myself to fear something I have no control of in the first place.  You promise me that You will take care of me and that I should not worry about those things but instead depend on You.  My dependence on You releases me from worry.  I praise You for taking care of me.  Remind me that worry doesn’t make me taller and it takes away my faith in You.  

      

Scripture: Do Not Worry

 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  Matthew 6:25-34