I am a worrier. My husband doesn’t think I worry about anything, but I do. I don’t want to pressure him more than he already may feel pressured, so I worry silently. When the going gets tough, though, I get worried. It’s a very human trait, I think. We often worry like we watch television, streaming it constantly, without fully noticing.
That is how I worry.
God says do not worry.
It’s interesting to me that God allows us to live in this truly awful world, where seemingly nothing is certain, and He tells us not to worry.
A factory here in the Bootheel just had to release hundreds of employees from employment last week. They are already planning two more rounds of layoffs in the coming months, hoping to stave off business closure. This is where many have worked their whole adult life. This is the biggest employer in a poor area surrounded by farm land.
A lot of people are worrying.
God says He will give You rest.
We worry because we don’t see the end. Sitting in the kingdom with Christ and all our loved ones is a dream we have, but our human minds keep us from being certain.
It’s something I pray for and hope for, but it doesn’t stop me from worrying about next week’s groceries. My husband is often afraid he will work until he dies, and it’s a fear that many people have. The pressure to have things, the lure of notoriety, and need to provide basic necessities are all reasons why people feel the need to work. It’s why I sometimes feel like I need to work.
But, God says to rest our yoke upon Him. He has broad shoulders, and our burdens are small compared to His strength (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus had the literal weight of all the world’s sins on His shoulders when He bore the cross, and He asks us to give Him more—give Him what we’ve done, what we want to do, and what we can’t do anymore.
He doesn’t want just our sins. He wants our work, our labor, our stress, and worry. Jesus wants our week-late term paper, our parenting fails, our tax debt. He doesn’t want those worldly things keeping us up at night.
God says there’s freedom in Jesus.
America today is full of people worried about freedom. But, what makes a person free?
What people really mean when they say they don’t want to work until they die is that they want to be free. A mere two weeks ago Missourians spent hundreds, thousands, even whole paychecks on Powerball tickets in hopes of becoming millionaires, maybe billionaires, overnight.
I’m certain they didn’t all want to donate that money to orphanages or promote world peace. Most of my friends on social media mentioned reasons like wanting to pay off debts, buy a house, or quit their job. These all sound like fine ideas to me, but I see a pattern! People want to be free! Free from bills, from living under the thumb of a landlord or contract, from submitting to a boss. We want to be free, and money would do the trick, right?
God says no.
God says “cast all your cares upon me” (paraphrase of 1 Peter 5:7).
God says, “in my Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2).
God says, “a faithful person will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 28:20).
Let go and let God.
My mom always said this when I was a girl: let go and let God. It’s simple. It can be a simple prayer, or just a reminder to not stress; depend on God.
But how?
I’ve heard the saying “cry about it on your knees,” and it’s really changed my outlook on prayer, stress, and worry. Jesus tells us how to pray, even offering a sample prayer for good measure. Anyone can pray, and I encourage it, but be sure your prayers are heard by coming to God first in repentance.
Before you ask God to save you from your life, you must ask God to forgive you for your sins. It might be hard to admit. It might be hard to think of something at first! But enter into prayer as a humble, broken person, and let God heal you, change you, and set you free. There is nothing you can get in a bottle, medicine or otherwise, that can help your anxiety, stress, and worry like God can.
The side affects are amazing!
