I confess I can fret and become overly concerned with mundane stuff when I don’t keep focused upon God’s great goodness. I think of myself as easygoing and not inclined to worry unduly, but I am not perfect. I don’t want to a worrywart dwelling upon a real or imagined problems, but trivial matters can cause me to lose focus.
God created the world; He can handle my problems – no matter how mammoth I think they are. “O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!” (Jeremiah 32:17 NLT) There are no degrees of difficulty for a God who can do anything. Heavenly Father isn’t sitting on His throne, wringing His hands, stressing about how to handle your difficulty.
In May 1995, Randy Reid, a 34-year-old construction worker, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower outside Chicago. According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding on which he stood. The scaffolding tipped, and Reid lost his balance. He fell 110 feet, landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called 911. When paramedics arrived, they found Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back. Apparently . . . As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: “Don’t drop me.” (Doctors later said Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised lung.) Sometimes we resemble that construction worker. God protects us from harm in a 110-foot fall, but we’re still nervous about three-foot heights. The God who saved us from hell and death can protect us from the smaller dangers we face this week. (Fresh Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, p. 208)
Proverbial wisdom says, “Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but never gets you anywhere.” Instead of wasting energy worrying, you and I need to pray. Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrows, but worry saps today of its strength. Jesus Christ taught, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:34 NLT)
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Philippians 4:6-7 MSG
I really like Peterson’s word choice “when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (Philippians 4:7 MSG). Christ-focus is my desire; problem-focus is my distraction. Misplaced priority upon temporal trouble keeps me from heavenly reward. Misappropriate worry is a warning light that I am not trusting the goodness and bigness of my Lord. “Anxiety in the believer is tantamount to lack of faith either in God’s ability and promise to provide his needs, or in God’s concern for him. Both are an expression of doubt in God’s word, and, again, in the final analysis, either places more reliance in the things God created than in their source, God Himself.” (M. S. Mills, The Life of Christ)
The sometimes-awkward relationship between the great reformer Martin Luther and his wife Katherine is recounted by many historians. Apparently, Katherine’s concerns for Martin’s well-being weren’t always taken as expressions of love, but Martin benefited from her care – even if he complained. Last night, I was laughing about one incident so I read the account to my wife. She didn’t think it as funny as I, but she did agree with me that it was a great illustration. During one trip away from home, Martin sent the following letter:
To the saintly, worrying Lady Katherine Luther, doctor at Zulsdorf [the home of her inherited farm] and Wittenberg, my gracious, dear wife. We thank you heartily for being so worried that you can’t sleep, for since you started worrying about us, a fire broke out near my door, and yesterday, no doubt due to your worry, a big stone, save for the angels, would have fallen and crushed me like a mouse in a trap. If you don’t stop worrying, I’m afraid the earth will swallow us. Pray, let God worry. (Marshall Shelley, The Healthy Hectic Home, p.16)
