Today’s Passage: “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.” Matthew 6:31-33
One of the most prominent troubles I have witnessed among Christian women is the tendency to worry. Anxiety is often a learned behavior. When I consider the women in my own family tree, I am aware of the fact that all of us have struggled at some time or another with anxiety, worry and fear. Often this behavior is passed down to future generations.
Sometimes worry is rational and is based on a very real threat. Jesus Christ was anxious in the garden of Gethsemane because He knew that He would face torture and death the following day at the hands of men. Our Lord was so stressed that he shed sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44).
Another example of a very real concern was Hannah. She was in a loving marriage but she was barren and received constant ridiculing from Elkannah’s other wife. I Samuel 1:10 tells us that “she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.”
Job experienced much hardship and trials. In Job 16:25-27 his words are recorded: “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, and laid my head in the dust. My face is flushed from weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death.”
Some anxiety is a natural result of being children of God who live in a lost and perverse world. Ezra wept for Israel because they had turned away from the Lord (Ezra 10:1-2). King David wept often because of death threats. Paul in II Corinthians 2:4 wrote: “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.”
We note from these examples that some worry is inevitable. Yet the anxiety that generally tends to cripple us as women is either from fearing the unknown, worrying about tomorrow or a skewed outlook of ourselves. These unnecessary fears can be the fear of death or of illness although we have no evidence that either will happen. Perhaps we worry about how we will pay bills or whether we will lose our job. Maybe we fear losing our spouse to the point that we are unfairly suspicious of him. We worry about our appearance (new wrinkles, thinning hair, an uneven smile, teeth that are not pearly white and so on).
If these thoughts are not enough to paralyze us, we can be concerned about how we sound when we speak, what others think of us, whether we are smart enough or rich enough or funny enough… We can imagine what others are saying about us behind our backs or misinterpret a glance for a look of disdain. We can revisit a conversation days, weeks and months later until we have warped it into the worst possible thing anyone has ever said.
I have just begun! Our clothes are surely ugly, our hair is never styled like others and our complexion is pale. Everyone else seems to be see well-kempt and polished and poised and intelligent but we are filled with anxiety because surely everyone can see through us and realize that we are the most unorganized, boring and uneducated person ever known. We are too tall, too short, too heavy or too thin.
Our Father God never intended these thoughts to plague His children. In fact, He teaches us that anxiety over these things is amiss. Jesus teaches us with compassion that we must master our worry over things such as these in Matthew 6:25-34:
“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 (or pagans) 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.”
Let us look at the various ways that God teaches us how to master our unnecessary fears by breaking down the verses above and studying other Scriptures that deal with these teachings:
1. We must realize that God cares for us. (“Are you not of more value than they?”)
We are assured that God cares for the birds of the air but that He cares even more for us. We should not be concerned with the things that He has promised to handle. Another assurance of His concern is in I Peter 5:6-7: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” I Peter 5:6-7. If we truly believe that God cares about us and wants what is best for us then we will not worry about our looks, possessions and other irrational fears.
2. We must realize that worrying does not change anything for the better. (“Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”)
Worrying about things that we cannot change may change things, but it often changes them for the worst. For example, instead of improving our height, appearance, etc., worry can affect our mental and physical health. Additionally, it can harm our spiritual health because we make physical things of the world our focus instead of God’s promises. We tend to internalize and focus on ourselves instead of others, causing us to become selfish, introverted people. Romans 12:10-13 states, “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.” It is hard to do these works of service if we are overcome with thoughts of ourselves and our imagined concerns.
3. We must have faith in God. (“Will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”)
Being overly concerned about our troubles is proof that we are more focused on what we cannot do than the things that God wants us to do. He teaches us in this passage that worrying over these things is because we have “little faith”. Paul mentioned many things that had happened to him over the years, including being shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned, starved and naked in I Corinthians 11:24-28. Surely these things might have caused him great anxiety, yet he wrote in Philippians 4:11-13: “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Oh that we could have such faith in our daily lives!
4. We must realize that as a child of God, we should not worry about our needs. (“For after all these things the pagans seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need these things.”)
Unbelievers may worry about possessions and appearance but we should realize that God already knows our needs. He will take care of them according to His plan. Perhaps we think life would be so much easier if we only had such and such… Yet the Lord knows what we can handle and what we cannot. He knows where He needs us to be in order to do the most good in His kingdom. If we are following God’s Word and seeking to obey Him, then we are where we should be and have what we should have. There is no need to worry about things that could be harmful to our spiritual walk if we were to have them. We may be able to teach others best if we have faced a life threatening disease. On the other hand, we may have encountered many vices and have been led astray if our health was such that we chose another road in life instead of relying on God. Wealth may seem to be wonderful but perhaps we could not handle the temptations that sometimes follow it. Perhaps it would have enabled us to move to another location but we would have missed leading someone to Christ where we currently live. Faith means trusting God to lead us where we wants us, using who we are, where we are and what we have.
5. We must study God’s Word and pray for guidance. (“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”)
The only way to truly seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness is to know what these things are. We must continually study His Word in order to recognize righteousness and avoid evil. Psalm 1:1-3 teaches us that the person who studies and meditates on God’s Word will prosper. Ephesians 6:17 teaches us that the Word of God is our protection against evil while we learn in Hebrews 4:12 that God’s Word is alive and penetrates into our hearts and minds.
Additionally, prayer is a time to speak to God of our needs and ask for our faith to be strengthened. When Simon had thoughts that were contrary to God’s Will, Peter told him to “Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.” The same advice applies to us if we are struggling with anxiety that is due to our weak faith.
6. We should handle the concerns of today instead of attempting to handle all future concerns at once. (“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”)
Jesus assures us in this passage that there will always be things for which we will be concerned as long as we live on this earth. Because of this, we should take care of the things that we can handle today and let tomorrow’s concerns wait until then. This does not mean that we should not prepare the things that we are able to handle in order to avoid later anxiety but it teaches us that we should not be overly concerned about things that may not happen. When our minds are consumed with thoughts of “What if?” we lose focus on the things we can be doing for God now.
Let us consider again the examples above of those who worried and their responses to those worries. Upon reviewing them, we will see if the six points listed helped their situations.
1. Jesus was troubled in the garden (Luke 22:39-46). How did He handle these concerns? He prayed to God that His Will would be done instead of Christ’s own human will. Then he faced His accusers and accepted His fate. He did not continue to worry about what would happen to Him but had faith that God would take care of everything according to His will.
2. Hannah prayed to the Lord for help (I Samuel 1:15). She knew that worrying herself sick was not helping things but she did acknowledge the One who could help: Jehovah God.
3. Job was shaken, tormented and tested. He wept and humbled himself to God in prayer. Never did he accuse God but he instead remained faithful during the utmost of human suffering (Job 1:22).
4. Ezra prayed fervently to God. When he had finished, he stated, “… yet now there is hope in Israel” (Ezra 10:2). He did not allow the condition of Israel to utterly destroy him but he acknowledged that there is always hope with God.
5. David wept and was troubled often by those who wanted to kill him. He meditated on God’s Word every day and night and prayed often. He is recorded as saying “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5) He also wrote that “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.” (Psalm 126:5) His hope was not dashed for he knew what was important and no matter his grief, he trusted in God’s love.
6. Paul continued to pray and work fervently to ensure that the Christians he had taught would remain faithful. He also wrote that no matter what state he was in “to be content” (Philippians 4:11). This was surely a man of faith who did not allow the small things of life to overwhelm him.
Worrying about things that we cannot change leads to heartache and stress. These feelings imprison us by holding us captive to our fears and preventing us from being the best Christian women we can be in God’s kingdom. By putting things into their proper perspective through the six methods mentioned above and by following the six examples of people who dealt with their stress in positive ways, we can surely be free from the chains of worry and embrace the peace and serenity that God offers us if we have faith in Him.
I close the lesson today with the Serenity Prayer as it is commonly called. Many of us have read the first part on plaques and wall hangings but perhaps we have not read the prayer in its entirety. I have always found it comforting and I hope that you do as well.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
--Reinhold Niebuhr
May God bless us as we study His Word and pray for guidance in our lives. I pray that this is a good week for all of you, dear sisters.
