Trying Not to Worry: Part 1 — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

How often do we say to one another, don’t worry about it. Look, don’t worry, everything will be OK. And this business becomes a cliche, which is not always true. Don’t worry about it because things often don’t work out that well. But how wonderful it would be if we could learn not to worry.

Now it’s easier said than done, I know, and if you’re listening to me, you’re a practising Christian, you’ll probably know that you’re not supposed to worry, but you’re supposed to trust. But have you ever noticed how Christians try to comfort each other? Let’s say that something really bad happens like uh you lose your job or you get some bad news about your health and you might go to church and you mention that you’d like someone to pray for you, the person sitting next to you puts their arm around you and says, well look, everything happens for a reason.

Now that’s a nice statement, and I must admit I’ve said that myself, but if someone is really deeply worried, we don’t want to be burdened by their troubles, so we feel compelled to say something nice like, well, don’t worry, everything happens for a reason.

But that phrase, everything happens for a reason is not in the Bible, and when you say it, it suggests that God is behind this – somehow he allowed it to happen or he wanted it to happen, and for someone who’s lost their job, I mean, is that really any help to them? God wanted me to lose my job, really?

Maybe what we’re trying to say is what the apostle Paul says in Romans 8:28, all things work together for good, for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose. Now this doesn’t mean that everything’s going to work out good for those who love God, but it does mean that even in the worst situations, God is there working. God is deeply involved in the messy stuff of our lives trying to bring something good out of it.

So instead of putting your arm around someone and saying well everything happens for a reason, don’t worry, you could just put your arm around someone and understand and be quiet. Try to understand their pain and their worry, you don’t have to always say something.

And sometimes other people say, and I’ve heard it said, God never gives us more than we can handle. Now, think about it, this is another way of saying you can handle this. And when you’re in that situation and it doesn’t feel that way at all and you want to say no, I can’t handle it, it’s too much. And so that phrase God never gives us more than we can handle, that’s not in the Bible. We’re better off to say help Lord, I can’t do this myself. But here we are saying, don’t worry, God will never give us more than we can handle. Look, he could say, I’m here for you, and together with God’s help we can handle this, why don’t you offer yourself to help someone.

Well, look, I’d like to bring some great words from, from the Bible. Philippians 4:6-7. Again, this great man Paul, and he says this, don’t worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he’s done, and then you will experience God’s peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

So as you listen, perhaps for the first time you’ve heard that about not worrying, but how do I do it? Paul says, don’t worry about anything, it seems one of these pious platitudes that sometimes we say, we don’t really mean it. I mean, how true is it Paul?

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Ray Brown was a New Testament scholar, and he says that you really got to picture what Paul’s life was like. Paul trudging along the roads with his limited possessions, probably covering 20 miles a day, and at times when he could earn some money, perhaps brought him into an inn, he could have spent an overnight there, or he just would have slept outside a room off the yard or near the road in the cold, the rain and the snow. He was a victim, he could have been victimised by some of the people around and the country areas, and the sea journeys, they weren’t much safer, the winds – it was dangerous stuff and being a passenger on the open deck of a cargo ship, these difficulties, says this author, were not over for Paul when he arrived at the places that he was going. There were people being kidnapped and all these things brought before a magistrate. And he was in danger.

So these dangers could have been something that really were serious. And yet Paul was able to say, Don’t worry about anything. I want to continue this a bit further tomorrow.

Let’s Pray

Dear Lord. We know it’s so human to worry, but please give us some insight today on how not to worry, but to always trust in you. Amen.

(Trying Not to Worry: Part 2 — Morning Devotions)

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