Trying Not to Worry: Part 2 — Morning Devotions

Subscribe to the ‘Morning Devotions’ Podcast

Transcript

Trying Not to Worry: Part 1 — Morning Devotions

Struggle and hostility – that’s what the apostle Paul faced in his lifetime. We read about it in the New Testament. And yet he was the man who said, don’t worry, trust God. For example, let me just remind you from 2 Corinthians that 5 times he received the 40 lashes minus 1, that’s 39 lashes, he was beaten with rods. He’s been stoned, he’d been shipwrecked and he was adrift at sea. He was in great danger in the city and in the wilderness. He had lots of toil and hardship, he faced all sorts of pressure, even the churches, the people that you’d expect to help, they gave him a hard time. So the apostle Paul wasn’t some popular guy going around singing Don’t worry, be happy with the catchy tune while he waited for his money to come in, no. Paul had plenty to worry about, and yet he was able to say to the church at Philippi, don’t worry about anything. And so I’m asking this question, how could he do that?

It’s one thing to know you’re not supposed to worry, but I think it’s another thing altogether to actually stop worrying. Do you wake up in the middle of the night worried about something? Yes, I’ve certainly done that.

What are we supposed to do when these worries wake us up? How do we get back to sleep again?

Well, Paul says, and I think it’s something we need to read and think about, he says, don’t worry, pray with thankful hearts, offer up your prayers and requests to God, and that’s another way of saying pray, and when you do, do it with a grateful heart, remembering all the times that God’s helped you because he said you belong to Christ Jesus, to God. This is in Philippians 4, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this piece will control the way you think and feel. Now that’s great news.

So what you could do is say, look, dear God, you know all the things and all the people that I’m worried about, but I’m handing them over to you tonight, and I will try to deal with them in the morning. But for now, Lord, I need to go to sleep.

So Paul says that when the peace of God comes to soothe your troubled thoughts and your troubled feelings, Paul makes this promise that you will have peace, the peace that surpasses all understanding.

So it’s another way of saying that you can be at peace even when it doesn’t make sense to be at peace.

Well, as I said before, Paul was speaking from experience when I guess he must have slept out in the rain and plenty of nights where he would have had to have handed over his worries to God and waited for the peace of God. And there were nights when it didn’t work and he still probably couldn’t sleep. So that’s why he said in the next verse of Philippians 4, I’m thinking of verse 8:

Hope 103.2 is proudly supported by

Finally, my friends, he said. Keep your minds on whatever is true and pure and right and holy, friendly and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worth while and worthy of praise.

So Paul was qualified to say this to his church people. You know what you heard me say and you saw me do. Now listen, follow my example, and the God of peace, he will be with you. So that’s the important thing, the peace of God. The peace of God will be there in the middle of the night when you’re tossing and turning, wondering what you’re going to do. So don’t worry about anything. Yes, it has been made a popular song, but it’s not just a pious attitude, it’s the way of living life with God.

My colleague David Reay had some good thoughts about this that I want to share with you just briefly.

He asked the question, what do we do when we can’t stop worrying?

He said, is there a better way? He said that there is. Worry and anxiety is a significant matter. The root meaning of the biblical word for anxiety, David says, is distraction. In other words, we’re not focused on the right thing.

We’re not thinking, we’re not feeling straight, and life can take a very dark shape. He quotes:

“Worry is a thin stream of fear that trickles through the mind. If it’s encouraged, it cuts off a channel into which other thoughts are drained. It’s like a whirlpool that sucks all things into it.“

So God doesn’t seem to separate Christians from circumstances that might bring anxiety. Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean that you are going to be exempt from worries. Remember, God can cope. Cast all your anxiety on him, the Bible says, because God, He cares for you.

Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father, these are hard lessons for us to learn. We’re only human, Lord, but we thank you that Jesus said, don’t worry, don’t worry about tomorrow. I will help you. We thank you for that great advice. Amen.

Feature image: CanvaPro