By David ReayTuesday 23 Jul 2019LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 2 minutes
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (NLT)
The first reaction to a verse like this is easier said than done! I figure that personally I have great experience in both warning people about the dangers of worrying and in actually worrying myself. That song titled “Don’t worry, be happy” was a best-seller. It told us something we already knew: happiness beats anxiety any day.
Again and again we need to remind ourselves that worry doesn’t work—it achieves nothing. Though it does have some more dubious achievements. It drains us of energy, affects our health, causes us to lose focus so that we have little occasion for joy and thankfulness.
Worry is also an indication that our trust in God is lacking. Our text reminds us that this God does care for us and invites us to cast our cares on him, large cares and small cares. When we are anxious, we are really accusing God of being incompetent or uncaring or both. We figure the maker of the universe can’t handle things so we take the burden on ourselves.
Having said all that, there is a very great danger that we will become anxious about being anxious. Our worries cause us to feel guilty about worrying and so we worry about it! Our text reminds us that we give even those worries to God. He knows our weakness and fragility. He can bear the burdens we find burdensome.
Blessings
David