Worry is not part of God’s plan for any of our lives, and yet many of us are reluctant to trust Him.
1 Peter 5:7 “… 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (NKJV)
It seems almost comical. Who in this world can you trust more than God?! Yet, so many of us are unwilling to give our complete trust to God. We obey Him in so many other ways, but when it comes to our job, money, or loved ones, we hold things back for ourselves. God wants to remove those worries from our hearts if we’ll let Him, but we’re frequently consumed by the evil spirit of worry. It’s much akin to an addiction.
Like alcoholics who think that they need booze to get them through the day, we are secretly afraid that we won’t know what to do with ourselves if we give this up to God. This is actually a form of pride.
God says, to “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7 NKJV). Think you’re a humble person? If you let worry consume you, you’re stiffening your neck against God’s hand. God’s not saying that we should stand by and be complacent in regard to these very real concerns. He wants us to seek Him, and pray for those issues and people. He’s not saying that your thing of worry is insignificant. He just wants to handle it, and He wants you to trust Him.
When we don’t trust Him, we’re putting our trust in something other than Him. We’re committing idolatry.
Matthew 6 says:
25 “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? 26 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? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 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? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (NKJV)
When we trust God with our worries, we can rejoice in knowing that someone so much more capable than we are is watching over them. Instead of being sick with worry (sometimes literally sick), we are giving glory to God. We’re actually worshipping Him. Psalm 28: 7 says, “The LORD is my strength, my shield from every danger. I trust in him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving” (NLT).
When I think of worry, I think of mothers. Moms are notorious for worrying about their kids, but when their energy of worrying is turned toward prayer, LOOK OUT! Mothers have a special anointing for prayer where their kids are concerned. But this is true of anyone in any worry. Give your cares to God in a spirit of worship. Thank God for His diligence in taking care of you and those things that are important to you. Then you too can be filled with joy and be bursting with thanksgiving instead of being crippled by fear and worry.
