Worry

Worry is something we struggle with everyday! Can you imagine what the world would look like if people didn’t worry? The only way for that to happen was if there wasn’t anything to worry about! That would be Heaven. There is absolutely things on this planet that we have a right to worry about. Jobs, Kids, Health, Repairs, Money, and so much more but I’m sure as I’m saying this you are already thinking “great now I have to worry about money”. I didn’t think about “that” worry till you brought it up. I apologize if that’s you. However, we understand that worry exists. It’s there.

So what is the ROOT cause of worry?

Worry comes from being overwhelmed. Too much to handle for a mere human. We get tired from thinking too hard, too much, and working too hard, too much. We try to get everything, every moment in our life to line up the exact way that we want it to. But it doesn’t, more often than not. We want this job, we get no job. We want a new car, we lose our job. We love our new car, it needs repairs. Control leads to have a lot of seasons of WORRY. The only thing we can control is ourselves. While that is true, there is another outlet.

I’m not talking about drugs, alcohol, videogames, or love. Those can all become unhealthy addictions. I’m talking about what if there was somewhere we could go, someone we could go to who could replace our stress with peace and contentment throughout our whole life! I know you may think it sounds too good to be true, and you would be partially correct because he is good and he is true. His name is Jesus or you could call him GOD! So God he’s the creator of everything, all the universes! Creator of us, knows everything about us. He knows what your great great great grand child will do in year 2111. He knows what you are doing right now, he knows what you should be doing right now. He sees you, because he made you. He operates outside of time (past,present,future) and knows everything that will happen!

Pretty cool guy right? Now here’s the issue. When people become Christians, they expect that it’s all cupcakes and rainbows. That’s not entirely the truth. I heard a quote from a movie the other day that explains it way better than I ever could.

“It’s not about God taking away all our problems and making everything perfect. It’s about finding the joy and the purpose in this, in all the chaos and the crazy.

And it’s knowing…

it’s knowing that God is with you on the good days and the bad days.”

You see, God is our light (the JOY) and it may be hard to find him when you’re consumed in stress. Trying to control every aspect when all he wants you to do is rest and know that he’s got it all under control. He’s there for you on the bad days. He’s there for you when your whole calendar is booked with events and you’re just wondering when you are going to get that rest. He sees that your work is wearing you thin. He sees you crying in your car on that late work shift. He sees the household you come home to that expects so much out of you, and you’re wondering if they see your worth.

Like I said he is all knowing! He wants to take all your anxieties, your worries, because he loves you. He knows if you are consumed in it, you’re not consumed in the joy that he can give you in both the good and bad days.

You see, we get worried about things that don’t go according to plan, but we forget that because God is in the plan (has control of our plan) everything is going to work out in the end.

That being said, before we worry about the outcome, we have to put in the work. We all have to work everyday on something, God gave us all the ability to do so. The way I see it, we have 2 choices. We can choose to complain it or complete it. Just get it done, or the NIKE slogan “Just Do It”. Just recently, my dad gave me profound words of wisdom, while I was complaining about having to do the dishes. He goes, “all this time you’ve spent coming up for excuses for why it’s not done and why you don’t want to do it, you could’ve already had it completed”. I carry that with me. There were many nights I complained it, and was stuck doing dishes at 1 AM. It’s a lot more peaceful doing it at 8PM, and just completing it.

But I wanted to highlight this because our worry can sometimes be that roadblock that prevents us from even trying to put in the work. Whatever it may be. Don’t want to apply to this job because you worry you won’t get the position. Don’t want to date because you are worried about getting hurt. Do it. What’s the worst that can happen? Don’t answer that, bad example. Jokes aside, God wants to see you try and rely. He wants to see you put in the effort and rely on him.Though sometimes God doing his part, is by giving you the strength to see your part through. God can HELP you try, he can HELP you rely but you still have to put in the work by SEEKING him. When you seek him it’s easier to trust him.

I know it’s hard to trust in that! I know the stress can be a road block! I know the stress is real! I understand. But this is what God says, “Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm”, Isaiah 7:9. Unless your faith is bigger than your worry, I cannot make you stand in faith. He can direct us but he can’t “make us” because we have free will.

That’s why we have to SURRENDER our worry, SURRENDER our stress, SURRENDER our anxiety.

We worry because we can’t see the future. God knows it’s going to work out in his way. If not the expected result, we panic forgetting it’s all part of God’s plan. We have to surrender all worry so we can trust God’s perfect plan! Other times we have to hit rock bottom with our worry overload until there’s so much worry consuming us that we have no choice but to surrender it all at the foot of the cross.

We have definitely covered what we worry about, where to put our worry, and why we worry. BUT, what is worry?

The Greek word for worry is merimnaó. It’s an old verb for worry and anxiety- to be divided, distracted. Worry in Greek literally means to be divided in this sense, (anxiety) dividing and fracturing a person’s being into parts. Sounds painful! Also, when does division ever create a good result? Sadly, it is also a tactic of the devil. He uses division to isolate us from God and those around us. So in other words, worry is thinking of every possible scenario which makes you cause division amongst your own thoughts, feelings, your own self.

Unless your faith is bigger than your worry, I cannot make you stand in faith because you’re divided between faith and worry.

To have faith, you have to SURRENDER. Even what you can control, SURRENDER it. Think. “Even if it goes BAD, I still have GOD.”

That is very hard to do. However, when you are consumed by God and not consumed by worry, it allows you to find the JOY in the bad.

Paul from the Bible mastered this concept. When he wrote this verse he was in a prison cell. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in ever situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”, Philippians 4:4-7.

He found the peace of God that transcends all understanding, while in a prison cell. You can too! You may not be in a prison cell, but let’s say you are waiting for a job opening you can still have the peace of God. Ask for discernment for God to open and close the doors he wants for your life and be content with his plan. Rejoice in the good and the bad. It’s all part of his plan. Nothing to fear, nothing to worry about, he knows what he’s doing(more than any of us do). There’s a reason Paul said “transcends all understanding”.

So go ahead and plan your tomorrow but don’t worry about it. GOD HAS IT. GOD HAS YOU. “But God used it for good”.

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives”, Genesis 50:20.