What worries you? I’m not asking what your biggest life fear is, although that is certain to cause you anxiety and worry. Rather, I’m asking what’s on your mind day to day that causes you to stress and worry? Are you worried about the condition of the world? Do you find yourself anxious of the size of your shrinking bank account? Maybe a stock-market crash is what keeps you up at night? What is it that is causing you worry. Take just a second, pause from reading this blog and really ponder on that. What did you worry about last week? How much of your life is spent worrying about things that you can’t really do much about? If you are anything like me, you’re probably too ashamed to admit how much worry and anxiety dominates your life. But Jesus offers us help and hope found in Matthew 6:25-34.
The word worry finds its origins in a Middle English word weryen which literally meant “to strangle.” Isn’t that a telling definition of our worry and anxiety? It strangles us. It causes our worlds to spin and our blood pressure to rise. Maybe that’s why Jesus begins this passage in Matthew by saying, “Look at the birds of the air…” It’s as if he’s saying, “Take a deep breath…and look around you for just a second.” When worry and anxiety knocks at our door, our Savior tells us to slow down. I’m sure the people he was talking to had seen birds a million times over. But seeing isn’t always the same thing as watching. They saw the birds, but Jesus invited them to look a little closer.
Have you ever seen a two story birds nest? Have you ever seen a bird paint their nest so that it better matched the green leaves of the tree it was built in? Have you ever seen a bird house that a kitchen? Birds don’t really have much, do they? They have no refrigerators, and yet God provides their every need. Consider the birds, Jesus says. Isn’t your life worth more than theirs? Who was it that was made in God’s very own image? The bird? Of course not! It was you. Aren’t you more precious to God than the birds?
Of course, this concept is built around Jesus’ words in verse 25. He says, “Is life not more than food and clothes?” Have you ever read an obituary that said “Walter P. Smith 1955-2015. He loved food. He loved clothes. The end”? Of course not! Why, because life is so much more than stuff that we worry about! It’s so much more than the things that we waste our life needlessly fretting over.
Why shouldn’t we worry? Jesus tells us in verse 32, “Your heavenly Father already knows what you need.” You don’t have to worry about what tomorrow holds, God already knows. He knows when your last day on this earth is and he knows the details of your life between now and then. But most importantly, if you have repented of your sins and trusted in Christ alone to be your savior, he knows you as His child. And God provides for and protects his children.
So don’t worry about tomorrow, Jesus says in verse 34, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. I love to read the thoughts of men and women who have gone before us, and with that in mind, I’ll close this blog with two thoughts from two very godly people.
“Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths.” Charles Spurgeon
“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength—carrying two days at once. It’s moving into tomorrow ahead of time…” Corrie Ten Boom
P.S. If you struggle with anxiety and worry, I would invite you to click here on this link, where you will find a list of Psalms that will help you face your anxiety and comfort you with God’s promises. Give your worries to the one who has already conquered them for you.