Why Worry?

I was walking with my mom today, and the subject of worry came up. My mom reminded me of the verse from Matthew 6:27, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" And how about 6:34, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." God has a plan for each and ever one of our lives. Wow, I kinda feel like a cheesy Sunday School teacher when I say that, but it's so true.

At times it may seem like worrying is the only option....what about prayer. Philippians 4:6 tells us not to worry. "Do not be ANXIOUS about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Here we go, not only are we not to worry, we are supposed to present our request with THANKSGIVING, or "rejoicingly." This relates back to a previous post, about how we are supposed to rejoice even in the hard times.

And lets take a look at 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptaiton has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." Replace the word tempt here with any word really: worry, work, etc. God is not going to give us more than we can endure. He knows our limits and our boundaries. In fact, the Message version of 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it." So that pretty much puts it in contemporary language...haha, the point of the Message I think. :) Yep, that's what it says on the side of the Bible. So, no matter what hardships we face, God will be there in the end to help us work them out, and not only that, he will be there during the hardship, and before it, and after it. Doesn't get much better than that.

The last couple lines in Message version of the Lord's Prayer found in Matthew 5 say, "You're in charge!" You can do anything you want!" We have to pray that everyday. Let God direct our paths, and realize that his plan is bigger and broader than we can see. The beginning of the serenity prayer goes like this, "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." So, although it is hard to let go sometime and stop worrying, we've got to submit to God and his will. We have to "[let] God know [our] concerns" as the Message puts it in Philippians 4:6. He won't give us more than we can bare. He is our God, he is a powerful God, and I love him.