Let Go of Your Worries

• MOSCOW (Reuters) -The United States has told its citizens to leave Russia immediately due to the war in Ukraine and the risk of arbitrary arrest or harassment by Russian law enforcement agencies.¹
• ANTAKYA, Turkey — The death toll from the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria passed 35,000 Monday as only a handful of survivors were pulled from the rubble more than a week after the disasters that devastated swaths of both countries.²
• The U.S. military shot down another unidentified flying object over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday – the third in three days and the fourth overall after also taking down a Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4.³

Without question, there are so many challenging needs for which we must feel concern and heartache. So, we interceded in prayer for our needs, expecting our God, who works for the good, to provide compassion and care! But ours is not to worry! How much time do you spend worrying? It is probably more than you think. Worry can contribute to trouble sleeping, feeling under pressure, and finding it hard to concentrate. For most people, it is not just one thing. It is many things wrapped up together. It is job, school, money, work, health, bills to pay, husband, wife, ex-husband, ex-wife, in-laws, out-laws, kids, etc. Any one thing we might handle or even two things, but multiple things, impossible!

To worry is to “give way to anxiety or unease; allow one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles.” The word itself comes from the Old English wyrgan, which means “to strangle or to seize by the throat.” What a beautiful image. You can feel the pressure squeezing us. Worry is excessive concern over the affairs of life…so concerned about the problems of life that you cannot think of anything else. A consuming feeling of uncertainty and fear. But the root reason for why worrying is so dangerous is that worry displaces God in your life, and it is a sin.

There are two reasons why worry is a sin. First, because it displaces God in your life. When you commit the sin of worry, you are living as though God did not exist. And you are living as though you alone can solve your problems. Second, it distracts you from the things that really matter in life. If you are worrying, you’re not doing anything else. You are strangled by worry. How can we tell when the legitimate concerns of life have become sinful worries? Here are three practical guidelines. (1) When the thing you are concerned about is the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you think about at night, (2) when you find yourself thinking about it during every spare moment, and (3) when you find yourself bringing it up in every conversation.

Peter gives us God’s answer to our worries, stated in one verse tucked away near the end of Peter’s first letter: “Casting all your cares on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). It is beautifully presented in various translations as, “Casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you” (KJV), “Throw all your anxieties upon him, because he cares about you” (CJB), “…throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern” (Phillips), “Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you” (MSG), and “Since God cares for you, let him carry all your burdens and worries” (Voice). No matter the version, God makes the same invitation to us all. “Take your worries…cares…burdens…anxieties…and give them to me.” So, intentionally respond to God’s gracious invitation.

God cares for you. He proved it by sending his own Son to die for you. The issue was settled for all time at the cross. Any God who would sacrifice his own Son for someone like you or me must care for us. There is no other reason God would do such a thing. When we come to God, we do not have to convince him to hear us. We come as his children, and He gladly hears us. We do not do anything to make God care for us. We start from the assurance, rooted in history, that God cares for us. And, on that basis, we let our worries go.

He loves us.
He made us.
He came for us.
He died for us.
He rose for us.
He will come again for us.

In His Service,

James

¹ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/united-states-tells-citizens-depart-russia-immediately-2023-02-13/

² https://news.yahoo.com/turkey-syria-earthquakes-death-toll-135655272.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

³ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/13/biden-united-states-china-relations-live-updates/11236958002/