Winning The Worry War
“Give your entire attention to what God is
doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen
tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the
time comes.” Matthew 6:34 (Message)
Near the end of his life, Mark Twain said, "I am an old man and have known a great
many troubles, but most of them never happened." The pressures of life, and the worries
those pressures bring, have had a devastating effect on every one of us.
Billions upon billions of dollars are tied up every year in the losses incurred
and the cost of treatment for those driven to mental illness brought on by the
anxiety and worry which so characterizes our society. Thousands go into
eternity every year because they, quite literally, "worried themselves into an early grave." Worry is a huge
problem.
A group of Boy Scouts from a large urban
area went camping to a rural countryside area. It was their first trip away
from the concrete jungle.
They camped near a pond and the mosquitoes were out in full force. They
retreated to their tents and stuck their heads in the sleeping bags they had
brought along. One of the young men was brave enough to stick his head out of
the tent. Now, not knowing the difference between a mosquito and a lightning
bug, he shouted out "Fellas, we
might as well surrender because they are coming at us with EverReady
flashlights." Worries feel that
way, don’t they? Often we surrender our
priorities in life because we attempt to solve problems with only our limited
resources.
A book came out some years ago on Winning Over Worry. It quoted some
statistics that are probably just as valid today as when they were published in
the mid-sixties. The book
pointed out that:
1) More
people die in America as a result of suicide (the consummation of stress,
duress, anxiety and worry), than those who die from the five most common contagious
diseases combined.
2) Twice
as many people die by suicide as die by homicide.
3) Fifty
percent more people die because of ulcers than die because of murder.
Another book by a
noted physician titled Stop Worrying and Get Well, called
attention to the fact that worry causes heart trouble, high blood pressure,
some forms of asthma, rheumatism, ulcers, cold, thyroid malfunction, arthritis,
migraine headaches, blindness, and a host of stomach disorders. Doctors today
are quite candid in admitting that more than half of the patients in hospitals
are there because of the accumulated effects of mental problems through worry, as
much as anything else.
Erma Bombeck once
told about a little guy named Donald. Donald was worrying about going to
school. Here is how he expressed his anxieties: “My name is Donald. I don’t know anything. I have new underwear, a
loose tooth, and I didn’t sleep last night because I’m worried. What if a bell
rings and a man yells, ‘Where do you belong,’ and I don’t know? What if the
trays in the cafeteria are too tall for me to reach? What if my loose tooth
comes out when we have our heads down and are supposed to be quiet? Am I
supposed to bleed quietly? What if I splash water on my name-tag and my name
disappears and no one knows who I am?” It is for people like Donald that
Jesus once spoke these words:
In Matthew 6 it says,
“Your heavenly Father knows what you
need. What are you going to worry
about? He will take care of you.” Eugene Peterson in the Message Translation
says, “Give your entire attention to what
God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not
happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when
the time comes.” (Matthew 6:34) When
you worry, you’re saying, “I really don’t believe that God’s going to do what
He says He’s going to do when He said, 'I’ll be with you and I’ll take care of
you.'” It couldn’t be further from the truth. You can turn to Him for help.
We worry about big things and little things.
Our worries vary. We worry about the
future. We worry about the past. We worry about our finances. We worry about our family. But if winning the
worry war is important to us, (and for our own sake and everyone else's, too,
it ought to be), the message of Jesus is that we can win…and that He will fight
it for you. “Worry about nothing and pray about everything,” Paul wrote
(Philippians 4:6) There’s no better place to start than that.
Terry Risser
Reflections
1) What is your greatest area of worry?
2) How can you respond today to get a handle on
worry?
Consider reading the Word today?
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
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