WHY WORRY?
Almost every second of everyday of our lives we are surrounded by the uncertainties, and problems this active world throws at us. And because of this we can feel a little overwhelmed at times.
We are so filled with daily activities like job responsibilities, meetings, serving in the church, running errands, and taking care of our kids and families that at the end of the day we realize we haven’t taken time to stop and eat anything and we usually still have so much more to do.
Let me put another burr under your saddle. Throw in health problems, financial strain, mental distress, and everyday struggles with sin.
Can anybody here relate to that? Are you going through some of these things in your life? Do you constantly worry about money, your job, and your kids or your health?
By a show of hands, who here tonight has something in their life they are worried about.
I’m not the Word, I just deliver it. That same mail man who delivers mail to your house, has mail waiting on him when he gets home and I need to hear this too so I’m gonna go on.
I know some of you folks are thinking to yourselves, and wondering is it really possible to live a life without worries.
I mean if I could wake up in the morning despite my full schedule and still have some sort of peace of mind at the end of the day, would that really be possible?
Can I suffer from actual physical pain and sickness, can the doctor tell me that they can’t do anything else for me and I still have peace inside of me, is that possible?
Can I lose my job, Baldwin EMC give me a notice to disconnect my lights, and the bank threaten to repossess my car, with all that is it possible not to worry?
I want to say yes, even if all this is going on in your life it is possible to live that life that worry free.
This isn’t my theory or my personal opinion, but the Word of God tells us several times that a life with out worry is possible.
Right now I want you to do something. You’ve been handed a piece of paper.
I want you to write down on that piece of paper your #1 worry or problem that you are currently facing. This would be something you think about everyday. (Do not give details/names/incidences that anyone could recognize as your problem.) Then fold it in two and hold on to it for now.
Look what Paul tells us
Philippians 4:6
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
That word “anxious” means worry. So Paul is simply saying, “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything and if we would just do this we can experience God’s peace.
1 Peter 5:6-8
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
In other words give all our worries and cares to God, because He cares about what happens to us.
You may be thinking, how do you know that God cares for me. If you only knew half the things I’ve done in my life.
Luke 12:6-7
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
There are a lot more scriptures that show us living a life without worry is possible, but instead of going there I want to say that it is up to us to choose what direction we want to go and whether we want to worry or not.
Every trail has two directions. We can ride down that trail toward anxiety or worry or we can mount up and take out on the trail toward Faith.
The thing about riding down that faith trail is we don’t have to go very far to get results.
Luke 17:6
6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ’Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
Have you ever seen a mustard seed? I have and it’s not much.
Now I’m not gonna start chasing rabbits about whether or not we could actually move a tree, that is not the point. The point here is that if we would just put a little trust in Jesus, amazing things could happen in our lives today, right now, as we speak.
I will say that I’m not gonna place any restrictions on God and if such a small amount of faith could uproot a tree just think what it could do to whatever you have in your life right now that’s got you so occupied and worrying.
For me, I’m gonna ride the trail toward Faith. This is the trail that will lead me closer to Jesus.
While I’m on this trail I’m gonna need food. I’m gonna have to stop and eat once in a while. If not I’ll get weak and stumble or worse yet maybe even fall off my horse. But, what do I eat? What should I carry in my saddle bags.
Well I came across an old recipe that I want to share with ya tonight. This should fill us up and keep us headed down that trail to Faith.
When we talk about a recipe we have to have ingredients.
Ingredients are individual items that are mixed together and that mixture comes together to make a meal. If you know anything about cooking, if you’re missing an ingredient, then your meal might not be what you wanted.
You can’t cook a pot of beans without the beans.
Of course you can cook some things if you’re missing an ingredient or two, but for the best meal you need every ingredient.
Our meal tonight isn’t a pot of beans or a meatloaf, so talking about beans, ground beef, and gravy won’t help. We want to make a life without worries.
The first ingredient for this life without worries is awareness.
Psalm 34:8
8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
If we want to experience a life without worry we must first become aware of and comprehend that God is good.
If we really understood that God is good we would realize that we really don’t have anything at all to worry about. The goodness of God is able to wipe out all our anxiety.
The only way we will ever know that God is good is by trying him. There are some things in this life that can only be understood by being experienced. You can tell me that something is good for me all day long, but until I try it for myself I won’t understand.
Once we try God we can’t help but come to the conclusion that He is good. When I understand that every good and perfect gift comes from above, why do I need to worry? When I understand that all things work together for the good of them who love God, then why worry?
The reason why so many people worry is because they’re missing this first ingredient and haven’t made a complete meal out there on the trail.
It’s really not very hard to see that God is good. When I open my eyes, I see His goodness. When I smell, I smell His goodness. When I touch, I feel his goodness. When I cup my hand around my ear, I hear His goodness. And when my wife does her thing in the kitchen, I taste His goodness.
God is good, and when we start counting our blessings instead of magnifying our problems, then we will begin to see that a life without worry is real.
The next ingredient for our life without worries is trust. We have to trust in God.
Look at the second part of verse 8
Psalm 34:8
8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Trust in God means that we firmly depend on His abilities and His character. We have to have faith that God will keep His word. To trust in God means that we can know He will do whatever is in our best interest regardless of what we think is in our best interest.
You weren’t worried this morning that your shower wouldn’t work or your car wouldn’t start. I don’t think anybody looked back or inspected the chairs before sitting down.
Why, because you trusted that those things were gonna work for ya.
So why is it so hard for us to trust God. We are all trying to beat the devil out of a stump worrying about those bills at the end of the month.
We are afraid to go to the doctor because we’re scared that if it is something serious, God can’t fix it. We give up on our Husbands and wives, because we feel as though God can’t change them.
What a joyful life we can live if we completely put our trust in God, and a life without worries is possible when we trust Him.
Another ingredient for our meal tonight is fear.
Psalm 34:9
9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
This doesn’t mean that we should be frightened by God, but “fear” used here means reverence, honor, and respect.
When we take into consideration who God is and what he represents, then we should have nothing but the utmost respect for Him. We should be careful of what comes out of our mouth and our actions because we have a God who knows and sees everything. Yes I said it. All that stuff we did last week, He saw that.
Respect is something that is becoming rare in the world we live in, but when we fear God in our living, we can hold on to the promise that we’ll never want, because we will have everything we need.
If I have everything I need, what is there to worry about? If I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is coming from, should I even think twice about it?
If we ride down that trail according to His laws, have respect for His will, have a fear that we might offend Him, and truly want to serve Him, then the Bible says we shall not want.
God may not give us everything we want, but He will give us what we need. We’ll probably have many things we want that we don’t get, but our real needs the Lord will supply.
If He supplies everything we need then we can live a life without worry knowing that God will take care of us.
I’m getting ready to go home, sit down and be happy all by myself, but the last ingredient for our meal I want to talk about tonight is seeking the Lord.
Psalm 34:10
10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
If we head down that trail of Faith and follow after the Lord, and seek to know Him more and more, then we will never lack any good thing. If I don’t lack any good thing, then there is no reason why I can’t live a life without worry.
We should seek the Lord everyday of our lives. We should seek Him through prayer, and we should seek Him through studying and being obedient to His Word. We shouldn’t be without any good thing when we seek Him.
Now I know ya’ll. And I know that somebody is making a list in their head and thinking to themselves that they have several good things they feel they’re in need of.
But those who call upon God in their time of need will be answered. God knows what we need, and our deepest needs are spiritual. To have God
is to have all we really need. God is enough, and if God is enough, worry shouldn’t be a part of our lives.
What cares and worries are weighing you down tonight?
Remember that little piece of paper you wrote on. Take it out and place it in the hat that’s coming around. When the hat comes around again, take a piece of paper that’s not yours out of the hat. We re going to take someone else’s worry tonight and place it upon ourselves. We are going to go to God in prayer and ask Him in Faith, to take that worry and give that person peace and guidance.
I know we’re all growing, and we may not have all the same ingredients that someone else has, but if you have just one, it should be enough for a life without worries.
If I just taste and see that the Lord is good, that He is kind, that He is great, that He is merciful, that He is faithful, that He is wonderful, that He is sovereign, that He is mighty, that He is holy, that He is forgiving, that He is patient, that He is love, that He just is, then what do I really have to worry about.
Tonight I’m gonna tell ya that Jesus is the only one to ride the river with.
Every Head Bowed and Every Eye Closed
