Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Introduction
Our stressed-out world
We live in a stressed-out world. Think of how many books and products and services exist for the purpose of helping people with stress. And yet, it seems the more effort they put into fighting against anxiety the more anxious they get. It is amazing when you think about it. We have to be the most indulged, lavished, comfortable society there has ever been. You would think we would be the epitome of tranquility. We can adjust our cars to the exact temperature that is most comfortable – to the degree. There are couches and Lazy Boys everywhere. We frequently feast on our favorite foods. Every convenience imaginable is at our fingertips. And yet, not only are we not a paradise of tranquility – we are very possibly the most anxiety-ridden, worried, anxious, stressed out, panicked culture ever. Even with all our comforts and luxuries and conveniences, in the United States alone we spend $50 billion a year on counseling and drugs to help us calm down.
I read this week that fifty percent of Americans have some kind of anxiety disorder. There is Obsessive Compulsive Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Panic attacks, post-traumatic stress; there are phobias for just about everything that exists. And if you are feeling left out there is what they call General Anxiety Disorder. No anxiety goes unnamed. No anxiety goes undefined. No anxiety goes uncataloged. No anxiety goes undiagnosed. And no anxiety goes unmedicated. They just go unrelieved.
After all the counseling and all the medications and all the therapy and all our luxuries and comforts we sit back in our plush, comfy furniture in our warm, comfortable castles and worry ourselves sick about how we are going to pay for it all. But Jesus has the solution to all of it in the closing section of Matthew 6.
Every Christian should know where this text is in their Bible. If you do not know your Bible very well - if you only know about eight or ten important chapters, make sure this is one of them. Or write in the back of your Bible – “When I’m afraid or worried, read Matthew 6:25-34.” It is an incredibly comforting passage when you are tempted with worry. And it is one of those passages that does not require a lot of study. It is comforting just reading it.
Worry is a destructive sin
But what makes this such an important passage is not just to make you feel better. It is important because worry is an incredibly destructive sin. It is a sin that not only dishonors God by portraying Him as untrustworthy, but it branches off into so many other sins. When you are worried about money it leads to all kinds of sins of coveting and greed and hoarding and stinginess and cutting ethical corners and flat-out stealing. When you are worried about what people think of you, you will be tempted to become self-absorbed, or dishonest in the way you present yourself. Anxiety about succeeding at some task can make you irritable or abrupt or easily angered. Anxiety about relationships can make you withdrawn and indifferent and uncaring about other people.
Anxiety is a killer. And I do not mean just physically. We know anxiety creates all kinds of other health problems in your body, but far worse than that it destroys your spiritual life. In Matthew 13 Jesus told a parable about the different kinds of human hearts that receive the gospel. One is like good soil, one is like rocky ground, one is like hard ground, and one is like thorny ground. And then He gave the interpretation for each kind of ground, and He interprets the thorny ground in verse 22.
Matthew 13:22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
That word translated worries is this same word. The worries of life do not just make your life a little more unpleasant. They choke out the work of the Word of God in your life and can cause you to wither and die. Worry is a tremendous spiritual problem and so Jesus commands three times in this section, Do not worry.
25 do not worry about your life
31 So do not worry
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow
An important issue
And you can tell how important this is to Jesus by how much He slows down His pace here. This section, from verses 25-34, stands out like a sore thumb in the Sermon on the Mount. Everything else in this Sermon is so brief and concise and even proverbial. For example, Jesus’ entire teaching on divorce and remarriage takes up all of two verses (Mt.5:31-32). Jesus moves very quickly from topic to topic. But then when He hits this subject of worry He slows way down and switches to a whole different style. He fills it out with illustrations and explanations. Jesus really wants us to get this.
Meaning of worry
The word translated worry is a broad term that covers all kinds of anxiety. It can refer to worrying about the future or to fretting about your situation right now in the present. In fact, it even includes the idea of distraction. It is the word Jesus used when He told Martha that she was worried and disturbed about so many things, but only one thing was needed (Lk.10:41). She was caught up with all the peripheral issues of getting the food ready, and was distracted from the one important thing.
There are some people who are not worried at all about the future, but their minds are plagued with distraction about earthly, temporal concerns. They are not afraid of anything or anxious about anything, but their lives are so invested in this world that they cannot pray or study God’s Word or think on things above for ten minutes without their minds running off into thinking about money or food or the car or the house or some health issue or work or sports or some other trivia that is nowhere near as important as the things it is distracting them from. So whether it is worry about the future or anxiety about the present or distraction because of earthly concerns – Jesus commands us three times: “Dump it. Get rid of anxiety.” But He does not just tell us to get rid of it; He tells us how.
Drive out sinful worry, not wise concern
He is going to give us several principles that will help us drive out worry. But before we drive it out of our lives let’s make sure we know what it is, because we would not want to drive out the wrong thing. There is a kind of anxiety that is good, and you need that good kind to keep you moving. If you get rid of that good kind of anxiety (or maybe a better word would be concern) then you are just left with apathy, which is bad.
Several times this same word “worry” is used in a positive context. That word appears twice in Philippians – once referring to the bad kind and once referring to the good kind.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything That is the bad kind..
Philippians 2:19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon …20 I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare.
That phrase takes a genuine interest is the good kind. 1 Corinthians 12:25 says that the people in the body of Christ should have concern for one another. In 1 Corinthians 7, a married person is concerned about pleasing his/her spouse. So the kind of anxiety that cares deeply about the wellbeing of others – that is the good kind of worry. It is good to be preoccupied with the concerns and needs and interests of others.
But what about yourself? Is it ever appropriate to spend time thinking about things that might go wrong in the future? Yes. It is wise to plan for future threats. Lazy people should learn from the ant about storing up now for future needs (Pr.6:6). Planning is good. That is why the book of Proverbs teaches us in several places how to go about making our plans succeed (e.g. Pr.15:22). As Christians we are stewards of our lives and so our duty is to live in the most excellent way possible. And that requires making plans.
Proverbs 21:5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.
So we do need to concern ourselves about the future. When you have a very important decision to make you do not want to take that decision lightly. So you wrestle and wrestle and struggle and pray and study and seek advice. Is that sinful worry? No, it is wise decision making.
Sinful worry is when you fret over things you cannot control
So how do you know when you have crossed the line from loving or wise concern into sinful worry? Simple – sinful worry is when your thoughts are consumed with something over which you have no control. So suppose they announce there is going to be some layoffs at your work, and you might lose your job. Should you give that some thought? Sure. You have to decide whether to apply for work elsewhere, and make plans for how you are going to proceed if you are laid off. But once you have done what you can do to prepare, then there is no reason to let it occupy your thoughts. If you find yourself getting emotionally worked up over things that are outside of your control – that is sinful worry.
Or to put it more simply, sinful worry is whenever you are carrying a load the Lord did not put on your shoulders. When you wake up in the morning should you concern yourself with getting to work on time? Yes, that is a load God has placed on your shoulders. Should a wife concern herself with whether the family will be able to pay the bills? No, that is a load God has placed on the husband’s shoulders, not hers. If I am driving my family somewhere should I take precautions to make sure they are safe? Yes, that is my responsibility. Should I worry about them when they are out driving and I am at home? No – that is out of my hands. Should I lose sleep over the national debt? No, God never placed responsibility for the national debt on my shoulders. Should I take the time to figure out how to pay off the balance on my credit card? Absolutely. If I am doing all I can do but I am still hopelessly in debt should I fret about that? No. God does not expect me to do any more than I can do. We could save a whole lot of money on tranquilizers and mood medications and therapy and all the rest if we just find all the burdens that are on our shoulders that God did not put there and throw them off. Nothing will drive you crazy faster than worrying about something you have no power to influence.
So I say all that by way of introduction, because if Jesus tells us to throw off worry we have to know what He is talking about so we do not end up throwing off the good kinds of “worry” which are loving concern and wise planning. So now that we know what sinful worry is, how do we throw it off? Obviously it is easier said than done, or there would not be billions of dollars in annual sales of tranquilizers, Valium, Prozac, Xanax, Paxil, Zoloft and all the rest. Jesus knows it is not just a matter of telling us to stop worrying and we just flip off the switch. So thankfully Jesus gives us several very powerful principles for overcoming anxiety. Today we will look at the first two
The greater gift implies the lesser
Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
The NIV says “more important” but the word “important” is not in the Greek. And the word translated life is the word soul. So literally it is, Is not the soul greater than food, and the body greater than clothes? You should not worry because the soul and body are greater than food and clothes. I am glad Jesus did not just leave it at that without giving any explanation because by itself, that reasoning is not clear. If you show that verse to a worrier he will say, “I know the soul and body are greater than food and clothes, but I still worry. I still need food and clothes, so if I face a situation where it looks like I might not have the things I need, of course I’m going to worry.” So how does the greatness of the human soul and body help us overcome worry?
It doesn’t unless you realize the fact that God gave you your soul and body, and the greater gift always implies the lesser gift. If He gave you your body and soul, of course He will supply you with what your body and soul need. What would be the point of giving us life if He were not going to also sustain our lives? If your dad spends $200 on a remote control car for your birthday, do you think he is going to begrudge you the batteries? You open it up and see that the controller takes a AA battery. Is your dad going to say, “Too bad. I guess you can’t ever use it, because I’m not about to spring for a battery”? That is ridiculous. If he did not want you to be able to play with it, why would he spend the $200 buying it in the first place?
A man buys his wife a $20,000 diamond ring and the next day she crying and weeping and is all upset and he says, “What’s wrong?” and she says, “The ring is too big. But to get it sized will cost $18, and I don’t know where I’m going to get $18.” What will he say? “You think I’m going to buy you a $20,000 ring and let it go to waste so I can save $18?” The greater gift implies the lesser gift. If someone gives you the greater gift of the ring they will not begrudge the smaller gift of the sizing. And if someone gives you the greater gift of the remote control car he will not begrudge you the smaller gift of a AA battery. And if someone gives you a soul and a body, do you think He is going to begrudge you the food and clothing that soul and body is going to need?
There is a reason why you are here. And that reason is way bigger than food and clothes. If your focus is on food and clothes then that means your focus is NOT on the much greater thing that your life is really all about.
God did not put you here just to eat and get dressed. Eating and getting dressed are necessary, but they are not the end goal. You do those things so that you can do the important things. So why focus on the less important things? Imagine the President of the United States appoints you as the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt. And he says, “I want you to go to Egypt and tell them this message, and I want you to persuade them to do this and this and this. You have a week to prepare before you go.” At the end of the week the President asks you about what your approach is going to be, and you say, “Oh, I haven’t had a chance to think about that yet.”
“What do you mean you haven’t had a chance to think about it? What have you been doing all week?”
“Oh, my thoughts have been consumed with how I’m going to get to Egypt. You know how travel can be this time of year, and I went on Priceline.com to name my own price, but I’m not finding any good deals. I did find one deal but it was an aisle and I really like the window seats. And what if I never even make it to Egypt? There could be a hijacking, or some kind of mechanical problem with the plane. The forecast is calling for a lot fog, so who knows – the pilot could get turned around and I could end up in Iraq.”
What is he going to say to you?
“Stop worrying about the flight. I will get you to Egypt. You don’t have to concern yourself with that. I want you focused on the job I assigned to you. You are looking at this whole thing as though it were all about the flight. The flight is a very small part. That’s just to get you there. It is not the point of the mission. You focus on the mission and let me worry about the flight.”
And that is what Jesus is saying here: “You worry about the mission and let Me worry about the rest. Do not live as though physical needs are the focus of your mission.”
Now, there are some things that are your responsibility. On the day of the flight you need to get yourself out of bed and get dressed and get packed and show up on time for departure and all that. The President is not going to do any of that for you. So you give as much attention as those things require, but no more. So principle #1 – do not worry about provisions in this life because that is trivia (compared to what your life is all about). Principle #2 has to do with the birds.
God cares for smaller things than you
Matthew 6:26 Look (and that word look means “pay attention and learn”) at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Jesus is going to walk us through a very simple logical deduction here. He will give us premise #1, then premise #2, then a conclusion. And premise 1 is that God feeds the birds.
God feeds the birds
Birds do not farm
Now, how does that help the worrier? Is Jesus implying that we should not work – just sit around and wait for God to provide for us? No. Birds don’t sit around. They spend most of their existence flying all over the place looking for food. Birds are workaholics. Jesus’ point is not that they do not work – it is that they do not farm. Notice what He says:
Matthew 6:25 …They don’t sow or reap or store away in barns.
Birds cannot farm. They make terrible farmers because whenever they see a seed, they eat it. They would never make it as farmers. The point is, birds have absolutely no ability to provide their own food or to stockpile for the future. They are one hundred percent dependent on what God sets out for them each day. And yet, billions of birds survive every day.
God feeds them by the billions
Do you know how many birds God has to feed before the sun goes down tonight? Between two and four hundred billion. And since they are in almost constant motion during their waking hours they eat about their own body weight in food every day. So if the average bird weighed eight ounces, that would be 100 million tons of food per day.
And the people Jesus was talking to were very aware of the large number of birds in this world, because people who live in Israel probably see more birds flying around than any other people in the world. All the birds that migrate south from Europe pass through Israel. To the east is a desert and to the west is the Mediterranean Sea, so they all come down through Israel – 700 million of them during migration. In fact I read this week that since the mid 70’s more Israeli fighter jets have been destroyed by birds than by all Arab forces combined. And a lot of them are large birds – six hundred thousand storks fly though during migration. And thousands of buzzards, eagles, and pelicans. And every day God feeds them all.
How would you like to be in charge of feeding the birds every day? Never mind all the other 1.2 million species of animals. Just the birds. One hundred million tons of food distributed all around the world, lying around where the birds can find it – and then tomorrow another 100 million tons. I don’t know about you, but if I were on a committee in charge of feeding all the birds I think I would come to the conclusion that we do not really need hundreds of billions birds. But, fortunately for the birds, I am not on that committee.
It is God, not nature
Who is? Who feeds the birds? God does. And if that strikes you as being a little on the elementary side, you are right. The fact that God feeds the birds should have been obvious to most human beings who have ever lived, but our culture is actually confused on that point. We live in a culture that believes everything is explained by science, so there is no need to assume God is behind anything. I hope you have not fallen for that, because science explains nothing. All science can do is observe what God does, measure it, and make up scientific-sounding names for it. People think that because scientists invented the word “instinct,” they have explained it. But scientists have no idea what instinct is or how it works. They do not know where everything came from, they do not know what powers gravity, they cannot explain instinct, or anything about the soul or the afterlife or the purpose of anything. And yet our culture believes they have everything figured out, so there is no need for God.
And that worldview affects many people in the church. Many, many Christians are actually borderline deists. A deist is someone who believes God created this world, wound it up like a clock, then went on vacation somewhere and just lets the creation run itself. And He is not involved except when He occasionally “intervenes” with a miracle. Whenever someone speaks of God intervening in nature you know you are talking to someone who does not think of God as the one who directly controls nature.
But the Bible is very clear – God did not just wind this world up like a clock; He is behind every single thing that happens in nature.
Psalm 104:10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle
Grass does not grow by itself – every blade of grass that ever sprouted and grew did so by God’s direct action. That psalm goes on and on, talking about how God waters the trees, plants the trees, creates caves, controls the movements of the sun and moon and earth – every detail in the Universe from the biggest to smallest is controlled directly every day by God. And if you have fallen for the idea that the laws of physics power themselves, the wind blows itself, the sun creates its own energy, gravity functions without any power source behind it – it is important that you shake off those childish and ridiculous ideas because as long as you think that way passages like this will have no meaning to you. If God feeds hundreds of billions of birds every day that has huge implications for you and your finances and your whole life. But if it is all just a big evolutionary accident that runs itself for no other reason than random accidents and is all powered by absolutely nothing, then none of it has any meaning at all for you.
This is why worldview is so important. If you do not have a Christian worldview – a biblical outlook – and you interpret all the mundane events taking place around you in a naturalistic way; then it will short circuit all kinds of important things in your Christian life.
YOUR Father feeds them
So, I will ask again – who feeds the birds? God? Actually, that is not what Jesus says. He does not say, “God feeds them.” Nor does He say, “Their Creator feeds them.” What does He say? Your Father feeds them. Not their Father – yours. They do not have a father. They have a Creator, but not a father. The birds cannot do what you can do. They cannot cry out to a Father in heaven who loves them as His own dear children. They do not have a father; the only way they can be fed each day is if your Father sees fit to go ahead and feed them. And He does. Every day. One hundred million tons. That is premise #1.
You are more important than birds
Birds are comparatively worthless
For premise #2 we have to ask ourselves why Jesus uses birds rather than some other animal. He uses birds because birds are expendable. There are so many birds that each individual one is of almost no importance.
Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
The reason Jesus uses birds in His illustration is because birds are almost worthless. They were two for a penny back then. That is like our expression “a dime a dozen.” Each individual bird is essentially worthless, and yet God fills the little stomach every single day.
Matthew 26:26 …Are you not much more valuable than they?
That is premise #2. Premise #1 – God feeds the birds. Premise #2 – You are more valuable to God than the birds. I like the way He puts it in chapter 10.
Matthew 10:31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
I think Jesus means that to be funny. It is a humorous understatement. All you have to be worth for God to take care of you is a half a penny. And Jesus says, “So don’t worry – you’re easily worth several pennies, at least.” It is a huge understatement to make His point emphatic – you are worth so much more than the birds.
Humans are more important than animals
And again, to appreciate this you have to have a Christian worldview. Ingrid Newkirk is the president of PETA, and she is famous for her statement: “A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.” The evolutionists cannot see any difference between human beings and animals. In fact, they really believe that humans are less important than animals. That is why they put you in jail for destroying an unborn eagle but it is perfectly legal to kill an unborn human.
But the biblical worldview is that humans are far more important than animals. In Genesis 1:28 we are told to have dominion over the animals and the rest of the environment. That word “dominion” refers to defeating an enemy or taking someone as a slave. In one place it is even used to describe a rape – it is a very strong term. We are to conquer it and take control of it and subdue it. This is one of the many reasons I cannot accept the old earth theory. The entire creation account is the story of God starting with an uninhabitable world and preparing it for the crown of His creation – man.
Psalm 8:5 You made [man] a little lower than the angels … you made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
You are precious to God
People are important to God. You are exceedingly precious to God. “But I sin against Him and stumble and fail time after time.” So do my kids, but they are precious to me beyond what I can express with words. And God’s love is far infinitely greater than mine.
Paid a high price
If you think God is going to fail to take care of you just think for a moment about how much it cost Him to redeem you. And you can tell how much a person values something by how much he is willing to pay for it, right? If I am willing to give you $20 for your old radio, you know for sure that the radio is worth at least $20 to me. How much are you worth to God? What price did He pay? Did God pay the exorbitant price of the life of His own Son on the cross to purchase you only to let you dry up and blow away?
If you buy an old, junker car for $50, and a shopping cart rolls into it, you do not really care. But if you cash in your retirement savings and buy a $200,000 car you will park a half mile away and walk before you would leave it where it might get scratched. You take care of the things that cost a lot. Do you think God would say, “I decided before the creation of the world to save you, I chose you, I have a plan for your life, I’m calling you to an important task in My kingdom, so if you can just manage to keep yourself alive for a while this will all work out great”? Does God make plans for you and call you and then say, “Oops – I forgot to supply his needs”? God is not like a little kid who forgets to feed his fish and it dies.
Q.E.D. You have nothing to worry about
Body and soul are greater in that they are valuable to God
Premise #1 – God feeds the birds
Premise #2 – You’re worth far more to God than the birds
Conclusion – Jesus does not even give us the conclusion. It is so obvious He just lets you draw it yourself. If God supplies 100 million tons of food every single day and distributes it in a way that those little bird-brains can find it, and He does all that for creatures that are almost completely meaningless and worthless, what do you, His precious children, have to worry about? Nothing!
What about suffering? Look to God’s promises
Now you might hear all of this and think, “That all sounds wonderful, but the reality is – God does allow suffering. It may be God’s plan for me to suffer a horrible hardship tomorrow.” That is true. You cannot trust God to eliminate suffering from your life because you can only trust God to do what He has promised to do, and He never promised to eliminate suffering from your life. So all those things you are so afraid of – they may very well happen.
However, we should not worry about those things because of what God does promise. What is that? What does God promise that is so wonderful that I do not need to worry even though painful things might be in store? Jesus answers that later in the passage. And we do not have time to get into that now, so we will save that for next time. For now we do not really even need to know. All we really need to know is that when you wake up tomorrow God will be God. Wherever you go, whatever happens, you will have a kind and generous and powerful heavenly Father right there with you. Whatever happens, it will happen because it came from the hand of the One who feeds 400 billion worthless birds every day.
What are you worried about?
So what are you worried about? Are you worried about money?
Philippians 4:19 my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Are you worried about what people think of you? Are you worried they think you are a moron or a dork or a fool or unspiritual or whatever?
Psalm 37:6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
Are you worried about your health?
Isaiah 40:31 those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Are you worried about the national debt, or our godless government, or the nuclear threat of Iran and North Korea?
Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.
Are you worried about your kids?
Psalm 37:25 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. 26 They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.
Are you worried about your looks? Wrinkles, hair thinning (or long gone), your body shape – not likely to be on any magazine covers.
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all behold as in a mirror the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Are you worried about your retirement?
Isaiah 46:4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters
Are you worried about not being able to get all your work done?
Matthew 11:30 my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
He will not require anything of you that you cannot do.
Are you worried about someone breaking into your house and hurting you?
Psalm 118:6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Are you worried that you will not have enough strength to handle the hardship that is coming?
Are you fragile – bruised and delicate and easily crushed?
Isaiah 42:3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. … 5 This is what God the Lord says-- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: 6 "I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand.
Isaiah 59:1 Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save
Are you worried about wicked, ungodly people having success in their evil deeds?
Psalm 2:4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs
Isaiah 46:10 My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. 11 … What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
Are you worried that you will be unhappy? Because of your marital situation or your health or for whatever reason you just will not have access to what you need in order to be happy? Can He who made your soul not satisfy it?
Psalm 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence
Psalm 43:4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, the joy of my rejoicing.
Psalm 63:5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods
Are you worried about the unknown? Just afraid of the future in general because you do not know what is in store?
Isaiah 46:4 I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
What are you worried about? Whatever it is, stop looking at that thing and look to Him and remember who He is.
Isaiah 44:24 "This is what the Lord says-- your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, 25 … who overthrows the learning of the wise … 26 who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers
Isaiah 51:12 "I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, 13 that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth?
Benediction: Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." 6 So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"
