Worry has nothing to do with today... it has to do with tomorrow.
What if tomorrow never comes? Will that have an effect on you today? Are you spending ALL OF TODAY, preparing for tomorrow? If you are using up all the time you have today, preparing for tomorrow, then aren’t you left with nothing for today? Am I truly enjoying TODAY???
Someone said, "Why worry about tomorrow? Tomorrow will never come!"
To a certain extent, this is true. Today is today, but when I wake up tomorrow, it will be today - so I will not get to have a day called tomorrow.
Studies have shown that about 40% of the things we worry about never happen; and 30% have already happened. 12% are needless health worries, 10% about petty things, and that leaves only 8% that are real concerns. Think about that! We worry 92 percent of the time for no good reason at all.
In order words, worry is a result of imaginary fears most of the time.
EXPECTING THIEF FOR 30 YEARS
A husband was awakened by his wife’s ongoing concern that she heard a burglar downstairs. One night as usual he slowly got up, went grumpily downstairs and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. The burglar ordered him to hand over all the household valuables and then started to leave.
"Please Sir," the husband blurted out," before you go I’d like you to come upstairs and meet my wife, she’s been expecting you every night for the last thirty years."
Jesus understands our problem, that’s why in this short passage He repeated, "Do not worry." 3 times. He says in 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Take care of today and live it well. 6:27 "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"
In order words, it’s pointless! You’re NOT IN CONTROL of anything that will come tomorrow. Only God is.
(1) CHANGE YOUR OUTLOOK
If worry is caused by either looking backward - at what WAS in the past, or forward to what MIGHT BE in the future, then we need to STOP the worry cycle by looking UPWARD - toward God.
Jesus: Don’t worry about things that are not under your control.
THE PROFESSIONAL WORRIER
Jim and Joe were talking and Jim said, ¡§My finances are in terrible shape, and I¡¦m concerned about my job security.¡¨
Joe responded, ¡§Well, I DID lose my job and my house is now in foreclosure. But I¡¦m not really worried.¡¨
Jim asked, ¡§That¡¦s terrible. So why aren¡¦t you worried?¡¨
¡§Well,¡¨ said Joe, ¡§I¡¦ve hired a Professional Worrier. He does all my worrying for me, so that way I don¡¦t have to even think about my problems.¡¨
¡§That¡¦s fantastic!¡¨ said Jim. ¡§How much does your Professional Worrier charge for his services?¡¨
¡§$50,000 a year,¡¨ said Joe.
¡§$50,000 a year? Where are you going to get that kind of money?¡¨
¡§I don¡¦t really know,¡¨ says Joe. ¡§That¡¦s his worry.¡¨
When we worry, we are assuming responsibilities we cannot handle - they are not meant for us. God never intended us to handle them, because they are His.
Do you know what you and I need to do? We need to let God be our Professional Worrier. If you think I¡¦m exaggerating, look what 1 Peter 5:7 says: ¡§Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.¡¨ If that¡¦s not an invitation to let God be your Professional Worrier, I don¡¦t know what is!
God says, ¡§I can handle your problems, but you¡¦ll have to let go of them and give them to Me.¡¨ Change your outlook. Don¡¦t look back. Don¡¦t look forward. Look UPward and give your worries to God.
The Lord says, leave it to Him. That’s why Prov 3:5-6, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
To worry is to exclude God. It’s like working things out using your own best judgment. Chase down every possibility. When you hit a dead-end street, back out and then turn down another one. When that gets you nowhere, try a little manipulation, then some panic. Now you look back and see where you’ve been. You’ve not been to anywhere.
Someone said, ¡§Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but doesn¡¦t get you anywhere.¡¨
It uses up all your energy, but where does it get you?
Leo Buscaglia: "Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy."
Once you¡¦ve changed your Outlook, the next thing to do is
(2) CHANGE YOUR INPUT
What do you feed your mind?
In verse 34, Jesus says, ¡§So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today¡¦s trouble is enough for today.¡¨ If worries are brought on by input from past memories or imagined input by worrying about the future, then don¡¦t go there! Don¡¦t receive any input for your brain to chew on other than what¡¦s going on NOW in your life.
Lloyd Ogilvie has a great way of encapsulating what this means: Live in day-tight compartments.
There¡¦s an old Kris Kristofferson song that has a lyric in it I¡¦ve always thought would be a fitting prayer to God: Oh God, ¡§Yesterday is dead and gone / And tomorrow¡¦s out of sight / And it¡¦s sad to be alone / Help me make it through the night.¡¨
God doesn¡¦t want us to feel sad or alone. God wants us to help us make it through our nights and through our days. God says in His Word, ¡§I will never leave you or forsake you¡¨ (Hebrews 13:5).
Change Your Input! Don¡¦t dwell on the past, it¡¦s dead and gone. Don¡¦t fret about the future, it¡¦s out of sight. Jesus said, ¡§Tomorrow will bring worries of its own.¡¨ Alice Caldwell Rice once said, ¡§It ain¡¦t no use putting up your umbrella till it rains.¡¨ Think about TODAY! Celebrate what you have! Enjoy the NOW!
I will close with a few lines from an anonymous poet who put to pen what the Lord might say to those of us who have a divided mind, who dwell on the past or fret about the future.
My name is I AM.
If you live in the past,
It will be very hard,
For I am not there.
My name is not I WAS.
And if you live in the future,
It will be very hard,
For my name is not I WILL BE.
But if you live in the present,
It is not hard,
For my name is I AM.
One of the things Jesus highlighted in this passage is this - God will provide... not just that, but that HIS HELP IS TIMELY.
Heb 4:16 "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
In our time of need, we’ll find His mercy and grace. God’s help is timely.
TIMELY HELP
The same way a father gives plane tickets to his family. When I travel with my kids, I carry all our tickets in my satchel. When the moment comes to board the plane, I stand between the attendant and the child. As each daughter passes, I place a ticket in her hand. She, in turn, gives the ticket to the attendant. Each one receives the ticket in the nick of time.
What I do for my daughters God does for you. He places himself between you and the need. And at the right time, he gives you the ticket.
Wasn’t this the promise he gave his disciples? Mark 13:11
"Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit."
Isn’t this the message God gave the children of Israel? He promised to supply them with manna each day, but he told them to collect only one day’s supply at a time. Those who disobeyed and collected enough for two days found themselves with rotten manna. (Eve of Sabbath they can gather twice as much.) God would give them what they needed, in their time of need.
Uncomfortable? That’s faith in God. God will do the right thing at the right time.
Since I know his provision is timely, I can enjoy the present.
Matt 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
ƒð "I don’t know what I’ll do if my father dies." You will, when the time comes.
ƒð "When my children leave the house, I don’t think I can take it." It won’t be easy, but strength will arrive when the time comes.
ƒð "I can never pass this test, it’s too difficult." Could it be that God will reveal answers to you when the time come?
The key is this: Meet today’s problems with today’s strength. Don’t start tackling tomorrow’s problems until tomorrow. You do not have tomorrow’s strength yet. You simply have enough for today. So just do what you can today!
WATERTIGHT COMPARTMENTS
More than 80 years ago a great Canadian man of medicine, Sir William Osler, delivered a speech to the students of Yale University entitled "A Way of Life." In the message he related an event that occurred while he was aboard an ocean liner.
One day while he was visiting with the ship’s captain, a loud, piercing alarm sounded, followed by strange grinding and crashing sounds below the deck. "Those are our watertight compartments closing," the captain explained. "It’s an important part of our safety drill. In case of real trouble, water leaking into one compartment would not affect the rest of the ship. Even if we should collide with an iceberg, as did the Titanic, water rushing in will fill only that particular ruptured compartment. The ship, however, will still remain afloat."
When he spoke to the students at Yale, Osler remembered the captain’s description of the boat:
Each one of you is certainly a much more marvelous organization than that great liner and bound on a far longer voyage. What I urge is that you learn to master your life by living each day in a day-tight compartment and this will certainly ensure your safety throughout your entire journey of life. Touch a button and hear, at every level of your life, the iron doors shutting out the Past - the dead yesterdays. Touch another and shut off, with a metal curtain, the Future - the unborn tomorrows. Then you are safe - safe for today.
Think not of the amount to be accomplished, the difficulties to be overcome, but set earnestly at the little task near your elbow, letting that be sufficient for the day; for surely our plain duty is not to see what lies dimly at a distance but to do what lies clearly at hand.
... Og Mandino, The Spellbinder’s Gift, (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1995), 70-71.
Matt 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
God isn’t going to let you see the distant scene. So you might as well quit looking for it or guessing what it is. He promises a lamp unto our feet, not a crystal ball into the future. Take a step at a time. And you need faith to do that. Have faith in God.
God cannot move where there is no faith (Heb 11:6) - EXERCISE faith, and DEVELOP your faith. Stretch it. Choose to believe Him and what He has said, against all odds.
We do not need to know what will happen tomorrow. We only need to know that He will be there.
Conclusion
So - Change Your Outlook. Don¡¦t look backward; don¡¦t look forward; look UPWARD.
Let God be your Professional Worrier. He¡¦s even invited you to do it.
Then, Change Your Input. Don¡¦t let your mind dwell on things that might have been or the things yet to come. Learn to live in day-tight compartments. That¡¦s where God¡Xthe Great I AM¡Xdwells with you!
"What A Friend We Have In Jesus" - written by Joseph Scriven.
As a young man in Ireland, about 1840, his intended bride was accidentally drowned the evening before their wedding. He had begun training as a military cadet, but poor health forced him to abandon his dreams of a career in this field. Moving to Canada, he became a servant of the underprivileged, helping those who were physically handicapped and financially destitute (helping poor widows and sick people).
Tragedy continued to stalk his steps. Once again, the plans for a wedding were cut short when his second fiancee died following a brief illness.
Through much of his life he experience loneliness, meagre pay for menial work and physical illness. But as a believer of Christ, he knows he has a good friend.
Upon learning of his mother’s serious illness and unable to be with her, he wrote a letter of comfort enclosing the words of this song text. Sometime later when he himself was ill (his last illness) a neighbour came to visit him and saw this poem scribbled on scratch paper near the bed. When asked if he had written it, and he replied, "The Lord and I did it between us."
What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry ev’rything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry ev’rything to God in prayer!
