What, Me Worry?

When I was a kid growing up in the sixties my favorite magazine was “MAD Magazine.” It was bi-monthly. I would save up a quarter to buy a copy when it went on sale. It was filled with satire and silliness. When I was in middle school my friend and I did a comedy skit where I shot him for a copy of his MAD Magazine. You cannot do that in school these days.

Although the magazine was first published in 1952 as a comic book the main character would not be introduced until 1955. It was then that Alfred E. Neumann graced the front cover of the magazine with the catch phrase “What, me worry?”

It would be wonderful to have that type of attitude but our nature lends itself to worry. In a survey by Beneden Health some startling facts emerged about what we worry over and the effects.

We worry about our physical appearance. We worry about being overweight and our diet. We worry about getting old and wrinkled. We worry about our sex life and whether we are attractive. We worry about our physique and our sense of style in dressing.

We worry about our overall fitness. We worry about our low energy levels. We worry that we have an illness that has gone undetected. We worry about a feeling of just being unhappy.

We worry about meeting targets or goals at work. We worry about our job security and whether we have pursued the right career. We worry about trying to find a new job if we are unhappy.

We worry about our loan payments, credit card debt, and rent or mortgage; we worry about our lack of savings for a financial future.

We worry about finding the right partner or unsure we are with the right partner. We worry about our spouse still loving us or possibly cheating on us. We worry about being good parents and the health of our children. We worry about the health of our pets. We worry about friends and family issues.

We worry about addiction and unhealthy reliance. Some worry about a clean house and driving.

What are the results of all these worries? Sleepless nights, lost confidence, arguments with partners, reduced appetite, poor performance at work, distance from partner, avoidance of social events, increased alcohol consumption, paranoia, and nausea are the top results.

The average time spent worrying is 14.31 hours per week. That equals 744 hours of worrying per year, 45,243 hours in a lifetime, 1885 days in a lifetime, or 5.2 years of our lives spent worrying.

In Luke 12:25-26 Jesus asks a very pertinent question. “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?” Perhaps we can say “What, me worry?” Today I want to share with you six facts about God found in Psalm 139.

Fact one; We have a God who knows.

When the 1960s ended, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district reverted to high rent, and many hippies moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. They had children and got married, too, though in no particular sequence. But they didn’t name their children Melissa or Brett. People in the mountains around Santa Cruz grew accustomed to their children playing Frisbee with little Time Warp or Spring Fever. And eventually Moonbeam, Earth, Love and Precious Promise all ended up in public school. That’s when the kindergarten teachers first met Fruit Stand. Every fall, according to tradition, parents bravely apply name tags to their children, kiss them good-bye and send them off to school on the bus. So it was for Fruit Stand. The teachers thought the boy’s name was odd, but they tried to make the best of it.

"Would you like to play with the blocks, Fruit Stand?" they offered. And later, "Fruit Stand, how about a snack?" He accepted hesitantly. By the end of the day, his name didn’t seem much odder than Heather’s or Sun Ray’s. At dismissal time, the teachers led the children out to the buses. "Fruit Stand, do you know which one is your bus?" He didn’t answer. That wasn’t strange. He hadn’t answered them all day. Lots of children are shy on the first day of school. It didn’t matter. The teachers had instructed the parents to write the names of their children’s bus stops on the reverse side of their name tags. The teacher simply turned over the tag. There, neatly printed, was the word "Anthony."

Psalm 139:1-4

“O Lord, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.