Matthew 6:34
“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."
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
Greg and I watch “House of
Cards” – a television series on Netflix. In a recent story line, a
potentially deadly hurricane was headed for the East Coast. It appeared
poised to devastate at least seven coastal states. The “powers that be”
scrambled to appropriate funds for disaster relief…and in doing so,
they “defunded” a vital program that aided millions of Americans. All
sorts of “drama” ensued as members of Congress and other powerful
leaders finagled to move money from this program (which had been
"engineered" by the President) to the coffers for emergency relief.
Each
side worried and stewed about what would happen and how this would all
end. They placed all of their focus on events in the future and what
might or might not happen.
At the last minute, the hurricane
veered out to sea…and there was no disaster. Doesn’t this just tell the
tale for many of us and how we live our lives? We worry, stew, argue,
finagle, and stress to the max…and then the “storm” veers away, and
we’re left looking foolish. We neglect today’s business as we wrestle
with the potential problems of tomorrow…and we often end up looking and
feeling pretty foolish!
I know this is true, because I’ve done it
for years! I’ve lived in the “What ifs?” and the “How will we evers?”
and the “How will we manage this challenge or that ones?” for YEARS!
And while I think I am getting better, I still “work my worries” and
obsess about things far too often that I should give to God.
Instead
of wrestling with even the most trivial of things – like “What will we
eat tomorrow if I don’t make it to the grocery store today?”…what if we
said, “LORD, I trust you to provide…and to handle tomorrow. For today, I
am going to do what I feel that You are leading me to do…and believe
that You will take care of the days to follow. I know that storms may
come…but You will equip me to prepare for them perfectly. There are so
many things that I cannot fix…and I am not supposed to! So I trust YOU
to fix them for me.”
The more we learn to trust God as the “Great Fixer” and give Him our cares…the
more we learn to operate in the rhythms of His grace and mercy…and the
more effective we become as Christian disciples. The Gillette Company
used to have a slogan for an antiperspirant…”Never let them see you
sweat!” We would do well to adopt this phrase with regard to our
Christian faith. Better yet, let’s get so good at trusting God that we
truly don’t perspire or worry – because we operate fully in the confidence that He is in complete control!
Storms
may come our way…or they may veer out to sea. Either way, let’s learn
to live in God’s care and let Him handle their course – and our
response. Are you in?
©2015 Debbie Robus
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