I love Matthew chapter 6! Verse 25 is especially precious to me. It says, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” You might notice that the three things that Jesus tells us not to worry about are the things that occupied the children of Israel as they traveled through the wilderness. What will I eat? What will I drink? and What will I wear?

Because of their focus on what they didn’t have; food, water, clothes, etc., The Israelites were the most unhappy, complaining people, one might ever want to lead. Ask Moses! Ian MacLaren wrote, “What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it does empty today of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil; it makes you unfit to cope with it when it comes. God gives us the power to bear all the sorrow of His making, but He does not guarantee to give us strength to bear the burdens of our own making such as worry induces.”

Instead he tells us not to worry. He says it throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. It’s one of the most frequently repeated phrases. I once focused an entire year’s devotions on the “don’t worry” passages in the bible. One that I missed in 2007 was Jeremiah 1. Verses 17-19 contain God’s call on Jeremiah to get up out of bed and do what God called him to do. It says, “Get up and prepare for action. Go out and tell them everything I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them… You will stand against the whole land—the kings, officials, priests, and people of Judah. They will fight you, but they will fail. For I am with you, and I will take care of you.”

Even in the face of such incredible odds, God instructs Jeremiah, to just get up and trust Him, and do what he’s supposed to do. We all face incredible odds sometimes, and we all need to notice God’s final words to Jeremiah, “I am with you, and I will take care of you.”

Chuck
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 5:3