Friday, January 27, 2017
I venture to say that a good number of Christians hesitate to tell others when they worry or are afraid, thinking they will be perceived as having a lack of faith. I know that I seldom tell others when I am afraid. And if you think that being afraid is always indicative of a lack of faith, permit me to remind you of the following: In the 20th and 26th Chapters of Genesis, we read where both Abraham and later his son Isaac lied to the men of the places they traveled to, by telling them that theirs wives were their sisters because they were afraid they would kill them and take their wives for themselves. Moses was afraid when he realized that others had seen him kill an Egyptian man who was beating a fellow Hebrew, so he fled Egypt to go into Midian. (See Exodus, Chapter 2) In I Kings 19, we read about the time Elijah fled in fear from the wicked queen Jezebel. King David, the mighty warrior king wrote: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” (Ps. 56:3) He did not write “if” but “when.” Centuries later, the Apostle Paul, sent back to the church in Philippi one of their members who had helped the apostle for some time. While there, the fellow became very ill and almost died. When the Lord healed him, Paul sent him back, saying in his letter: “Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.” (Ph. 2:27) Obviously, Paul had been deeply worried when the man was very sick. The point is that all these are considered heroes of the faith, yet they worried or were afraid at different points in their lives..
Does this mean we should always worry? Of course not! The point is, however, that worry is an actual part of life. On the other hand, it is obvious that many people worry much more than they should. In a recent survey concerning worry, these were the findings: 40% worry about things that will never happen. 30% worry about the past that can't be changed. 12% worry about criticism by others, which is mostly untrue. 10% worry about health, which gets worse with stress, and only 8% worry about actual problems.
If you find yourself worrying more than what you feel is normal, you need to bring it in prayer to the Lord. You need to ask Him to strengthen you in the faith. Then, you need to trust Him and leave your cares and burdens with Him. What you should not do, however, is let the devil or anyone else make you feel that you are not a genuine child of God because you worry from time to time.
God’s promise for today: (1 Peter 5:7) “Cast all your worries on Him because He cares for you.”
