Facing Worry

Editor’s note: When life turns upside down or battles wear us down, it’s human nature to wobble in faith. Part of enduring is learning to rely on Jesus no matter what and remain steadfast in worrisome times. Dr. David Jeremiah’s book Keep the Faith biblically solid reminders of God’s faithfulness and offers a path to remain secure in Him. Enjoy this excerpt. 

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Facing Worry 

We’re going to explore one of the most encouraging and comforting of all Jesus’ teachings.

It’s part of the Sermon on the Mount, and it’s actually divided into two sections — verses 25–32, then verses 33–34. Let’s find out what is revealed in the first of those sections.

Worry Is Inconsistent

Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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? — Matthew 6:25

Worry is simply inconsistent. Jesus is asking, “Who gave you the body you live inside? Who established its requirements — for food, for clothing, for shelter? Do you think He has gone anywhere? Don’t you think that same Provider will see to your needs?”

In essence, this is an argument from the greater to the lesser. Consider the God who created us a little lower than the angels, ordaining and establishing the miracle of human life in all the beautiful complexity of the human organism. Then He fashioned with His powerful hands the heat of the sun, the revolving world, and the four seasons. He took an awful lot of trouble, didn’t He? Why, then, would He be careless about these little things — a crust of bread, a patch of clothing, a dry haven from the storm? A God so tall could never overlook something so small, according to Jesus. “Is not life more...?” Those are His words.

If you buy into a Creator God, you must buy into a Sustainer God — or you’re simply inconsistent. 

The evidence of His loving and timely care is all around us. Use your mind and you’ll find comfort for your soul.

Worry Is Irrational

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? — Matthew 6:26

Jesus’ first argument is irrefutable. He who gave us life can surely sustain that life. But Jesus has anticipated the follow-up question: God can provide, but will He provide? 

Jesus attacks this second question from the opposite direction. Now He moves from the lesser to the greater — in this case, from birds to human beings. He says, “Look into the trees and you’ll see the little sparrows. A plain copper coin will buy you two of them. Few things are sold so cheaply. Does your Father value you less than a copper coin? His hand is behind every bird that falls to the ground; if He’s got the whole world in His hands, doesn’t that include you?” (Matthew 10:29, paraphrase).

Sometimes we make fascinating discoveries when we bring two separate Scripture passages together. Consider this matter of the value of sparrows. Take a side trip over to Luke 12:6, and you’ll find another market value: five sparrows for two copper coins. Put Matthew and Luke together and it’s two for a penny and “buy four / get one free.”

A copper coin was worth one-sixteenth of a denarius; a denarius was one day’s wages. So what Jesus is saying is this: “A copper coin gets you two sparrows; two coins get you five. Not even the free sparrow, who has no market value, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing about it. He follows every movement, whether it’s bird or beggar or baron.”

As a matter of fact, says Jesus, if He knows every sparrow that falls to the ground, He knows when one of your hairs does likewise. Somewhere He has a database that tracks the very hairs on your head. 

• And if He is so meticulous with the smallest, most incidental inventory items, won’t He also tend to your deeper concerns?

Once again, Jesus gives us an argument we can’t refute, this time from the lesser to the greater. We must conclude that worry is inconsistent and irrational. But there’s another problem with it. 

Worry Is Ineffective 

Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? — Matthew 6:27

Have you noticed all the units of measure in this passage? It’s fascinating how Jesus deals with the concept of anxiety by calling on various lengths and weights and values. It’s because when we deal with worry, we’re dealing with matters of perspective and true worth. So we have coin and cubit, hair and sparrow.

A cubit, as Noah knew, comes to about eighteen inches — the length of your forearm, since rulers and yardsticks were rare in those days. There are two possible interpretations of Jesus’ point here. One is, “Who can sit back in his chair and worry himself a few extra inches in height?” If that were possible, the implications for basketball would be profound. But it’s not possible, and I say that with some regret. When I was growing up, I watched the great players of the NBA and wanted to add a cubit — well, at least a few inches — to my height. I was six foot one, and I wanted badly to be six five. But no amount of dreaming, no amount of yearning, could add an inch to my height. Wilt Chamberlain’s and Bill Russell’s jobs were safe.

That interpretation of the verse seems clear, but perhaps Jesus was going a bit deeper. What if we’re talking about days instead of inches — futures instead of forearms? “Which of you by worrying,” He might be saying, “can add a day to your life?” The answer, of course, is that we can’t add a day, an hour, or a flickering moment. Worry divides the mind and multiplies misery. It subtracts from our happiness. But it never adds.

What if we took a walk through the cemetery in your community and discovered that each tombstone included a gauge indicating the years of life that person lost through worrying? We might be amazed. Could it be that some of us take five, ten, or fifteen years off our longevity by the force of gravity weighing us down with needless anxiety? I’ve known a few of these individuals. I’ve counseled people who have worried themselves out of this world early, simply because they couldn’t leave things in God’s hands. 

Worry is the most ineffective use of your time.

A friend of mine told me about visiting his brother, who kept a little white mouse in a cage. The mouse could climb onto the inside of a big wheel, and as he ran the wheel spun ’round and ’round. My friend’s brother said, “It’s fun to watch this little guy. It’s as if he wakes up and says, ‘Must get on the wheel! Must keep running!’” The average pet mouse, we’re told, will run nine thousand miles on such a wheel in his lifetime, and he’s still inside the cage.

That’s the way it is with worry — a lifetime of frantic running with no destination. After a while you run out of the strength God gave you, and you’re still in the cage. “Worrying doesn’t rob tomorrow of its sorrow,” someone said. “It robs today of its strength.”

Worry Is Illogical 

So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? — Matthew 6:28–30 

We can agree that worry is an unattractive thing, shabby and gloomy and careworn. But what does lightheartedness look like? Jesus gives us a clue in these verses. Have you walked through a beautiful garden in the springtime? It’s very difficult to be weighed down by the cares of the world when you’re surrounded by the majesty of God’s beautiful art. Solomon was a glorious king, Jesus tells us, with the wealth of several kingdoms at his disposal. But all of his sparkling finery pales in comparison to the simplest lily that God placed beside your feet.

And how many office hours have those lilies put in? How many dues have they paid? Have you ever seen a lily suffering through an anxiety attack? They neither toil nor spin. They simply sway in the breeze, reaching heavenward toward the source of their water and sunshine and sustenance. They do neither more nor less than they were designed to do, and what they were designed to do is to glorify God. Would that you and I could glorify God with the simple eloquence of that little flower.

Yet the greater point is that God values you so much more than a lily. The lily is merely something He created for your pleasure, for you’re the one that bears His image. If He cares for each petal or stem that blooms and fades within a season, how much more does He care for you? How much more does He take to heart the things that cause your anxiety?

He took the answer to that question and displayed it on a cross two thousand years ago. He’d never suffer and die for the same children He planned to neglect. That’s why worry is illogical, and that’s why we can press forward toward the finish line with confidence.

Excerpted with permission from Keep the Faith by David Jeremiah, copyright David Jeremiah.

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Your Turn

Are you worried? Keep the faith! Worry never helps us; it only makes our circumstances more challenging and painful. Let’s give God everything that we’re worried about today and leave it with Him! ~ Devotionals Daily