I sat in quiet and nothing came, so I opened my Bible to where I had left off reading. Matthew 6:34.
"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."
I thought good luck with that.
As with most of you, I do worry about tomorrow.
- I have 9 children, 4 of whom are overseas doing mission work in dangerous places. Two of these have recently faced real danger.
- I worry about whether or not I have what it takes to do the work I think I have to do
- and keep the promises I have made.
- And, of course, the perennial worry common to many, money. Will there be enough? Where will it come from?
- Etc.
I worry.
Then it hits me. I just asked God to speak to me and then Jesus says, "don't worry." That means, any worry thoughts about tomorrow are not from him. So if I want to think his thoughts, which I do, they will never be worry thoughts.
Fretting about tomorrow is reflexive and it seemed to me like a responsibility. But, if Jesus' words are anything to go on, worry thoughts are not his voice and I don't have to entertain them. Jesus says in effect, "You're fired from your responsibility to worry."
Planning is ok. Fretful planning isn't.
In Matthew 14:13-21, Jesus and his disciples are confronted with five thousand hungry people needing to be fed. Jesus tells his boys to feed them. They worry, "We only have five loaves and two fishes. Jesus tells them to bring what they have to him and he makes that more than enough.
I think I am called to do more than I have resources for. Jesus says, "Bring what you have to me. My leading is my feeding."
Most of us spend way too much time regretting the past and fretting the future. Jesus says that none of those thoughts are from him, so stop it.
And the freedom just keeps coming!