No Disappointment!

I just found out that my rent has been raised $100 a month. I don’t have a job.  A friend is in the hospital. My dryer is falling apart, and my oven doesn’t work right. Russia is poised to invade Ukraine. Thailand has just declared martial law. Pollution in China is visible from space. The polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate. My hair is fuzzy.

Life is full of stuff to worry about. There are so many things out of our control. Big things. Small things. Silly things. I worry about my kids, my pets, my friends, people I don’t like, what I will wear and if I will look appropriate, what I will eat and if it will satisfy. And to what end?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Matthew 6:27

Calvin Coolidge said, “If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.” Think about all the possibilities of life. Let your imagination go wild. What is the worst that can happen? Now, think about all of those possibilities. Which are liable to actually happen? The reality is that the things we worry about rarely happen, and what does happen never crossed our minds. We spend time and energy worrying about troubles that never reach us, leaving us depleted of resources to handle what does happen.

So, why do we worry? Sometimes we worry out of fear.

            Perfect love casts out fear. I John 4:18

If I trust that God loves me and holds me in the palm of his hand, I won’t worry. If I love God, I will believe that he can handle my life. No fear.

Sometimes we worry because we feel we need to be in control.

            Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Proverbs 3:5-7

I think that often we worry because we have a wrong focus. We focus on the negative. We focus on temporary things. We forget that God knows our needs, and that he possesses all the riches of heaven and earth. We forget where he wants our focus to be.

            So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:31-34

So today, instead of worrying about how I will pay the rent or finding a job or my friend in the hospital, I will turn to Jesus. I will lift my friend before the throne of grace, and I will lay her and all my cares and worries at his feet. I will resist the temptation to pick them back up and carry them myself. I will trust that he loves me perfectly, and knows how to care for me. I will focus on the face of my Savior instead of the silly things I waste my time and energy on. I will seek his righteousness.

He who believes in Him shall not be disappointed! I Peter 2:6

Truly Safe

Do you remember where you were when the twin towers in New York City collapsed on 9/11, twelve years ago? Many of you were children. Perhaps what you remember is a feeling, an overwhelming sadness that you didn’t understand. I was getting ready to go to work. I turned on the television for background noise. I couldn’t turn away. I remember watching, horrified, as I saw the second plane hit the second tower, and seeing it collapse down upon itself. I hurried in to work, mostly to be with other people who could verify that what I was seeing was real. I worked then in a public high school, and the place was eerily quiet. We followed what was happening on our computers.

I learned two things that day:

1.     Security is an illusion. Since then we have implemented the Homeland Security Act, beefed up TSA, and allowed innumerable encroachments on our freedoms, all in the name of security. The truth is, if a person is determined to cause mayhem and pain, he will find a way. The only security in this life is to trust in God.

“Do not put your trust in princes (or presidents), in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them – the Lord, who remains faithful forever.” Psalm 147:1

2.     We need each other.  Think how different that day would have been if the people of New York had lived up to their reputation as cold loners. The whole world looked on, wishing they could do something to help. The people of New York were our hands and feet in those first hours. We are created for community.  We are better together than we are alone.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and had no one to help him up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one many be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

People ask me where God was on that horrific day. We know where he was; he was there, embodied by the many men and women who reached out to help, risking their own lives. He was there comforting the dying and strengthening the rescuers. He was there feeding and loving and weeping right along with us. God doesn’t always prevent evil men from the terrible things they devise; we wish he would. Instead, he works through us, his body, to comfort and lift each other up.

We are afraid of so many things. God wants us to take shelter in him, remembering that he is our only security. He wants us to reach out to each other. It is in sharing our stories, in remembering those who were lost and the heroic people who acted that day that God is glorified and evil is overcome. It is in sharing our fears today that God can overcome them. We can rest in him.

What are you afraid of? Find someone and share. Lay your fears down.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.' Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear…” Psalm 91:1-5