About Worry...

 You know those days...

The ones where it seems the whole weight of the world is on your mind and you feel like the life is being squeezed out of you as you try to prioritize, problem-solve. It could be money issues, relational dysfunction, work chaos, health concerns... or any manner of other stress-inducing circumstances. You know that some of it you don't have control over and there's no way you could ever fix people or the problem on your own and all you can do is your very best to control your own self and cope as best you can. But other stuff? Yeah, you're aware is squarely on you to figure out - to be smarter or work harder or change up the situation in order to give yourself some leverage, some peace. 

But regardless of the pressing issue(s) on your precious little mind, you feel the heaviness of trying to find a way through. And for all the telling yourself, "It'll be okay," you don't really believe it in the depths of your soul. Because it just plain doesn't seem okay. And so you lie awake at night and your body refuses to relax because somehow, you think that if you just stay up long enough, think hard enough, these things will work themselves out. 

But where is God in all this? Where is the Prince of Peace when peace itself feels nothing short of a myth? 

I know you know these days well... and so do I. Often lately, in fact. 

If I'm being honest, it's like I feel I've been in a perpetual state of anxiousness recently, trying to figure out how to solve some seemingly insolvable scenarios that I just can't seem to find my way out of. It's like trust as eluded me, even though I know that the whole world is in His hands and so am I and yet... why can't I seem to actually live that? Perhaps you've wondered that, too. 

There appears to be a lot in world these days to warrant worry. After all, much feels like it's hanging in the balance as the economy see-saws, inflation rises, rumors of war loom large... and some of us out here are just trying to figure out how to survive amidst it all. I see you out there: struggling to pay the bills and wondering what you'll have to let go of just to get by. And I see others of you out there who have felt your lives or your families torn apart by loss and pride and hardship and you feel more alone than ever before. In some ways, you couldn't care less about the world's problems because you know you can't carry them and your own. 

I see all of us out here, doing our best to find a way to breathe, to live when so much seems uncertain and we question if a sovereign God is on the throne at all. When it feels like everything is falling apart, how is there any proof that, amongst all this broken, something hopeful may be falling into place? As headline after headline declares doom and more impending suffering for all, how can one begin to fight the fears and address the doubts when it all feels so real and raw and randomly awful? 

More powerful than any world-wide war without is the constant inner fight for hope - the struggle for joy and peace when your human sight tells you things won't get better and there's nothing more to the story than heartache. If there isn't a capable God still in charge who is unchangeably good and wise and loving, what is the point to holding out at all? Lose faith in the unseen, and you've lost faith altogether.

To my own soul I say simply this: "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still" (Exodus 14:14). As it was enough for Moses as he consoled the trembling Israelites, so it is enough for me. As they crossed their own sea of unknowns with their enemies in hot pursuit, they were simply told to not be afraid. Don't worry. The only thing they were to do is stand firm - hold fast - and see God's deliverance at work. 

Centuries after God saw His chosen ones safely through the Red Sea and countless other wilderness wanderings, His own Son would wisely preach about taking a lesson from the birds of the air and the lilies of the field... that they are not burdened with cares as we are, yet their Creator feeds and cares for them and how we are of more value to Him than they are. Jesus would then ask a singular question to the gathered crowd and subsequently to us: "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life" (Matthew 6:27)? Definitely not add to one's life but certainly take away from it! Many studies on stress prove what God's already known always - that fear and worry and anxiousness only take away from today over things that have yet to unfold in tomorrow. 

I know a lot may be weighing on our minds but friends, we must sleep. We must rest. We must catch our breath, slow our heart-rates. We must set our minds on things above and not on things down here because, at the end of the day, we are mere mortals who have no capacity to solve all of this by ourselves, no matter how hard we think or crunch the numbers or predict the odds or attempt to fix anything by any sort of effort of our own. 

Yes, there are ways we can make a change today by some simple choices we make but ultimately, our biggest task isn't to come up with the solutions but to believe in the WayMaker. To cast all these worries on Him, knowing that He cares for us. That no sparrow and certainly not that life of yours will ever fall to the ground without God's notice or His aid. And so I say it's time we give our bodies, minds, and souls permission to fall back into the Arms that hold the world. I know we can't see those arms sometimes and the weight of all this seems terribly strong and heavy but I also know that it's not heavy for Him. Nothing is impossible for the One who defeated the grave and gave us every reason to believe in the fact that unseen forces are on the move, even when it seems like everything has stalled and nothing is getting solved. 

Be still.

Peace is a choice. Hope is a choice. Faith is a choice. Joy is a choice. 

You don't have to shoulder all this and lose your centered place and give into all the things that have your brain running wild. You can decide in this moment to stop...and reset. To roll over and snuggle into the pillow tonight. To take some time to eat better, breathe deeper, walk slower. To actually care for your own self while knowing that God's got all the big things covered. 

You and I can make the choice to trust that it'll be okay even when it looks like it won't... because we know the One who is still in charge. He sees our concerns and He will ensure that there is enough to satisfy our needs. He hears our problems and is deeply invested in working things out for our benefit. God is not absent. Rather, in these moments, He has never been nearer. And we must believe that the dry land will appear when He leads through deep waters that threaten to overwhelm us. We must trust that the fires of life will not consume us. We must have faith that He will always provide for and guide us, even in the face of grave dangers and worries that feel valid and legit. 

He who never sleeps is looking out for us, working things out as they're meant to and reminding us that His desire for us hasn't changed: don't fear, and trust that God will fight for you. Hang in there because even now, He's making a way through. 

My heart needs to hear that again. And just maybe, yours does too.