Dear Children,
Some of us get cold sweat, become stressed up, anxious and worried when school examination approaches. We worry that we are not able to answer the questions and we are pressured to achieve. Worry is not a good sign of our spiritual state. To worry is to distrust God’s sovereign power, love and care over us.
What Worry Can Do to Us
Worrying eats up a person physically and spiritually. Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” Worrying certainly suffocates and paralyses us even to the extent of squeezing the life out of us. In fact, the word worry is derived from the old English wyrgan, which meant “to strangle.”
Physically, whenever we feel that things in life are out of control, we develop symptoms like sleep disturbances, back, shoulder and neck pains, migraines, irritable bowels, heart palpitation, asthma, skin problems, chest pain, sweaty palms or hands, flu, cold, infections and depression.
Spiritually, worry takes away joy in our communion with God and our faith seems to fizzle out. The godly David himself was not spared of worries when he cried out, “I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long” (Psalm 38:6).
Why Do We Worry
Man is not able to trust God because we are living in a sin-cursed earth and the personal relationship with God is broken. A sinner is an enemy of God (Rom 5:10). Sin has formed a barrier between man and God. The ability to trust God to meet our needs is restored only when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour because He Himself has broken down the barrier and made peace with us (Eph 2:14-16).
What it Means to God When We Worry
We Doubt His Ability
So we are now reconciled with the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God. We are adopted by Him as His children (Rom 8:15). We are eternally secure with a place in heaven. Why do we still doubt God’s sovereignty, unconditional love and care for us? Isn’t it embarrassing that we are no better than unbelievers in this? (Matthew 6:32).
We Accuse Him of Being a Liar
When we worry, we are saying that God is a liar. We doubt the Word of God. When we remember promises of God like Psalms 55:22; 121; Isaiah 41:10, Matthew 6:24-33; 2 Corinthians 12:9; 1 Peter 5:7, Hebrews 13:5,6 but do not gain any comfort from them for our soul, we have to repent of our deep distrust of our heavenly Father and cry out before Him, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
We Deny that He Cares
We sometimes have the mindset that when good things happen to us, God is on the throne but when bad things strike us, God is off the throne. We have to come to terms with the truth that God is always on the throne no matter what circumstances we face in our daily life. In 1 Cor 10:13, we are told, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” This assures us that in actual reality when temptations or trials overtake us, God is not surprised by any turn of events and He is in full control
How to Overcome Our Worrying
What we need to do is to heed what Jesus commanded us in Matthew 6, “to take no thought”. Jesus commands us to stop worrying, to stop being distracted and unstable, and to lose not our focus on Him.
Build Our Confidence in God
In Matthew 6:34 Jesus commands us to stop worrying for tomorrow. God will take care of tomorrow for us. It is better for us not to know what tomorrow will bring, it is far much better to know Who holds tomorrow. We are to trust solely in God to help us meet the temptations, trials, opportunities and struggles we have for today and tomorrow (Proverbs 3:5,6).
Make Melodies in Our Hearts
By all means we have to make melody in our hearts, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:19-20). Let your heart be uplifted with songs that are gentle reminders of God’s goodness and security in your life. This will help to reaffirm your faith in God’s love for you.
Pray with a Surrendered and Thankful Heart
We have to put matters in the right perspective, as the apostle Paul exhorts us in Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” When worries arise in our hearts, and we become anxious for the things to be settled, remember this: God may want us to wait but He never wants us to worry. Thus, what we need to do is to pray and surrender our cares to Him as what apostle Peter exhorted us, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” 1 Peter 5:7.
Conclusion
Exams may seem like an approaching storm to you, but remember, with Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm. So trust in our faithful God and He will keep you in perfect peace that passes all understanding. (Philippians 4:6,7; Isaiah 26:3-4). Praying for you…
A Clip That Will Encourage You to Press On...
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