I admit it: sometimes I allow the idol of worry to divert me from the answer to worry. Maybe you do, too.
Let me explain. You might think that worry that consumes us would drive us to prayer. The burden is deep, so we pray. The anxiety is palpable, so we turn to God. The anguish is overwhelming and persistent, so we give it to God in prayer.
You would think this would be the case, but that’s not always so. At least not for me.
I know what Jesus taught us about worry: “Don’t worry about your life . . . So don’t worry . . . don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself” (Matt 6:25-34). Paul, too, echoed those same words in his letter to the Philippians: “Don’t worry about anything” (Phil 4:6).
I read these words, and it’s hard to miss what Jesus and Paul emphasized: “Just don’t worry.” Indeed, I cannot help but conclude that my worry is nothing less than a lack of trust in the sovereign hand of God. Worry grips my heart with angst and robs me of the rest that ought to be mine in Christ.
Even as I write those last words, though, I’m reminded that I already know the answer to my worries. Jesus put it this way in His discussion about worry: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matt 6:33). Paul, then, also offered direction for dealing with worry: “in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Phil 4:6).
In essence, my seeking the King is the remedy for my worry. Temporal “stuff” is often the source of worry for me, but the eternal King reigns over all—including those things that trouble me. I can, and must, seek Him through taking my petitions to Him. Even if that prayer sounds remarkably like the struggling faith of the father of a demon-possessed boy in Mark 9—“Lord, I do believe. Help my unbelief” (9:24)—I must turn to Him with thanksgiving. I can trust the One who knows my needs before I ever ask Him (Matt 6:8).
The process is simple, it seems.
Seek God. Pray about everything. Worry about nothing.
Nevertheless, that process gets complicated when you do what I too often do: try to reach the latter goal without intentionally doing the first two steps to get there. Here’s the way that sometimes happens for me.
- Worry eats at my heart.
- I get discouraged not only because the worry remains, but also because God has not yet removed it from me.
- I know better, but the nagging stronghold of worry can turn my attention inwardly toward self and away from God.
- Seeking God in prayer—the remedy for worry—gets little attention, and what I admitted in the first sentence of this post becomes reality: I allow the idol of worry to divert me from the answer to worry. Seeking first my own solutions gets in the way of my seeking God first.
Perhaps you understand. If so, I trust this is not the end of the story for either of us. Now in my 50th year as a believer, I’m still learning to prayerfully turn, in Paul Miller’s words, from worrying about things to watching for God to work through those things. I have much room to grow, however, so would you pray for me that I would keep learning?
This article originally appeared here.
