I preached a sermon years ago on "Worrying". I thought it went well. The congregation seemed fine with it. Then on the way out while I was shaking hands this man asked me nervously "what if I can't stop worrying?". I actually don't remember what I said to him but my sermon must not have helped. So I hope this article does! 🙂 Lots of people of faith have problems with anxiety and worry. Even Abraham Lincoln endured many traumatic events throughout his life. As a young child, he lost his mother, and when he was only 18, he lost his beloved older sister. Lincoln also lost ten of his twelve children to death. Historians and psychiatric researchers typically agree that Lincoln must have suffered from severe generalized anxiety and worry. There's a lot of scripture written to help us with worry and anxiety. But we are human and sometimes our situations speak to us so much louder than God does. Paul wrote "Cast all of your care upon Him, for He cares for you." When Jesus was with the disciples in a huge wind storm on the sea - they asked Jesus "Do you care if we perish?" Jesus calmed the sea! Isaiah wrote in 41:10 "Don't be afraid, I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am with you. I am your God. I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will holdyou by My righteous hand". Okay - now this blows my mind at the extent that God goes to - to help us see HOW MUCH HE CARES ... In Isaiah 40 when Israel was going into Babylonian captivity. God realized they were going to a place with a different language, a different culture, obviously a different religion. But God tells them He is greater than anything - for instance two things really stand out to me - He said I am greater than the water of the world, I can hold it all in My hand. Know how much water is in the world that God can hold in one hand? Someone did a study of how much water was on earth (NO JOKE) .. and it came to 343,000,000,000,000,000,000 (343 quintillion - I think-had to look it up 🙂 )GALLONS! God then told Israel - I created all the stars and I CAN call them all by name. I believe there are something like 100 million galaxies and billions of stars in each galaxie and God REMEMBERS and can call them ALL by name! WOW! I think God may have been saying to us "you can trust Me! Another scripture says [paraphrase] "there is nothing too hard for Me" . Perhaps it would help us if we replace our negative thoughts with positive thoughts (the Bible prescribes this) and focus on what is good and holy. I believe there is value in habit. Negatively speaking, it took me years to quit smoking totally. It was a habit. This is a crude example but as a boy when I would sneak mostly to the outhouse behind the house to smoke - when I smoked occasionally in the open I HAD TO GO TO THE BATHROOM. (Gettin the picture?) 🙂 Why not get in a habit of doing right? You may use this method in any temptation "setting". For instance, when I become almost overwhelmed with grief from losing my son - I immediately resort to remembering his smile, how he hunted so much with success! How he NEVER disappointed us!! Now, when I see his picture or someone says his name what pops into my mind? His smile and how he never disappointed us .... how he worked so hard and how he helped others. Christ taught in a way that changed peoples' thinking. Thinking that changed their minds. He said "do not be anxious about your life ... look at the birds of the air : they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of MORE value than they?.....and why are you anxious about clothing? ... Consider the lilies of the field they neither toil nor spin, .... yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." We live in a time of unparalleled chaos, confusion, and evil. Lots of people worry and have anxiety problems. Finding someone to listen is a great help; as is seeking good counsel or talking to a doctor. But may we remember this verse (Matthew 6 .. "do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough evil of its own" and then mingle that with this verse from Philippians 4:8 "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are holy, whatsoever things are of good report,....think on these things". Blessings of comfort and grace!
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