Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you eat or drink…or what you will wear…look at the birds of the air…your heavenly Father feeds them…So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat? Or ‘What shall we drink? Or ‘What shall we wear?…but seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 6: 25-33 (NIV)
It was an incredibly beautiful weekend, so I’m not at all sure why he, of all people, came to mind. The remembrance dates me—and some of you, who recognize the name. His caricature began to grace the cover of MAD magazine years ago, and even though I never bought one, you couldn’t help but see the image of Alfred E. Neuman everywhere you looked, and hear the echo of one of his most famous quotes—
“What, me worry?”
Not bad theology.
The teachings of Christ set out in the scripture above, set forth in their simplest form, in that phrase, by the “reverend” Alfred E. Neuman? The rantings of a cartoon icon on the cover of a psychologically numbing rag. Not the model you’d want your children or grandchildren to emulate.
Yet there it is—a reminder for today and tomorrow. A reminder of the choice we have every day of our lives. Very simply—Worry or Trust God.
I suspect if we are honest with ourselves, we usually end up consumed by this one—worry. Trusting God at times may be too hard to wrap our brains around. And we feel like we have to let go of any control—control we may not have anyway. In our most spiritual of moments—times like worship, Bible study, prayer time, or when we don’t know where else to turn—we might abide in just a moment of “trusting in God.”
But if we are really honest, those times are few. When in reality, the times we live in may require “trusting God” more than ever. The things and decisions of day-to-day living are overwhelming, regular and constant, yet seem too important to trust anyone else with them. And so we try to take charge—and worry.
Will we have enough left for retirement? A child is sick and the doctors can’t seem to figure out when, if ever, they will return to full health. The world is in a mess and the light of hope we’re looking for seems too dim at times. We’ve lost our job, and our vision for tomorrow seems a little cloudy. We’ve lost a loved one and we can’t move on. We struggle with what our purpose really is as we get up each day.
Trusting God is not usually the first, second or whatever thing we embrace in the all too real moments of our lives. Worry, instead, seems to be the way.
Yet “trusting God” is the only way. Trusting God, though, is not sitting in the corner in a fetal position whimpering and waiting for the hand of God to pluck us up by our collar and show us the way to go. It’s a life lived at full speed—trusting in Him and seeking Him—in the full spectacle of all our days.
It’s an attitude that recognizes that a trust in God will probably mean that He will reset our priorities, and guide our steps and bloom within us the talents, abilities and passions He has planted in us. He will place us where He wants us to be, and move us to do what He expects us to do with our lives.
Here’ the key we need to remember—trusting God is all about Him.
It’s not about us.
It’s giving God control. And giving up the control we never really had anyway. It’s allowing God to be in the lead, and becoming a follower of the One Who not only knows what is best for us, but who always wants the best for us—no matter what we’re in the middle of, or what we’re facing, or feeling.
So, all together now—What, me worry?
You’ve got it!
Trust God.
Because He can be trusted.
In His Name–Scott
