Worry

My sister sent me a devotional this morning. I think it is timely, because even though I am not particulary worried about my situation (in an obsessive sense) the devotion reminds me to wait on God's direction. We're not called to "keep all the plates spinning". We're called to obedience. So now, we sit and wait for His guidance. And hopefully, we can be obedient - even if He asks us to do something hard.

Key Verse:
Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (NIV)

Devotion: The Plate Spinner
Whenever you see the word ‘therefore’ in the Bible, you can be sure it is ‘there for’ a very special reason. Rick Warren asked the question in his book The Purpose Driven Life, “What is your life metaphor?” I always pictured the plate spinner at the circus. Between my husband, kids, job, friends and service duties, it seemed one plate was always wobbling! And just when I would focus my attention on the current unstable area, out of the corner of my eye I would spot another careening toward the floor. No matter how hard I tried, someone or something reminded me that my attention was not evenly distributed. I remember one afternoon dropping to my knees in total exhaustion and wailing, “It’s never enough!” Isn’t it interesting that it took an empty me to finally collapse into the position God had been longing to see me in? In Jeremiah 1:8 God promises, “…I am with you to deliver you.” And in Matthew 6:33 the key is found to eliminate exhaustion: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you.”

Does that mean that plates will never crash if we seek him first? No, it means we will never crash. The promise is to deliver you!

Oswald Chambers says, “We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it.” Possessions and people let us down and often cause heartache and turmoil, however when our focus is on the Maker, our complaining turns to continuing steadily on.

In the key verse Jesus is telling us, if your priority is seeking Him and His righteousness first, then there is no reason to worry at all about wobbly situations in your life, for our Deliverer will keep us steady.

Luke 12:22, “Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.” (NIV)

Luke 21:14, “But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves.” (NIV)

2 Corinthians 1:10, “On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.” (NIV)

My Sweet Jesus, thank you for caring about details so we don’t have to. Help me today to stop worrying about the unstable things in my life and focus first on my relationship with You, in The Mighty Name of Jesus, Amen.