Matt. 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Jesus gives us a couple of reasons, over and above that He commands it, not to worry. The first one is that we are to consider our life. Is our life less important that what we do for our livelihood? No, our livelihood, as one commentator says "Is the oil in the lamp, and our life is the lamp". Jesus is telling us to consider our lives first and then remember that God will provide the oil to keep our lamps burning. Maybe not many extra gallons of oil, but He WILL provide the oil.
Next Jesus turns to birds so that we could bolster our faith. Birds don't plant, harvest or store up and yet everyday birds get up, sing a song, and go out and collect their food. They don't consider any of the things we worry about, they know that their food will arrive from somewhere, and they go out and get it. Most of the time humans don't feed the birds, but the birds are still fed.
Then Jesus turns to the flowers in the field. I really like some flowers, but not so much the ones you have to work with all the time; like roses. Think about wild flowers growing up on some mountain that have not been seen by humans in the past month, or maybe even for their entire growing cycle; who cares for them and who is making sure they look perfect when we walk up to look at them? It is God who cares for them, every one of them, and He has created them for our enjoyment, and they are here today and gone tomorrow. We are to consider that we are here much longer than they, we are more precious in His sight than they and they were created for us, not the other way around. So when we do consider that as amazing as any person, no matter how many surgeries they have, no matter how much makeup they wear, not matter how expensive their clothes are, do not look as amazing as a flower that is here today and gone tomorrow, what am I worrying about?
Teresa and I were talking last night and she was reminded of Micah's teaching on faith; how we have to fight for faith everyday. This is so true. For sure my faith is much stronger than it was when I started this blog and I know that one of the reasons Grant had to go through his event was so that my strength would be stronger today, as I look back on where God has brought Grant and our family. BUT that doesn't mean that every moment of every day my faith is strong. It is irritating to me that my faith diminishes when I know He is faithful. When I read His Word and I can see all that He has done for generations of His people, and He always keeps His promises, and yet there are still times when my faith is weak.
We must be reading His Word to be encouraged by it. We must pray that He would strengthen our faith and help our unbelief. We must encourage others when their faith is small and remind them, and us, of all the good that God has already done for us, and that He has promised to give us our daily bread. We must remind ourselves and others that God has always and will always keep His promises. We must know what His promises are and then revel in those promises that allow us to live in a way that honors His goodness to us.
For whatever reason, yesterday was an especially hard day for me and so I hopefully am encouraging you as I remind myself of the goodness of God and His providential care for His children.
Don't let worry take the song out of your heart.
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