Words of Worth

Worry Warts

August 15, 2014

worry wartsHow many of us can truly say we are worry free and not preoccupied with the “what ifs” and the worst case scenarios?  Or how many of us who say we live in a worry free zone, are really deep in our hearts, worry warts but we dignify worry by calling it something else –concern, burden? And how many times do we declare we subscribe to The Lion King worldview of young warthogs:

Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase
Hakuna Matata, ain’t no passing craze
It means no worries for the rest of your days
It’s our problem free philosophy, Hakuna Matata

 God’s Word has a great deal to say about worry and our minds may go immediately to passages from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6 –“do not worry”) or Philippians 4:6-“do not be anxious”.  That’s where my mind goes first, but  the other day when I was worrying, um I mean when I was  concerned about  some  recent developments in life, I wandered  across a more obscure verse  in Ecclesiastes.  The verse was obscure to me, but the command was crystal clear:

So then, banish anxiety from your heart
    and cast off the troubles of your body…”

Ecclesiastes 11:10 (NIV)

Sounds direct enough and bold enough, don’t you agree?  Pure and simple –BANISH anxiety from your heart.  Forbid it! Remove it!  Get rid of it! Okay, that’s all I need to do when doubts and fears interfere with my daily life.  I just need to forbid it and get rid of it and maybe sing a chorus or two of Hakuna Matata.

However, when I read the first six verses of Ecclesiastes 11, I gained insight into the boldness we should have when it comes to the issues in life we worry about:

1Cast your bread upon the waters,
    for you will find it after many days.
Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
    for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.

My mind went to the image of bread that I have cast on duck ponds and I visualized how it falls apart and is immediately eaten.  But God is saying don’t worry about being a generous person but generously cast your bread because it will return to us many days later.

If the clouds are full of rain,
    they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,
    in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. 

My very wise Dad always says to me, “Stop worrying about things over which you have no control”. My very sovereign Heavenly Father also says not to worry about things we cannot alter-all the “what-ifs” –clouds, rain, trees that fall.  We can’t change those things.

He who observes the wind will not sow,
    and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

How many times have I looked at the weather and decided not to enjoy my day because it was raining on my parade.  God says don’t worry about less than ideal conditions because we cannot live our lives only on the most favorable conditions.

As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

I don’t understand the path of the wind or how bones are formed in the womb of a pregnant woman. But I do know the God who makes all things and understands all things.

In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

How many times have we planted seeds and wondered, “Which ones of these will take?” God says don’t be worried about that; don’t worry about the reaping-focus on the sowing.

An obscure verse that was not nearly as familiar to me as the chorus of Hakuna Matata challenged  me to have the boldness to BANISH anxiety and live according to a Biblical  worry-free philosophy! I pray it challenges you too!