“Exchanging My Rocking Chair for the Rock”
March 21, 2024
“Worry is like a rocking chair, it will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere!”
-Unknown
How many of us can honestly say we are worry free and not preoccupied with the “what ifs” and the worst-case scenarios of life? Or how many of us, who say we live in a worry-free zone are really worry warts who dignify worry by calling it something else like “concern”?
On my first birthday, I was gifted a rocking chair which grew in age as I grew in age. That rocking chair provided many hours of soothing comfort as my little heart often was an anxious heart. Who knows what could trouble a tiny heart. Maybe I was worried my brothers would pull my hair when my parents weren’t looking, but in those times of anxiety, I would hop on the chair and rock away the minutes, and consequently, my worries. The rocking activity was a calming balm to my young heart and mind!
It has not been easy to cure my worry warts! Part of the struggle is that the world suggests remedies for worry warts that are ineffective. For example, I recently read an article about what to say or not say to a worried person. First, what not to say. Avoid platitudes such as, “Don’t Worry!”, “Just Relax!”, or “It’s not worth worrying about!” These are ineffective, anti-anxiety verbal creams for worry, because clearly the person worrying would stop and relax if it were as simple as that.
Secondly, what to say. The article suggested probing a bit by asking, “Can you describe to me how you are feeling right now?”, “What do you need from me?”, and “I’m here for you.” However, true worriers are infrequently comforted with these tactics. Talk is cheap and it doesn’t get to the core of what is causing the worry in the first place.
The world’s remedies are often unhelpful. However, God’s Word has a great deal to say about worry that has more to do with the fact that He is a ROCK and little to do with ROCKING in a chair. His Word offers the remedies which are the true panacea for overcoming worry. One key verse from Scripture, which is a flawless prescription for clearing up worry warts is I Peter 5: 7 –
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
When our fears flare up, and our worries weigh us down, our Heavenly Father would rather we take the worries out of our hearts by “casting” them on Himself. When I think about the word cast, I think about an angler casting out a line. I envision that the line is thrown out as far as possible. This is what God is telling us to do. He tells us to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us.
But how often do we cast our cares, only to reel them back in like the angler does his line? Truly it may be difficult to completely throw our cares upon the Lord, and LEAVE them there, but this is what He wants us to do. He wants us to cast, or throw our cares which are so cutting, distracting, and wounding, upon Himself for He cares for us so completely and purely.
As Holy Week and Easter Sunday approaches, I am reminded just how much my Heavenly Father cares and how His care compels me to cast my worries upon Him. He’s the One who demonstrated His loving care for us by sending His Son to the cross for our sins.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – (Romans 5:8)
I am so thankful that years ago I exchanged my ROCKING chair for the ROCK of my salvation! He is the eternal Rock, who cares for me, and who can be trusted with all that pertains to me.
Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal. – (Isaiah 26:4)