Day 53 "Worrying is to faith as David was to Goliath."

Day 53

Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Jesus is doing all He can with His time on the earth to equip His people for the trials of daily life, and His words are truly everlasting. They are meant not only for the generation who saw Him walk this earth but also for those generations yet to come until the day we see His return.

The primary focus of this passage is the act of worrying. Here the word literally means to be distracted or preoccupied to the point of causing anxiety or stress. He begins the passage with a call to avoid such foolishness using, as an example, the things on earth which He created such as animals and plants, things without souls, items of somewhat lesser value than those of us created in His image, which is all mankind. He goes on to remind us that it is God who ultimately provides for all life. For us to worry is to walk without faith, and as we know from Hebrews 11:6, “…without faith it is impossible to please God….” “Worrying is to faith as David was to Goliath,” the deliverer of the blow of death. When we worry, we place God on the shelf with other useless, lifeless items and make fear and anxiety the crutch upon which we lean. Jesus is not telling us to be lazy and avoid planning to provide for our needs. What He is saying here is don’t let it consume you and drive you to the point of forgetting that ultimately God is your provision. He makes this point very clear in verse 33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

When we make fellowship with God the first and primary focus of our lives, everything else truly does seem to become less important and much more insignificant. Remember the old saying, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Well, I have an addendum, “Absence makes the mind to wander.” Anytime we are separated from anyone or anything for very long, we begin to run scenarios and question the depth of the relationship: the same is true with our relationship with God, when we are not consistent in our fellowship with Him, we soon forget His desire to provide and care for us, and the devil truly loves to fuel that fire. Make God first and throw vanity out the window. Remember not to worship the world but rather the one who created it and worry will soon be a thing of the past!

Daily Prayer: Father, help me today to leave the cares and worries of this world at your feet, at the altar of grace and mercy, and give me the peace and the faith to trust you, my Lord, to fulfill my needs. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

"Worrying is to faith as David was to Goliath."

Pastor Gene Burroughs Servant