Matt 6: 25 – 34
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Why do we find it so easy to worry and so difficult to trust God? This is the question that we are forced to examine when we look at the words of Jesus from Matt 6. The problem is that worry seems so natural. It is easy to do and at times it may even seem rewarding. When we don’t know how to solve a problem or an issue, we do the thing that we do know how to do…we worry. Here we need to hear the words of Jesus to our situation. “Do not worry!”
Prayer makes God our priority. It refocuses us from our worries and concerns and reminds us of our dependence upon Him. It is not wrong to wonder how to provide for genuine needs but when it becomes our obsession, it obscures God from our view. God wants us to rely on him and trust him. Prayer is one way that we remind ourselves of these very facts. God is bigger than our problems, bigger than our sickness, and bigger than our needs. God, the creator of the universe is interested in each one of us and promises to take care of our needs. Trust him!
One final thought here, the prayers that we pray in the tough times are not necessarily the best indicator of how we are doing spiritually. It is also how we pray and how we seek God in our good times that equally tell the story. Don’t wait until you know that you need God, seek him, and love him even if your need has not become fully obvious.
