Key Verse:
You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ – Isaiah 41:9-10 NKJV

The default setting – worry

How often would you say you worry in a week?  We typically teach, “You should not worry,” or “it is wrong to worry”.  However, how does saying that keep food on our tables and bills paid?  It seems that our default setting is set to worry.  I thought on this throughout out the week and I began to wonder if there is anybody living in the world today that has no worries.  You may say that wealthy people have no worries, but it seems to me that they worry and keep up more mess than folks that have nothing.  I then begin to wonder: is there a way to change our default setting from being someone that worries to someone that has no worries?

As I often do, I took a look at nature, specifically my dog, and noticed how he acts most of the time.  I began to realize that my dog may a bigger worry wart than both you and I; he worries all of the time!  He’s constantly whimpering and whining for attention – especially from my brother; constantly looking for his next meal – truly thinking he’ll never eat again.  If me or my brother go around the house, he goes nuts thinking that we will never come back around the house. Eventually we have to attend to Mac, our dog: pet him, feed him, take him for a walk, and let him sniff our hand now and then.  I often wonder, after 9 years, why does he worry?  Has he not gotten use to these same repetitive routines?

Are we the same way as our pets?  There is something worrying all of us right now as you watch, listen, or read this sermon.  You may have gone to bed last night worrying about something, and may have woke up this morning worrying about something.  As you sit and eat breakfast, watch football today, and eat dinner, there is something that is going to be gnawing at the back of your mind – financially, physically, emotionally, or mentally.

Like my dog, no matter how many times we have gone through and come out of something, we are still going to end up worrying.  But is it truly wrong for us to worry?  Sometimes I feel we use our worries to drive and push us to sometimes do what we felt we could never do.  Other times I feel our worries do us no good and end up leaving us with nothing but headaches and depression.  Then there are the times that our worries force us to look to the Lord – is there anything wrong with that?

Do we need to worry?

I feel that we often need to be reminded of the Lord.  My dog fully understands where his help is going to come from, and so he is going to always call out for his masters. We, on the other hand, are very stubborn and very hardheaded – we have to be reminded who the Master is.  Personally, I feel there is nothing wrong with your worries driving you to the Lord.  However, we don’t often end up turning to the Lord but we end up turning elsewhere.

When you turn to God, Jesus says (Matthew 6:31-32), “do not worry, saying what shall we eat, drink, or wear.”  Often times we have worries and try to figure out how we are going to tackle the challenges.  Yet, Jesus tells us that when we turn to God with these worries, “your heavenly Father knows you need all these things.” So, in other words, take your worries to the Lord who already knows what is burdening you and how to take care of those burdens!  When you turn to God, you don’t have to worry about how He’s going to handle your burdens; don’t worry about God because God’s got you!

It’s wrong to worry about God

What we actually end up doing is not worrying about our burdens, but worrying about whether or not the Lord is taking care of our burdens.  We end up worrying about whether or not our faith in the Lord is going to pay off; worrying about whether or not God’s got you – don’t do that!  We start to worry about whether the Lord really cares about us – don’t do that!  God says that He got us.

The one thing I have come to understand on this spiritual journey is that it takes both faith and understanding to know that God’s got you.  When we don’t fully understanding something, we begin to worry – we start to frantically question how and why. When we don’t fully trust somebody, we begin to worry – we start to frantically wonder what they’re up too.

Our worry comes to down to do we really understand and trust the Lord?  Do you understand the Lord?  Do you trust the Lord?  You see, we can’t understand the Lord because His ways are far above our ways.  The definition of understanding revolves around comprehension; did you fully comprehend what was taught?  However, understanding when it comes to the Lord also means acceptance.  What must grow to accept the Lord’s way!  We must then also grow to trust the Lord’s way!

Let’s try to accept how the Lord thinks about us because once we can accept how the Lord feels about us then we can also begin to feel differently about his.  To trust somebody, you have to accept (understand) them.  The Lord tells us in Isaiah 41:9 that we, believers, have been called (chosen).  We know that we were chosen because in John 3:16 we are told that the Lord loved us, and then sent His only begotten to suffer for us!

Understand this: while the Lord initially had a chosen nation of people (Israel), He also chose to love the world as well.  Regardless of your nationality, the Lord has chosen you to be a child of His should you choose to believe on His only begotten Son – let nobody ever tell you otherwise. You will also notice in Isaiah 41:9 that the Lord says, “I have chosen you and have not cast you away.”  The Lord will not cast you away when you are one of His – this is the Lord’s love towards you!  No matter how sinful of a person you was, once you turn to the Lord, He is will not cast you away as other would do!

One of the most important things that the Lord then tells us can be found throughout scripture, but let’s take a look at Isaiah 41:10.  God tells us not to worry because He is with us!  He says: “don’t be distressed (worried) for [He] will strengthen, help, and uphold us with His righteous right hand”.  In other words, God got you! I feel we often need this reminder because this world can absolutely beat you down and have you feeling that you’re on the battlefield by yourself, but you’re not on the battlefield by yourself when the Lord is on your side.  Understand that this is not rhetoric but this is scripture – sound doctrine.

God tells us that when we are weak that He will strengthen us! Paul cried about the thorn in His flesh, but Jesus told him that He was perfect in Paul’s weakness.  When you are weak, the Lord will strengthen!  God tells us that when we need help, He will be there to help us.  Elijah felt that he was all alone, the only prophet left, when Ahab and Jezebel was killing the righteous in the land.  God told Elijah not to be feeling helpless and alone but go out on the battlefield and face what’s worrying you because I stand here with you.  The Sanhedrin had Peter and John arrested, but the Lord upheld when they went and stood before the council.  Gamiel was so overwhelmed with what he heard that he advised the council to be weary of going up against the apostles, especially if the Lord really was on their side.

Know that God’s got you – don’t ever worry about the Lord.  We are all going to have our worries, our burdens – take them to the Lord and then move out of His way!  That’s another thing, we will take our burdens to the Lord but then we get in His way, trying to tell Him how to take care of our burdens.  Let me be frank here, God don’t need your help! It is us who needs His help!

Psalms 55:22 tells us: “Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”  The Lord will sustain us, when we cast our burdens on to Him.  We must come to accept that this is how the Lord works with His children (believers).  The Lord loves us and tells us that when we go to Him with our worries, we no longer have to be distressed because He got us.

Tags: ,

Thank You For Visiting New Found Faith

Sign up to our newsletter today so that you can stay up to date with New Found Faith