Loved this blog post by Tim Challies about worrying.
The Bible study my Circle just finished was about breaking the worry habit and the author, Elizabeth George, repeatedly pointed out that we are commanded not to worry and the different ways we need to trust God with everything. (Back to Uniformity with God’s Will 🙂
You should read the entire post by Tim Challies, but here are some snippets.
He is studying Ruth and starts to wonder why Naomi didn’t also go work in the fields:
And this led me to wonder if she was experiencing the kind of paralysis that can come when we are overwhelmed with worry. Naomi is convinced that God is sovereign, but she is not at all convinced that he is good.
Then he leads into a time when he was very worried (over finances of course).
I think there are times when we feel like we need to worry, like if we don’t worry, God won’t pay attention. We can feel that our worrying is effectual, like it is effective, like it gains the ear of God.
This looks so familiar – I’ve been here:
If I stopped worrying, God would stop providing; I just knew it. I truly believed that my worrying was effectual, bringing about what I desired. I had to worry, didn’t I? If I didn’t worry, who would? If I didn’t worry, God would think I was complacent about the money and wouldn’t provide. My part was to worry and his was to provide.
But of course, the truth is:
My worrying did not bring God closer to me; actually, my worrying pushed God away from me. It was untrusting, it was anti-faith, it was the very opposite of prayer. And God was good to me still.
