Does this passage resonate with you?
“Blessed be the Lord!
For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.” -Psalm 28:6-7
Me too!
I can say that no matter how you answered that question, it resonates with me too.
You see, many times I cry out to Him and I sense His help.
And many other times, too many to count, I don’t cry out to Him. I respond to life with worry and only my own actions. Therefore, I don’t sense His strength and shield; I sense stress. My heart doesn’t exult. My song is one of self-pity instead of praises to the Lord.
For most of us, we do both! Isn’t it sad that the Lord misses out on (and we do too) our hearts exulting in and praising Him?
Worry is a word that gets tossed around a lot without much thought of what it truly means. Let’s look at the word very closely:
Worry – refers to the thoughts, images, and emotions of a negative nature in a repetitive, uncontrollable manner that results from a proactive cognitive risk analysis made to avoid or solve anticipated potential threats and their potential consequences. Worry is described as a response to a moderate challenge for when the subject has inadequate skills. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
And from dictionary.com…
Worry – to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” – 1 Peter 5:6-11
Another definition may be in order:
Humble: having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance.
Worry seems to be an indirect way we attempt to, in some way, control our circumstances. If that’s true, then it makes sense why we’re encouraged to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.
Let’s lower our estimate of our own importance in chewing on our circumstances and remember that we are under God’s mighty hand. Let’s cast these anxieties on Him.
Why give up our feeble attempts at having control?
Because He cares for us!
Let’s elevate His importance and acknowledge His help in our lives so that He is glorified.
If you, like me, have found yourself to be in a season of being a worry wart, no worries! It’s a bad mental habit and bad habits can be broken. It may be a sin to rely on ourselves instead of God, but Jesus’ perfect life has covered our many sins.
We are free to live in new ways!
I’ll admit to you that my biggest challenge in this area is going down the “what if” road. Once I take that road, my mind can easily catastrophize the future. One “what if” thought can lead to an entire scenario played out like a movie in m y mind. That movie gets my heart rate going and from there I might go to Google to find out all I can about a subject. After investigating, I worry more or make my own plans. Before I know it, I’ve left Jesus totally out of the picture.
Just like you, I go through seasons of feeling full of faith and trust. These seasons gradually give way to other seasons that feel dark and scary. The pattern I see that is the catalyst for the dark seasons is a lack of intentionally pursuing God and His Word and being lazy in my thinking.
Will you join me, once again, in turning the mind from wasteland thinking to graceland thinking? Let’s turn away from all that easily entangles us and turn once again toward Jesus, His Kingdom, and His grace.
He has covered our sins and He enables us to move toward Him.
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Linking up this week wtih these awesome bloggers!
a thoughtful post on a common plague – thanks, Amy – a mom’s job to worry, mom always said – i thought that not very spiritual – then I became one!
Haha! I think I’ve said that myself! I think we have natural instincts to care and there is a fine line between care and worry. Still trying to figure that out!
I love your words “Let’s lower our estimate of our own importance in chewing on our circumstances and remember that we are under God’s mighty hand. Let’s cast these anxieties on Him.” Our church just had a similar teaching “Our hurts are small compared to our sins, let our gratitude to Jesus for forgiveness of our sins be so much more than our hurts.” Keeping the perspective of who we are and who God is changes everything. Thank you!
Wow Jenny, that really is a key to a solid walk with the Lord. Proper perspective of who we are and who God is. I think I need to re-align my perspective more than once, daily! Thanks for visiting!
That’s quite an eye-opening definition for worry! I like your explanation of the need to humble ourselves and realize we aren’t in control and don’t have the ability to handle many issues. But so good to know that our loving Father does!
I know, right? That definition hit me hard with the reality of what we do to ourselves when we worry! Thanks for visiting, Donna!
It’s incredible (and sort of funny) that we imagine that we have issues that are beyond God’s ability to manage. And then our prayers become advice to God. Thanks for this good word, Amy, because worry comes to my heart sometimes before the urge to pray.
Yes—it’s good, perhaps, to step back and look at what funny creatures we are before such an amazing God. I wonder if he shakes his head or laughs. I’m sure it’s neither but looks upon us with love and care. Thanks for admitting the struggle too. 🙂
Great post Amy, I like your various definitions of worry & anxiety that you included.
Chronic ill health has helped me to funnily enough be less worried & totally lean on Him for all those previous cares.
I believe being in the profession we are in gives rise to the extremes that can occur in life which adds to our concerns.
It comes back to trusting God…doesn’t it! 🙂
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer…those definitions were helpful to me too! Praise God that He has helped you in your chronic health challenge. I have the same and it has been used in similar ways. Odd–but it seems like the big things like that are easier for me to trust God in than some smaller things! Yes–it all definitely comes back to trusting God!
Yes, I want to make that journey from “wasteland to graceland”! Worry and anxiety can bombard us, and we do get lost in a wasteland! Thanks for a great reminder! I know I needed it! Visiting from GraceMoments link up.
Thanks Cheryl, I’m journeying right along with you…every single day!
Hi Amy, As a recovering worry wart your post resonates deeply with me. I love the visual of God being our shield. He is so good to protect us even if it is from ourselves. I pray that we will all remember to take our worry to Him in those dark times you wrote of. Many blessings!
Ooooh…I hadn’t even thought of that—God shielding us even from ourselves! Yikes–that may have to become part of another blog post!! Thank you for praying that prayer!
What a lovely post. Thank you so much for this.
Thank you for visiting!
That “what if” road seems to be at the intersection of each of our lives at times, doesn’t it? Thanks for sharing the verses and the truth, Amy. 🙂
Yes, Brenda…always before us! But that doesn’t mean we have to go down that road! Let’s stay on the right path together!
Amy,
Oh, the temptation to walk down the “what if” road and the reminder to humble myself and cry out to God for help instead. Thanks 🙂