Several years ago when my nephew was six or seven years old, my family was facing a very challenging time due to illness, unexpected changes and financial uncertainty. I had entered seminary that same year, so as a first year philosophy student, I was experiencing my own stressful transition which filled me with some anxiety.
While I was home during a break I drove to the store with my young nephew. Before getting in the car, he had overheard our adult conversation where we were trying to resolve the different challenges we were facing. As I drove away from the house, my nephew began to tell me from the back seat all the things we should be doing and how we should go about doing them. After reaching a stop sign I turned around, looked at him and said, “You don’t need to worry about these things. I worry about them. It’s not your job to figure out these things.”
As soon as I faced forward again, ready to continue driving, I closed my eyes and had a revelation. A weight was lifted off my back. The very same words I had just said to my nephew God had been saying to me for months. Just as I was frustrated that my nephew was worrying about things way beyond his control or ability to resolve, God was probably equally frustrated with me that I worried about many things beyond my control or my ability to resolve.
“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink… Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will take care of itself.”
Jesus utters these beautiful words in Scripture yet we worry about all kinds of things. Most of these are things beyond our reach, so we grow frustrated, angry, anxious and ultimately depressed.
We must trust that if we seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness as Jesus taught, all things will be given unto us. There is no need to grow worried, frustrated, angry, anxious or depressed if we are seeking God’s Kingdom above all else.
Trusting God requires letting go and allowing God to take charge, yet we struggle believing that God will provide what we need. We worry about work, children, finances, the economy, war, politics, global warming etc. We watch 24-hour news networks and worry about things we do not really even care about.
Jesus Christ says to us each day, “Seek me first and all things will be given unto you.” We must hold on to His hand and walk confidently, trusting that He will lead us in the path which leads to peace and fulfillment. As a child holds on to the hand of a parent without any fear and trusting completely that the parent will lead him to a safe place, we must also trust that if we seek God first in all things, He will leads us to salvation.
Picture: Mount Zion, Jerusalem, 2007
Pictures are mine, all rights reserved.
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