Introduction: “One Day at a Time.” “Don’t worry, be happy.” “What –
Me Worry?” I think of the first as a bumper sticker, the second the
slogan of an island, the third a quote from Alfred E. Neuman on the
cover of Mad magazine. Are these words to live by? Or, are they the
thoughts of the short-sighted, lazy and crazy? Generally, my
solution to worry is to work harder, exercise more and plan better.
Am I crazy? What is your approach to worry? Does anxiety cripple
your life and make it less pleasant? Let’s dive into the Bible and
see what we can learn about God’s view about worry!
- Abraham and Worry
- Read Genesis 15:1. What kind of things do you normally
worry about? (Having something bad happen to you or your
family. Being embarrassed by not doing well.) - If the suggested answers reflect your worries, how
does God address them? (God says “I am your shield”
which suggests that He protects us from bad things.
God also says that He is our “very great reward,”
which suggests that we will do well. We will be
rewarded.) - Read Genesis 15:2-3. Abram does not say that he is
worrying. Do you think that he is worried? (God says I
will be your shield and your reward. Abram responds that
God has not shielded him from the family problem of not
having an heir. God has not helped him in the reward
department because he does not have a son to continue his
line and inherit his money. If these are the things we
normally worry about, then Abram is worried.) - Are you like Abram: do you say, “God’s promises are
not lining up with reality?” - Do you worry about what you read in the Bible? For
example, Job, a perfect man, has his children killed
and loses his wealth. We read things in the Bible
that should make followers of God have plenty to
worry about (if they had any common sense), right? - Read Genesis 15:4-6. How does God respond to Abram’s
point about the gap between God’s promises and reality?
(God makes a special promise to Abram that He will close
the gap in the future – and Abram believes God.) - How should we apply this story to our life? (Abram
looked beyond reality to the promise of God. We know
that God in fact came through with His promise to
Abram.) - Read Hebrews 11:11&13. What approach does this
suggest for anxiety? (Trusting the promises of God
even though we do not see them come true in our
lifetime.) - How would you find God’s promise to you? (Perhaps
God will come to us like He came to Abraham and make
specific promises. More likely, we need to search
the Bible for God’s promises concerning things that
cause us worry. Let’s do that next.) - God’s Promise About Relationships
- Read John 14:1-3. What was troubling the disciples?
(Jesus told them that He was going away.) - What kind of worries would that cause? (The
disciples were worried about “their family.” They
were worried about their professional future (see
Acts 1:6).) - Should the disciples have worried about these
things? What do we know about their future that
they did not know? (Their dreams about being
rulers on earth now were dashed. Jesus did not
return to take them home during their
lifetime.) - What promise does Jesus give them that applies to
us? (Jesus said that He would make these things
right when He returned.) - God’s Promises About Stuff
- Read Isaiah 33:15-16. What does God promise the faithful?
(Enough water and enough bread.) - Did the disciples have higher earthly ambitions than
that? What about you?
- Abraham and Worry
- Read Genesis 15:1. What kind of things do you normally
worry about? (Having something bad happen to you or your
family. Being embarrassed by not doing well.) - If the suggested answers reflect your worries, how
does God address them? (God says “I am your shield”
which suggests that He protects us from bad things.
God also says that He is our “very great reward,”
which suggests that we will do well. We will be
rewarded.) - Read Genesis 15:2-3. Abram does not say that he is
worrying. Do you think that he is worried? (God says I
will be your shield and your reward. Abram responds that
God has not shielded him from the family problem of not
having an heir. God has not helped him in the reward
department because he does not have a son to continue his
line and inherit his money. If these are the things we
normally worry about, then Abram is worried.) - Are you like Abram: do you say, “God’s promises are
not lining up with reality?” - Do you worry about what you read in the Bible? For
example, Job, a perfect man, has his children killed
and loses his wealth. We read things in the Bible
that should make followers of God have plenty to
worry about (if they had any common sense), right? - Read Genesis 15:4-6. How does God respond to Abram’s
point about the gap between God’s promises and reality?
(God makes a special promise to Abram that He will close
the gap in the future – and Abram believes God.) - How should we apply this story to our life? (Abram
looked beyond reality to the promise of God. We know
that God in fact came through with His promise to
Abram.) - Read Hebrews 11:11&13. What approach does this
suggest for anxiety? (Trusting the promises of God
even though we do not see them come true in our
lifetime.) - How would you find God’s promise to you? (Perhaps
God will come to us like He came to Abraham and make
specific promises. More likely, we need to search
the Bible for God’s promises concerning things that
cause us worry. Let’s do that next.) - God’s Promise About Relationships
- Read John 14:1-3. What was troubling the disciples?
(Jesus told them that He was going away.) - What kind of worries would that cause? (The
disciples were worried about “their family.” They
were worried about their professional future (see
Acts 1:6).) - Should the disciples have worried about these
things? What do we know about their future that
they did not know? (Their dreams about being
rulers on earth now were dashed. Jesus did not
return to take them home during their
lifetime.) - What promise does Jesus give them that applies to
us? (Jesus said that He would make these things
right when He returned.) - God’s Promises About Stuff
- Read Isaiah 33:15-16. What does God promise the faithful?
(Enough water and enough bread.) - Did the disciples have higher earthly ambitions than
that? What about you?
- Is it possible that some of our anxiety exists
because our material desires are set too high?
Is greed a source of our worry? - Read Philippians 4:11-13. What is Paul’s secret to
avoiding anxiety about his relative wealth? - Read Matthew 6:25. This suggests setting priorities for
our ambitions. What are they? (Life and health are more
important than food and clothes.) - Has this order of importance a bearing on anxiety?
(Let’s read on.) - Read Matthew 6:26. What are we to conclude about worry
from this text? (That God will provide us with food since
He provides the less important birds with food.) - Go back and consider the order of importance: that
our life is more important than food. What is Jesus
saying about our life? (If God will provide for
food, He will certainly provide for our life.) - Is Jesus suggesting that we do not need to sow, reap
or store away? - What have you observed about birds and food: do they
sit around and let squirrels feed them? (Birds are
constantly looking around for food. They work for
their food.) - Since birds are constantly working for food,
but do not sow, reap or store, what should we
conclude about our God and our anxiety about
food? (God gave humans the sow, reap and store
plan. He gave birds the constant looking for
food plan. Whatever the plan of action, worry
is not part of the plan because God is our
ultimate source.) - Read Matthew 6:27. Is it really true that we cannot add
to our life span? A friend of mine recently developed
diabetes because he is obese. Shortly before that he took
up cigar smoking. My son (the medical doctor) said “He
should be worried about his longevity. Take off ten years
for diabetes and another ten for smoking.” Should my
friend not worry? (Look carefully at what Jesus said:
worry will not make you live longer. It will also not
make you taller or better looking. However, my friend
will live longer if he loses weight and stops smoking.) - Read Matthew 6:28-30. What complaint do you hear most
frequently from fellow Christians about how others dress?
(Notice that Jesus does not condemn beautiful clothes. He
condemns worrying about having clothes.) - Recall our priority discussion. What is Jesus saying
beyond clothes? (Since out body is more important
than clothes ( Matthew 6:25), Jesus is telling us
that we need not worry about our body either.) - Read Matthew 6:31-32. How does the world react to the
need for food, drink and clothes? (They work hard for
them. Does this remind you of how I said I react to worry
– work harder?) - Read Matthew 6:33. How should Christians react to the
need for food, drink and clothes? (Instead of running to
make money, we need to run to advance God’s Kingdom. We
need to put righteous living first. This does not mean we
don’t work hard, it means our hard work is kingdom
promoting work.) - Read Matthew 6:34. Is this “one day at a time?” Or, is
this “don’t lose the joy and effectiveness of today by
worrying about tomorrow?” - The web site Bible.org reports from an unknown
source that the average person’s anxiety is focused
on: 40% things that will never happen; 30% things
that cannot be changed; 12% the mostly untrue
criticism of others; 10% about health – which is not
helped by stress; and, 8% about real problems that
must be faced. Is this true in your experience? - Is the answer is “yes,” how important it is to
burn Matthew 6:34 into our consciousness! - Friend, it seems that the solution to anxiety is to trust
God. He may not solve the problem during our lifetime, He
may not do things the way we prefer, but if we decide to
trust His decisionmaking, if we work to advance His
Kingdom, we need not be crippled by anxiety. Will you
determine to trust God?
- Next week: Stress.
