Worry Again*

Now I think it has been 3 different speakers of late that have mentioned worry or Anxiety.  So now I feel like God is really speaking to me about this subject.  Here us a verse from Proverbs: Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.  Proverbs 12:25 When I was young I thought worry was normal part of me. I thought it was part of my particular personality, I was a worrier. Just like I use to be quiet, it was just part of me.  I am no longer very quiet, somewhere along life's road, I changed. God wants to change us to conform us from our sinful patterns to a good life in him. Anxiety in our hearts weighs us down.  A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken. Proverbs 15:13   Heaviness in the heart of man makes it stoop: but a good word makes it glad.  Proverbs 12:25   I remember in about the third or fourth grade a friend asked me why I was always so serious, I just really figured it was part of my personality. We are raised in a broken world. All around us is brokenness. We hear it on the news, we read it on facebook. Brokenness and bad news. It is all around us and it makes for a heavy heart especially when we are anxious about things. God does not want us to be anxious about anything. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  1 Peter 5:7.  God does not want us to have anxiety or go around worrying. He tells us to cast all our cares and worries on him. God wants us to be glad, to be joyful, to have a cheerful face. Christians are not to be sad. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always and I say again rejoice, that is what God's word tells us. We are not to be weighted down with worries or cares. I remember the days of worry, and I still try to worry sometimes, but God wants us to trust him. Every one of our days have been laid out by God, He has a purpose for us and even when we because of our sinfulness get sidetracked, God works in our lives to bring us back to his purposes.  Worry is not one of the things God asks us to add to our lives, it is something he wants out of our lives. He is a sovereign God, he is in control. I think of the book I have been reading about the Children of Israel as they near the Red Sea. God had them right where he wanted them. They began to worry, they were fearful. Here was Pharaoh on his way to attack them and bring them back to Egypt, but God did not want his people in Egypt. He was bringing them to the promised land. He wanted them right here, at the edge of the Red Sea with nowhere to go.  They cried out to God Save us. God did. That is what he wanted, God wanted them and us today to look to him. God is our provider, he is our protector. He feeds the birds. When you look at it, have not so many species of birds survived from the time of creation. I had two or three wild bunny rabbits huddled together, hidden in the flower garden. Creation has survived since God created all things. God wants what is best for us. Trials are sometimes character building exercises designed by God  to fix something in us. God wants us to look to him, cast all our cares on him, for he cares for us.  Be joyful and rejoice. God is still on his throne. He is still sovereign.  God bless, LVZ.