Welcome to Word Wednesday AND the New Testament! Anybody else been waiting for this as much as I have? I know Jesus is foreshadowed all through the Old Testament, but I love it when he actually shows up on the scene in the New. (That might be a cool thing in the next set of Word Wednesday… Where’s Jesus in every book of the Bible? Something to think about.) Drop down to the comments and tell us what touched you most in Matthew, then be ready for Mark next week!
Matthew 6: 28-34 (NIV)–And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Our life is in a huge transition right now. As many changes as we have had over the last 15 years, this one is the biggest, the one fraught with the most uncertainty. The day my husband looked at me and told me this was coming, I weirded out a little bit. After all, he essentially told me we were giving up a “guaranteed” paycheck and the way of life our marriage had always known.
That’s when God looked at me and showed me that my trust was in the wrong place. Trust should not be in paychecks and jobs or financial stability, it should be in Him. Literally, in the week following our new decision, God placed this verse in front of me half a dozen times. A friend who had no clue what we were doing randomly sent it to me in an email. It was on the radio. Our preacher actually preached on it that Sunday. You want peace beyond human understanding? You let God tell you repeatedly that, no matter what happens in the next season of your life, He is going to handle it.
It all comes back to that little word we talk about so often here… surrender. (Seems like everything comes back to surrender, huh?) My job is to let God handle it and to follow where He leads. As long as we are in His will, He will take care of the rest. In this world, that can be a tough one to believe, but that’s what faith is all about, believing what we cannot see. God’s pretty cool like that, isn’t He?
-JB
Carol J. Garvin says
Would you believe what’s quoted on my last blog post?* Yup, Matthew 6:28b-29. No coincidence there, just God’s hand. And today my DD posted** on the final line from Mary Oliver’s “Summer Day” poem: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
I think you’ve got it right: “let God handle it and follow where He leads.”
* (http://wp.me/phaYw-18l)
** (http://bit.ly/lkTVMo)
Jodie says
I’ve got it right in words, Carol. Now I just need to get it right in ACTIONS!
Dawn Lucowitz says
I chose Matthew 6:25-27 because it is one of the sections in the bible I look to and cling to most. I am a huge worrier, and what’s so annoying is that I know it is for no reason at all.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
My favorite part of this passage is the last line. It’s so simple. I love when God is so overtly clear. I love when he “idiot proofs” things for me. He just confirmed that worrying is not going to do me any good at all. If you want to get all psychological and biological, successful arguments will be made that in fact worrying will take hours (well, way more than that), away from your life.
I know God loves me and will take care of me when I listen, follow and allow him to. As I prepare to move yet again, I know I can trust in Him to take care of the details. Things will by no means go perfect, but God will use all the good, bad and ugly for my good. I know that I will be ok; I just have to trust in Him and stop worrying.
Jodie says
“Idiot proof.” 🙂 That hard part is trusting Him to take care of it. I love to go out and be doing. It’s hard for me when I can’t do a thing about what’s going on. Maybe that’s why He keeps testing me there.