The Need to Move from Fear to Faith

 

As I sit here tonight, after a busy day of friends, family and fellowship in God’s house, I wonder why it is I am so tired. Not physically tired, although that is present also, but emotionally tired. Mentally tired.

 

What is this pensiveness, this melancholy? I really can’t complain about my day. Being with other believers in God’s house, worshipping together in song, listening to God’s Word being expounded upon, enjoying the company of family and friends, feasting on the provisions of the Lord, physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally. There is no logical reason for this feeling of malaise.

 

As I read over some of my notes in an old notebook, I am reminded of something that loves to rear its ugly head every so often. Something that revels in bringing discontent, dissatisfaction, frustration and even unbelief.

 

What is this horrible little thing? Worry. Yes. Worry.

 

The dictionary defines worry as ‘the state of being anxious and troubled over actual or potential problems’.

 

Interesting isn’t it how it’s not just anxiousness over ‘actual’ problems, but it’s also being troubled over ‘potential’ problems. As in, the problems that may never happen. The circumstances that may never eventuate. Those dreaded sleepless nights of fear and worry, fretting over possible outcomes, that may never even come to pass.

 

Basically, worry is a lack of faith. Unbelief. Worrying about tomorrow is looking at the future as if God will not be there to care for us. We know full well, if we read our Bibles, that God promises to never leave us or forsake us. He will be there tomorrow, and the next day, and the one after that. He is not a fair-weather friend. He doesn’t leave when the going gets tough. He doesn’t leave because he finds someone more likeable than us.

 

I am in need of this gentle reminder, and I trust that if not today, then another time, when you find yourself teetering on the brink of faith or fear, about to fall into a downward spiral of worry, you will find strength in some of what I want to share.

 

How is it that we can trust God and count on his provision in our lives? How do we know we can trust him and cease worrying, and grab hold of faith?

 

Let’s look at a passage in Matthew.

 

Matthew 6:25-26 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

 

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

 

One of the reasons you can trust God, is that you are valuable to him. In verse 26, we read that God takes care of the birds, he feeds them, he provides for them, and if he can do that for them, then he can do it for us. We are even more valuable to God than the birds. We are God’s priceless treasure.

 

Another reason you can trust God is that your situation is under God’s control. Aren’t you glad that God has your circumstances in hand and knows all things and controls all things and not you? If it was left up to us, we’d make a terrible mess. We can be at peace, knowing that God is in control. We don’t need to worry that he will make a mistake. A perfect, all-knowing, all-loving God, who holds the world in his hands, is not going to mess it up.

 

You will be taken care of. We don’t have to worry that God will not take care of our future and our day-to-day needs.

 

Matthew 6:28-30  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

 

God provides for the flowers, and he clothes the grass of the field. You are so much more to him than these things.

 

Your needs are known to God.

 

Matthew 6:31-32 - Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

 

As I read these verses, tears come to my eyes. I realise that my thinking is all wrong. In worrying over the future, I have let unbelief rise in my heart. For some reason, I have begun to think that God doesn’t know my problems and that he doesn’t understand the situation. But the last part of verse 32 hits me hard with the truth. “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things”.

 

God knows. He is aware. He understands. He knows what I need. He knows the desires of my heart.

 

Why is it we worry about what we need? Why is it we fret and stress over our needs being provided?

 

I read this quote many years ago and when I feel worry welling up inside me, it comes to mind and it’s like being hit over the head with a lump of wood, jarring me back to my senses.

 

“Worry is allowing problems and distress to come between us and the heart of God. It is the view that God has somehow lost control of the situation and we cannot trust Him”

 

How is it that we can get to the place that we feel God has lost control of the situation and is now untrustworthy, and we need to grab hold of the reins and take matters into our own hands?

 

Sad. But it’s what we do. There is no way that worry will fix our problems. All we do is empty today of its strength.

 

             Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow.                       It empties today of its strength.

Corrie Ten Boom

So how do we stop this endless cycle of worry? Swinging back and forth from fear to faith, then back to fear, then back to faith and so on.

The answer is found in Matthew 6:33.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

A very well-known verse, but not a very well-practiced one, sadly. If we make the choice to seek God first, before anything or anyone else, pursuing God with all our heart, seeking to please him and obey him, then he will take care of everything else.

We don’t need to worry over the future. God says that if we seek him, ‘all these things shall be added unto you’. What things? The things that were mentioned in the verses before.

The things that your Heavenly Father knows you need.

What a blessed promise to remember.

I didn’t consciously start out to fill my mind with worry and thoughts of tomorrow. But it happened. There is a lot going on at present and we are currently living with a lot of uncertainty. But I needed to be reminded that although life is uncertain and the future is unknown, I can trust God. He knows my future and he knows what I need. He will provide.

My job is not to worry, my job is to seek God. Seek God first. With my whole heart. With my every being. With each waking moment. Trusting him. Relying on him. Disciplining my mind to think on good things. Right things. Praying without ceasing. Casting my cares on him. Taking my burdens to the foot of the cross and leaving them there. Letting God deal with them.

If I fill my days with worry, all I’m doing is blinding myself to all the blessings he has given me today. I am choosing to shut my eyes to his goodness, love and mercy, and every good thing he has blessed me with today, and I am being consumed by tomorrow’s issues before they’ve even arisen.

All I’m doing is adding to my burden. Trying to carry today’s burden as well as tomorrows, resulting in more weight than I can bear.

God, help me to trust you. Help me to move from fear to faith. Help me to seek you with my whole heart. Forgive me for my unbelief. Help me not to be anxious and fretful but trusting and believing and submissive to your will. Amen