Read Matthew 6:25-34

I praise God that anxiety and worry hasn’t plagued my life as it has others. For some reason, I have always been quick to not fret about what I can’t control and surrender it to the Lord.

However, this season of life has been much different.

Kelly and I are in a stage where there is a lot going on and we’re trying to piece everything together. I would say that this season with two young kids has had me experience anxiety and worry for really the first time ever. There have been times where I can feel my chest literally tighten. There have been times where I have had to excuse myself to cry out emotions that come welling up to the surface. I have felt physically ill as I consider all the plates we are juggling, the future that our kids are going to experience, and the fact that there will come a point where I can’t control that.

It makes me sick.

It’s easy, believe me, to get stuck in this season of worry. What is the future going to hold? How is this going to work out? Are we going to be okay? How are we going to pay for this? If you’re not careful, you can find yourself obsessed with worrying about things that you have no control over. There have been several times where Kelly and I have had to sit down and sift through all the junk and boil it down to the things that only we can control.

There’s so much in our reading today that helps us in times of uncertainty:

“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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

This puts things in perspective, doesn’t it? If God cares for animals that provide nothing of eternal significance, doesn’t it make sense that He will provide for us all the more?

During a recent anxious season with Kelly and I, we told each other, “You know, God has provided for us so far. He’s not going to stop now.” This doesn’t mean that God is going to snap His fingers and solve our problems, but, all things considered, we are going to be okay.

“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.”

As followers of Christ, our priorities should be different than those around us. People worry about things that, when considering eternity, don’t matter. Our focus shouldn’t be on earthly things but the eternity that is to come and those who, if they were to die today, would miss out on eternal life with Jesus.

Are you allowing your feelings about uncertainty to occupy a space in your mind and heart that they shouldn’t? Do they have more power than they should?

Friend, God knows your struggles. He’s right there with you.

If you find yourself in an anxious and worrisome season, look back over your life and identify all the areas where God has provided for you.

He’s done it before and promises to continue doing it.

He’s not going to stop now.

Look over the promises of our reading today and re-align your priorities and surrender your anxiety and worry to the Lord.

Place them at His feet and turn your focus to things of eternal significance.

Jake Lawson