Mark 4:3; 7 "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. Some seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.”
As I sat down to do my morning devotion, I could not concentrate; the words in my Bible were just a blur on the page as my mind went elsewhere. The subject of my thoughts is most likely the same as every single person who has been here, concern for a loved one who I want to be safe, who I want the best for, and who is enmeshed in a battle that I cannot control. How often have I let my worries, my anxieties and my fears control me and rob me of what God has for me? I must admit, far too often. It’s interesting; I was just thinking about how these past years I have been able to just sit before the Lord and soak up His goodness, His grace, His mercy, His love, His comfort and His peace. It took the death of my precious child for me to come to a place where worry was no longer an issue, because after all, my mind always takes my worry down the rabbit hole to the same place where I would ask myself, what is the worse that could happen? And it did. The worse thing I could ever have imagined actually occurred; my child passed away; he is gone and he now resides in his eternal home in Heaven.
Matthew 6:25-26 says, "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 than food, and the body more 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?” This passage of Scripture tells me that my Father in Heaven cares about me and that I am valuable to Him. He promises me that He will take care of me and that I don’t have to worry like an unbeliever does. God knows exactly what I need and all I have to do is look up and focus on Him and He will lovingly provide for me. Unfortunately, sometimes I think I need to get in there and fight the battles myself and when I do this, I tend to get frustrated, not only with the fact that I cannot control what other people do, but with God for not doing what I think He should be doing.
Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” When I read the words of Jesus, at times my thoughts tend to catapult me to that grassy slope where I am standing with all the other people who came to listen to this unique Man who spoke these astonishing words with such authority. He wasn’t speaking from experience; He was speaking as God, as our Creator, as the One who knows how we will function best.
In September, 1988, Bobby McFerrin released a worldwide hit song entitled “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” It became the first a capella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a position it held for two weeks. People are starving for an answer on how to combat worry and this song, which was the famous theme song in the Disney movie “Lion King,” urges us and our children not to worry and to just be happy, but this is the world’s answer to worry. All this does is slap a platitude on our worry and it says, just don’t do it. Does that really help? Our Lord, teaches us something completely different. Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:34) and then He says, “I have come that you would have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) The answer to worry is simple, His name is Jesus. I guess you could say that I don’t have to worry about Elisha any longer because he is now safe in the arms of my Savior, right? Unfortunately, there will always be someone else I that I love or something else that I will have a tendency to worry about. When I will apply His truth each and every morning, I am able to “listen,” I am able to trust, I am able to look up and focus on my Savior and when I do, all of the worry, all of the distractions of this world fade away and do not choke out the fruit that a personal and intimate relationship with my Lord will bring.
-- Melody
