Pastor’s Pen: Let God help you deal with your worries

Periodically the local highway authority will have the roads skimmed with a grader and driving will become much easier - until the next heavy raid then it is back to the same old bumpy roads.

A statement I read recently said: “Worry is a trickle of fear that meanders through the mind until it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts drain.”

There is so much to worry about, our health, or health of a loved one. We worry about our families; keeping our job in today’s uncertain times; paying the mortgage or rent; will my pension be enough to pay my bills?

Worry robs us of sleep, peace, and for many Christians, robs us of being able to believe the Scriptures that tell us that it is useless to worry. Matthew 6: 27 says: “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” Worry never changed the outcome of anything.

I find it not altogether strange that when a new worry takes hold of my mind how easily I forget how God got me through my last ordeal.

Dr David Jeremiah wrote: “If only we could see our problems from the panorama of Providence and from the vista of His sovereignty.”

The apostle Paul, in Philippians 4:6 wrote: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers.”

Worry is our natural human response to the pressures of life, but quoting again from David Jeremiah: “Peace is God’s supernatural gift for our hearts. If a trickle of fear is meandering through your mind and cutting a deep channel, unleash the flood of God’s peace. He is in control. He is in His holy temple and on His mighty throne. He can bear the load and grant you peace.”

Finally, consider the first verse of one of my favourite hymns: “In heavenly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear. And safe in such confiding for nothing changes here. The storm may roar without me, my heart may low be laid, But God is round about me, and can I be dismayed?” Read Psalm 42.