Why Worry Christian?

By Chuck Ness

It has been said that while money is the biggest stumbling block to the rich, worry is the biggest stumbling block to the poor. However, I have read about many rich people worrying about their money and I have known many poor people who have stumbled with what little money they did have.

We live in the most powerfully affluent society the world has ever seen, not since Solomon ruled Israel has a country been so affluent as America is today. Why even the poor are wealthy when compared to the poorest people in places like Bangladesh. Even with the country in a virtual lockdown over the COVID virus, America is still the country everyone wants to come to for success and tranquility in their lives. Which says something about the rest of the world.

Lets consider some of the items the so-called poor in America own. New cars, cell phones, computers, televisions, stereos, they even have money in the bank. We also have the best health care system the world has ever seen, even after the left has done what they could to destroy it in the name of equality. Yet, the average American lives longer then anyone else on the planet.

Which brings me to today’s topic, “Worry”. Americans worry more about things in their life than else on the planet. Outside of the current COVID crisis, cardiovascular problems may be the biggest medical problem the world faces. Yet in America the #1 reported medical problem is anxiety attacks. We worry too much. Sometimes I think that we get so bored because we are so well off, that we begin worrying about things we imagine might go wrong.

Americans are so well off, that we literally create maladies where none exist jus to feel special or to get sympathy. We even have web sites dedicated to the discussion of anxieties and our daily worries. There are over 200 million web sites dedicated to the subject of worry or anxiety. I found one web site that asked people to email in about the thing they worry about the most. Here are a couple I jotted down.

One person said they worry that the day they do not pay to be in the lottery, it will win, then everyone will quit and they will be stuck doing all the work. Another one said they worry that their cat will lie on their face when they are sleeping and I will suffocate to death. Makes you wonder why they even have a cat if that's their fear. One woman wrote that she worries that there might be spiders and other bugs in her bed, and that when she is sleeping they will crawl all over her and get into my mouth, nose, and ears. Then there was my favorite, this lady worried that one day they will stop making chocolate and that they will starve to death.

In a study that came out about 5 years ago, it stated that the #1 thing people worry about is about things that will never happen. Wow, talk about living in fear by worrying. The Apostle Paul told us to be anxious about nothing, but in prayers and supplications to let your needs be known to the LORD. Philippians 4:6

If there was ever a person who had a right to worry, it would have been Job. Allow me to remind you of the troubles Job found himself faced with one day when our LORD bragged to Satan about His servant Job.

One day GOD asked Satan to consider His servant Job. God told Satan, that there was none like him in all the earth. God told Satan that Job was a blameless and upright man, one who feared God and shunned evil? Satan asked God to remove His hedge of protection from Job and that Job would curse God. Well we all know that God agreed, God even went so far as to eventually allow Satan to inflict Job physically to prove Job would not curse Him.

We know the plight Job went through. Job lost everything in five tragedies that struck almost simultaneously. First Sabean raiders stole his oxen and donkeys, then fire killed his sheep and his herdsman. No sooner had that tragedy happen that Chaldean raiders stole his camels and killed his servants, and as if things could get no worse, a tragic calamity took his children when a strong wind collapsed the house where all his children were at a party and they all perished. Yet Job never cursed God, he instead praised Him by saying, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:21

That's when God allowed Satan to attack Job physically with a terrible case of boils, possibly leprosy or elephantiasis. To make matters worse his loving wife tells him to curse God and die, and three so-called friends tell him to repent for sins, that he knows he has not committed.

Makes you not want God to brag about you doesn’t it?

After all that, you would expect Job to at least start worrying, but what does he do instead? He calls himself accursed from birth, but never once blamed God. Nor did he ever worry about his future. Instead when you read the book of Job, you will find that he accepted his newfound lot in life.

Jesus tells us that it is a sin to worry. If we worry we are not trusting in God to care for us, thus we have no faith in Him. When a mother holds a baby in her arms does that baby worry what will happen? No! A child eats something a parent says is ok to eat because the child has faith the parent would not lie. Apart from the exceptions to the rule, most parents love and would not purposely harm to their child. Why do we think God would care any less? If God cares so much for plants that are here today and in the fire tomorrow, how much more does He care for us. After all, we will not only judge the earth and the angels, but we will also inherit His Kingdom?

Besides being a sin, worry is a total waist of time and energy. Worry can become a substitute for action, instead of acting upon our need we just sit and worry. We begin to think that nothing is worth living for so we stop living and curl up inside ourselves. Worry warps our perceptions of the world, we begin to think this moment in life is all that matters. That’s when some people turn to drugs or alcohol. Still others end up committing suicide because everything feels utterly hopeless.

Worry kept the Israelites out of the Promised Land for forty years. We all know the story, Moses sent 10 spies to check out the Promised Land. Even though they return with ample evidence to prove God was telling them the truth. Only two of the ten spies, Caleb and Joshua, wanted to go and possess the land. However the people were afraid, they believed the report of the eight who worried they could not defeat the giants they saw in the land God promised them in Canaan. Numbers 13:1-25

So God punished the whole generation, except Caleb and Joshua, for their lack of faith. Their lack of faith caused them to worry. Ultimately, the Israelites worried that their children would be victims of those who live in the land of Canaan. In the end it was their children who inherited the land while their parents, who were the generation of former slaves, were eventually buried in the desert. They died in their disbelief, while their children had enough faith to believe in God's promise.

It is calculated that over 50 million Americans suffer health problems directly or indirectly related to worrying. Some of the problems attributed to worrying by medical experts is

…. Loss of sleep
…. Memory loss due to anxiety brought on by worrying
….Vision troubles, 30% of all vision problems are related to stress over worrying
… An AMA study proved that worrying causes a person’s heart to work harder, which puts extra stress on a person’s cardiovascular system. This extra stress has shown to lead to strokes and heart attacks. Thus the reason the AMA concluded that stress from worrying is the #1 cause of heart attacks.
… The American Dental Association study found that worrying restricts the flow of saliva in the mouth, Keeping the body from neutralizing acids that eat away the enamel on your teeth, leading to tooth decay. Extreme tooth decay has been proven to lead to mental illness.
… Then there is the study from a reputable university that the more a student worries the more their grades suffer.

So if you want to be a sleepy, blind, forgetful, unhealthy, person who has bad teeth tand bad grades in school, then just keep on worrying about things you truly have no control over. Just give it to GOD.

The German word for WORRY is ‘Wurgen” “VERGEN” which actually means to “Strangle” or “Choke”. I like this because Jesus said in the parable of the sower that the seed is like the word of God. Some seed fell among the weeds, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. This is he who received the word but had it choked away by the stress and worries of this world.

Jesus said, "O YE OF LITTLE FAITH". He didn't say, “YE of NO Faith”, but “YE of LITTLE Faith”. Matthew 6:30 Remember this is the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus is talking to and about Christians of Faith. So, unlike non-believers, we Christians have faith in God as our Father, and Jesus as our savior. The question is not IF we have faith, but how much faith do we really have. See Jesus desires for all of us to enter into a deeper faith, the faith of a mustard seed.

That's why He tells us,

“for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. So the end result of worrying is to become a Christian of “Little Faith”? Matthew 17:20

We should not become Christians who are mastered by the circumstances around us, instead we are to master those circumstances by putting our faith in HIM. Are you satisfied just to be out of Egypt, but stuck in the desert? Are you afraid to face the Canaanites and possess the Promised Land?

In the story about David and Goliath, we read that Goliath kept all of Israel at bay for 40 days, because none of the Israeli soldiers would step up and fight Goliath. They all worried he would win, and then they would have to serve the Philistines.

Then a young teenager stepped forward who was not afraid. He did not worry whether or not he would loose. He had the faith of a mustard seed, he had Faith in God. We all know the story. David beat the Giant and cut his head off with his own sword. David went on to become the King of Israel, because he had faith, he did not worry. 1 Samuel 17:1-58

How about Elijah, who challenged 850 prophets of Baal & Asherah to a contest on Mount Carmel. Each side was to sacrifice a bull to their God with out starting the fire. The first one to have their fire started would prove who was the real God. The prophets of Baal and Asherah danced and cried all day, cutting themselves and singing all kinds of chants. When the sun began go down so did their faith in their god, they knew their god had failed them and it was Elijah’s turn to call on his God. He told his young helpers to fill the trench with water so that the wood was floating in water. He stepped up and said a simple little prayer of faith.

"LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again." 1Kings 18:36-37

Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench.

When the chips are down and it all seems hopeless, just ask yourself
Did Elijah worried?
Do you think Job worried?
Do you think Caleb and Joshua worried?
Do you think David worried?
How about Daniel when he was put in the lion’s den, do you think he worried? Daniel ch 6

No! They had total faith that God would be there for them, but if they perished, Then they knew God would just bring them home to His Kingdom.

So I say to you the Saint’s of the God Most High. Do not let the worries about tomorrow’s problems, rob you of today’s joy. Be confident that He who has begun a good work in you, will continue it until the day Shilo returns. Genesis 49:10

I pray that those who have ears to hear will listen to His voice and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen