RENEW YOUR MIND - ANXIETY

 

How are you thinking today?

Did you wake up this morning worrying about how you would provide for your necessities?  Did you lie awake all night wondering how you were going to get bills paid?  

What does Scripture say about anxiety and our daily provisions?  Let's look at Philippians 4:6-7:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

 And what about here in Matthew 6:26-34: 

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not [c]arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

“Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  

Now, let's be clear, one of the commands from God when He put Adam in the Garden was that he was to tend the Garden.  That was Adam's responsibility.  God provided him and Eve with food, but they weren't to sit around and just expect God to feed them.  They had to tend to the Garden.  Just because the birds of the air don't sow nor reap doesn't mean they don't work for their food, either.  They, along with every other creature God created has to hunt for their food.  So, when it says we aren't to worry or be anxious about our daily provisions, it's not saying we just sit around and wait for it to drop in our laps.

If we are obedient to God's command to provide for our families, He will make sure we have what we need to survive.  God created mankind to work and in return He will help provide for our NEEDS.  He doesn't provide for our selfish wants.

So, don't live in anxiety about how you will make it from one week to the next.  If we live in obedience to Christ, do the work that's required of us, stay in constant prayer for our needs and the needs of others, and keep our focus on His Kingdom, God will take care of us.  That's His promise and He is faithful to keep His promises.