Surrender your worries. Do you do that? It is a daily battle for me. However, God is the one we can surrender those worries to. His Word gives us guidance on what we need to live more peacefully and with health.
Surrender Your Worries: Why?
Command to Not be Anxious
It is a command to surrender your worries to God. Jesus said this in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:25-34.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.“ Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:25-34
1. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing
More than Food
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
So many times, I am worrying about food. Not that I won’t get any but when will I get it. I get headaches if I don’t eat, like a meeting that went long 2 weeks ago at work….
More than clothing
3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 1 Peter 3:2-4
Yesterday, going to wedding in the afternoon, but in the morning — heading to the store, and ensuring my makeup is on and covering up the blemishes.
2. Jesus gives examples of this – the birds
They don’t reap or sow or gathering. God feeds them. It is a daily trust to go out to a yard, a bird feeder nearby, or a field.
Are you not more than them?
Being anxious can add a single hour to the span of your life? Worry can affect our health —
Affects Your Health
Nervous system –Worrying too much can trigger it to release “stress hormones” that speed up your heart rate and breathing, raise your blood sugar, and send more blood to your arms and legs. Over time, this can affect your heart, blood vessels, muscles, and other systems — Webmd dot com
Muscles – tense up – shoulders – lead to headaches or migraines. For me personally, worry has lead to muscle cramps that I get at night.
Heart—-It can make you more likely to have high blood pressure, a heart attack, or a stroke. Higher levels of anxiety can trigger those stress hormones that make your heart beat faster and harder. If that happens over and over, your blood vessels may get inflamed, which can lead to hardened artery walls, unhealthy cholesterol levels, and other problems.
Stomach – butterflies, nervous, can lead to ulcers or sores in your stomach
I say all this – because Jesus knew, before we had all this medicinal knowledge, that it affects our bodies.
Going back to our passage in Matthew 6
3. Lilies of the field
See how they grow, neither toil nor spin — Solomon all glory was not a arrayed like one of these —
Talk about flowers -Beautiful gardens? IAO Valley State Park in Maui and gardens….
Will he not clothe you?
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Genesis 3:21
I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Matthew 25:36
Surrender Your Worries: What is the cause?
- Ambition and hard work can affect your worries. Psalm 127:2
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Psalm 127:2
2. The day to day grind can affect your sleep.
When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out. Ecclesiastes 8:16-17
3. Looking at the circumstances instead of keeping our eyes on God – dark night, Peter and disciples in boat & the waves were crashing around them Then saw Jesus walking on the water towards them.
28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind,[e] he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” Matthew 14:22-33
4. Looking to the future…. worrying about things that have not happened – don’t know how things will work out.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:13-14
One of my favorite verses is in Proverbs 16:9, we can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.
Tips on How to Worry Less and live more Peacefully with Health
- Surrender your worries – repent of your worries and give them to God. Journal prayers to God and put down what your worries are and release them to God. “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19-20.
- Take thoughts captive – 2 Corinthians 10:5
- Spend time resting. That is what Sunday’s are designed by God for us to do. Rest on the seventh day. “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.” Genesis 2:2
- Be consistent in your prayers daily. And in Romans, we are told to “rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Romans 12:12 ESV
- Have Faith – — your heavenly Father knows that you need them all, Seek God’s Kingdom first – his righteousness – and all these things added to you. (Matthew 6:30-33); He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. Psalm 111:5
- Don’t worry about tomorrow – today has enough troubles. (Matthew 6:34)
