But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10: 41-42 (NLT)
Upset over all these details! Isn't that just like us sometimes! But look what Jesus says there is only one thing worth being concerned about and that is your relationship with Him! Constantly being thankful to Him keeps your concerns in check. The second lesson from the Matthew verses is that worrying cannot add a single moment to your life. But it can sure take moments away from you can't it? We need to rely upon the promises God has already made to us in His Word, such as Romans 8: 28:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8: 28 (NIV)
We cannot just gloss over verses such as this because there
is so much power in them. Liberating power. No matter what trial you are
facing, no matter what valley you find yourself in, God is still working all
things out for your good! No matter the pain and the tears. No matter the
heartache and the sorrow ALL THINGS. We have a tendency to forget what God
has already done in our lives. All that He has delivered us from. We
compartmentalize whatever situation we find ourselves in and treat it as a
separate event from the rest of our lives. Think of David and Goliath. The
giant was over nine feet tall and there was not one fighting man in
But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." 1Samuel 17: 34-37 (NIV)
David remembered what God had already done in his life. He knew he never should have survived the bear or the lion. Think about it. He was a teenage shepherd boy yet he killed a lion and a bear!! Because David had a grateful heart he knew that the giant did not matter. Because David had a grateful heart he knew that he himself did not really matter. Because David had a grateful heart, he knew that God was the only thing that mattered. A grateful heart is full of faith. That brings us to the next lesson from the Matthew Scriptures and that is that worrying is actually a manifestation of a lack of faith in God. Sound harsh? Let's look at the words of Jesus in several situations. First in response to Peter sinking because he believed the waves around him instead of the Lord before him, Jesus said this:
Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. "You have so little faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?" Matthew 14: 31 (NLT)
Second in response to the Disciples being terrified by the storm and worried they were all going to drown Jesus said this:
