Does Worry Help?

Does Worry Help?

Bible: Matthew 6:25-34

Reading

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (V.27)

A friend of mine had a voicemail left on his phone that said, “I’m calling from the police department. Please call me at this number.” He got stressed out straight away! He tried to think what he could have done wrong, or why the police would want to speak to him. He was scared about returning the call and had plenty of sleepless nights, worried that he was in some kind of trouble. The policeman never called back—but it took weeks for the stress to start to fade.

Jesus asked a good question about worry: “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (MATTHEW 6:27). Perhaps this can help us rethink why we are so quick to worry. Worry doesn’t actually help us or change the stuff we’re stressed about.

When problems are on our minds, maybe we can try following these two steps: take action and trust in God. If we can do something to avoid the problem, let’s try it. We can pray for God to guide us in what we should or shouldn’t do. But if there’s nothing we can do, we can take comfort in knowing that God never finds Himself in such a mess. He can always act for us. We should always turn our situation over to Him first, in trust and confidence.

When it feels like it’s time to worry, let’s turn to the words of King David, who faced his own share of stress, but still ended up saying: “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you” (PSALM 55:22).

WHAT WORRIES DO YOU NEED TO GIVE TO GOD TODAY?

Youth Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries