March 13, 2017. Deuteronomy 5-7.

 

What do you worry about? In the English dialect, the word “worry” carries with it the idea of strangling, choking, or torment. In the last week alone, how many hours of sleep or moments of joy did worrying rob from you?  

Worry sneaks in unnoticed and takes up residence almost immediately. The longer it stays the more damage it inflicts. Soon worry opens the door for others to come into your mind and life, like anxiety and paranoia. And always pushing through the door of your mind is that big, dark, unwanted presence of depression and fear.  

The problem is, once worry enters it begins a terrible downward spiral that seems to be able to feed itself. It no longer needs the reality of facts or even a hint of truth, it is now able to generate its own perpetual and destructive force. And before you know it, you feel like you are choking or being strangled and you truly are now in a state of torment.

Worry begins as a state of mind; when your mind just will not “shut-up” and let you alone. Perhaps it was originally connected to a legitimate concern or reality, but worry takes it to an unreal and unmanageable state in your mind and left unchecked the worry will soon manifest itself in your attitudes, words, actions and physical appearance.

This reading from Deuteronomy has the countermeasure for worry.

 

 6:5 You must love him (God) with all your heart, soul, and might. 6 And you must think constantly about these commandments I am giving you today.

 

Love God. Think about His Word all the time. Now you might be thinking, “well if I think about God all the time and His Word, I will be irresponsible with my other responsibilities. I have a  job. I have a family to take care of etc.”

Look at the results of loving God and thinking of Him and His Word constantly:

 

6:10-12 “When the Lord your God has brought you into the land he promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and when he has given you great cities full of good things—cities you didn’t build, wells you didn’t dig, and vineyards and olive trees you didn’t plant—and when you have eaten until you can hold no more, then beware lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the land of slavery. 13 When you are full, don’t forget to be reverent to him and to serve him and to use his name alone to endorse your promises.

 

It remained necessary for the Israelites to move into the Promised Land, and they still needed to fight and work, but they did not need to worry about the outcome or the enemy. As they thought of God and His promises, He would reveal to them through their everyday life, battles, and opportunities, that He is real and that He is with them and there is nothing to worry about.

So try this today and put your mind back in order; stop worrying. Think about God and His Word and let Him do the rest. Breath. It is going to be okay.