By Neil Earle
“Why do you worry?” Jesus Christ asked his disciples (Matthew 6:28).
He also taught: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear” (Matthew 6:26).
Food, drink, clothing – these are the very things we DO worry about, right?
It’s easy to turn aside Jesus’ commands and say, Simon Peter like, “True, Lord, but you’ve never had to face this Great Recession. My 401K is down in value, my IRAs are shaky, my retirement looks hopeless and my daughter’s ready for college and my mother for the senior’s home.”
All of which reflects today’s grim realities but…one thing we should keep in mind. Our Suffering Servant and merciful Savior had trials aplenty – the stigma of an unusual birth, the terror of a vicious King, fleeing as a refugee when still a baby, the rejection of his brothers, the misunderstandings of his disciples and the ultimate cruelty – death by crucifixion (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus faced it all and he still tells us, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34).
One Greek instructor told his class that the phrase, “Do not worry” or “do not be anxious” has the force of the strongest possible negative, something like you’ve seen in those signs downtown that blare out “Don’t even THINK ABOUT parking here!!”
That is a vital part of Jesus’ everyday teaching to us, “Don’t even think about worry!”
But, let’s face, it that’s hard for all of us human beings to live up to, isn’t it?
Counselors and psychologists have offered some tightly condensed advice for all of us when passing through extreme trials or periods of tension in our lives. They offer a clarifying three-step formula:
A problem correctly stated is sometimes half-way to being solved and there is wisdom in this little paradigm. The Bible is full of case histories of examples 2 and 3. In Daniel 2 we see how the King of Babylon sent out a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be killed. This decree meant life and death to God’s servant Daniel and his three friends. To the King’s Commander in Chief who was dispatched coming to kill him, Daniel applied paradigm Number Two. He simply asked if there wasn’t any way to improve on the situation.
After all, the “worst” here was death – something Daniel wanted to avoid if necessary. “He asked the king’s officer, Why did the king issue such a decree?” The King James Version translates it, “Why is the decree so hasty?” (Daniel 2:15). That shed a slightly different light because often we have a decree from a bank, a court house, a doctor or a boss or a government official (the IRS?) that seems rather arbitrary and unfair. The apostle Paul described facing “the sentence of death” (2 Corinthians 1:9).
What did Daniel do? He tried to improve upon the worst. He simply went to the King and asked for more time Daniel 2:16).
This is good advice. Often in facing our fears and worries we need to have more time to think and pray. Often people standing over us are ready to extend that to us. Daniel used his time wisely. He asked his three friends to join him in in earnest prayer (2:18). Two excellent tactics. In times of anxiety and worry we need to remember to turn to our friends. Daniel got his answer and poured out his soul in thanks to the Great God who had granted him deliverance from death: “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his…He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness” (Daniel 2:20-22).
God does know the future. He already lives in the future we are so worried about. He sees us through our dark times of fear and anxiety. He offers light and help and hope. That’s a great key to “improving on the worst.”
Another example of improving on the worst is the case of King Hezekiah of Judah. This good king had contracted a wasting sickness and was about to die. The worst of it was that the servant Isaiah had been sent to him with the worst possible news from heaven: “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover” (Isaiah 38:1).
“You will not recover!” Wow. What’s worse was the Source of this woeful decree. It was God himself saying, as if in a telegram: “The jig is up. You are going to die. There is no relief coming. Signed, God.”
That’s pretty bleak. Most of us hope God will help us in sickness but Hezekiah was a cocky young king and probably had offended God with his stubborn schemes and self-reliance (Isaiah 30:1). But like Daniel, like so many before him – most notable his ancestor David – King Hezekiah had one ace in the hole: he knew the power of prayer. This young king prayed his heart out with one of the finest petitions to God in the Old Testament. “Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes” (Isaiah 38:3).
Like us, Hezekiah had besetting sins and weaknesses which had finally caught up with him. But Hezekiah knew enough about God to cast all his anxieties upon his heavenly Father. Peter would record that very promise from God years later: “Cast all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7).
Here were cases of servants of God who had to face the worst and were able – with God’s gracious help – to improve upon the worst. This should be encouraging to us amidst our fears and worries. In fact, these examples are written to encourage us (Romans 15:4). But what about when we can’t improve on the worst, when we have a sentence of death, when we have to pay the piper? It’s time to turn to our greatest example of all – the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Garden of Gethsemane before his horrible beating and crucifixion, Jesus faced the sentence of death and passed through it admirably.
He frankly confided to Peter, James and John that ghastly night in the garden that he was “overwhelmed with sorrow, to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38). He knew what pain and horror awaited him. Understandably his prayer that night included the very human request if this bloody ordeal might not be taken from him (Matthew 26:39).
After an hour of prayer Jesus prayed much more emphatically and decisively: “May your will be done.” After three hours of prayer that fateful night Jesus was ready to face the worst. His next words to his disciples bristled with faith, courage and resolve. “Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinful men. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Jesus had faced the worst and had passed through the crucible of testing. He was once again the Master. His sentences were spiked with words of command and action – “Look,” Rise,” Let’s go.” As expositor R.T. France commented: The words imply advance not retreat as of a general going into action fully prepared for the shock of battle (Matthew: Tyndale Commentary, page 374). And thus Jesus became faithful to and through death, even the death of the cross and achieved our reconciliation with God.
These examples of facing intense fears and worries to the point of death – and beyond – are written for us. The Bible redounds with aid and comfort as we face the crucial troubles and downturns in our lives. Scriptural case histories are ours for the asking, ours as a spiritual heritage as we set out with renewed faith and hope to obey Jesus’ commands “Don’t worry, don’t even think about it!” That is our goal, achievable through the Jesus of Gethsemane living inside us.