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2014-03-02
Daniel
Daring
Worry and God's
Presence
Isaiah
49:14-15; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Matthew 6:24-34
(Comments welcome here)
I
love to travel. As a child I boarded a bus to travel alone to my grandparents.
It was always fun to see new places, to meet new people. Then I began to travel
by plane. I was fascinated by the fact that such a piece of metal could fly. It
was joy and the scenery was marvelous. But one day I found myself anxious while
boarding one of those flying vehicles. I exchanged the seat with a
fellow-passenger, preferring the aisle over the window, and battling the
thoughts about a crash. Since then, I began turning down invitations from my
friends to join them on an exciting trip. I also restricted my teaching
engagements rejecting those that would entail traveling by plane. Anxiety, that
state of feeling nervous because of a thought that something bad is going to
happen, has killed the joy of traveling and turned me into a coach-potato.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life" (Matthew
6:25). W. Barclay in his superb analysis of this passage states that worry is
needless, useless, injurious, blind, and irreligious. We usually know that, and
yet we are still unable to free ourselves from worrying. However, I was
particularly struck by the statement that "in the same circumstances one
person can be absolutely serene, and another person can be worried to
death." That was exactly my experience. While I was worrying myself to
death over every turbulence, a person next to me was soundly sleeping. How
could that be?
Barclay
provides the obvious yet often overlooked answer: "Both worry and serenity
come, not from circumstances, but from the heart." A matter of heart. It
only confirms the findings of our physicians that stress and heart diseases are
related. And it also confirms the biblical thought that trust in God is the best
medicine against stress. "Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind
is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee" (Isaiah 26:3, King James
Version). At the same time, however, it reveals the fact that many of us who
claim to be Christians are - in our attitudes - resembling a heathen who, not
knowing a loving God, has to worry about tomorrow.
I
completely agree with Barclay. I am on my knees asking forgiveness and promising
to trust God. But I am afraid that despite my eagerness and sincerity, I will
worry again about my life. Is it possible, then, to live without worries for the
morrow in perfect peace because of trust in God? Can faith do for us what we now
only expect from medication? The answer is obvious; the problem is how. One way
to approach the problem is to ask for the grace of trust. "Ask and it shall
be given to you." Another way is to go against the feeling of anxiety and
do what makes us anxious. Psychologists claim that if one does often enough the
thing that makes him/her anxious, one day s/he can
realize that the fear is gone and instead of worrying s/he actually
enjoys doing the thing that before caused so much anxiety. Yet there are many of
us who have been asking and going against the current often enough and yet we
are still far from that dreamed perfect peace. We cry with the prophet,
"The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me" (Isaiah 49:14).
My parents are the most loving
and responsible parents one could ever have. There was no anxiety in their
presence. It was enough to know that they were nearby to make me brave.
Therefore, reading that God's care surpasses that of our parents - mother in
particular - leaves me speechless.
"Can a woman forget her nursing-child, or show no compassion for the child
of her womb? Even if she would forget, yet I will never forget you" (Isaiah
49:14-15). And that to me is the solution to the problem of worries. "And
remember, I am with you always, to the
end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Do we remember that God's presence is all
over us? The Psalmist is asking these questions: "where can I flee from
your presence?" (Psalm 139:7). Nowhere. Whether in heaven, in Sheol, at the
farthest limits of the sea, or in darkness, God would always be there (Psalm
139:8-12). The awareness of God's presence can set us free from all the worries
making us brave again. "By faith [Moses] left Egypt, unafraid of the king's
anger; for he persevered as though he saw
him who was invisible" (Hebrews 11:27). The awareness of the presence
of a loving Abba, whose love surpasses that of our parents can make us people of
trust able to face life's challenges.
Let me end with a story adopted from Anthony de
Mello, Contact with God. In a small
village in East Timor lived a poor widow. She had two children, a son and a
daughter. There was no school in that village. The kids had to walk each day for
almost two hours through a jungle to the next village. Marisa was not afraid as
long as Martin, her older brother, walked with her. But one day, Martin had to
go to town and he was away for a week. Marisa was scared. How was she to walk
alone through the jungle. So she said to her mother: 'Mom. Can I stay home for a
week? I am afraid to go alone.' But the mother told her. 'My dear. You cannot
stay at home only because you are afraid. Ask the Lord Jesus to accompany you to
school.' The little Marisa did as her mother told her. Before going into the
jungle, she called upon Jesus. 'What do you want, my dear?' - Jesus asked. 'Will
you come with me to school and walk me back home through this jungle? I'm afraid
to walk alone.' 'Of course, my dear. I will be delighted to do so.' And so
little Marisa could be seen walking bravely through the jungle and talking with
her invisible friend. And Jesus would tell her: 'Marisa. Look at these birds,
look at the lilies. Remember, you are more precious to me than them.'
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