How do I take the worry out of worrying?

As I finish these thoughts on worry, I am hoping you will embrace the freedom God desires you to experience. We all have concerns in this life, as it should be. The issue is what to do with those concerns. When we take them Godward, maturity, faith, trust and peace are the result. When we them…”Worry”…we allow a cancer to grow inside of us. It will either weigh us down as our original Proverb challenged us:

“Proverbs 12:25 Worry weighs a person down”

Or it will bubble to the surface and the explosion can cause a lot of damage!

The most fascinating aspect of dealing with concerns is how God has a plan and it may be in a totally different direction then we thought it would be. I heard a joke once that reminded me that the answer to a problem may surprise us:

There was a man standing in front of King pointing at another man bound up by rope saying,  "This bigamist has six wives!" The King says - "I'm going to lock you up forever." Man dragging the bigamist away - The bigamist says - "Bless you sire!"

Apparently, 6 angry wives are far worse than prison! When we take our concerns to God, we must remember that He alone sees the entire picture, so His answer may not make sense at first, but He does know what He is doing…even when we don’t!

As I stated, I believe the foundation for worry is fear. So, how can I be delivered from fear? The first step should be obvious: Identify the source! Remember, there are healthy fears. We saw that Death is a healthy fear, to make you wise about eternity! Another healthy fear is to fear the Lord.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Proverbs 10:27 The fear of the Lord prolongs life.

This “fear” covers knee knocking trembling, to sincere reverence all the way to complete awe! When we fear our God we place ourselves in the perfect position to allow Him to work.

I heard it stated one time about a great man of God: "He feared God so much he feared nothing else at all?”

If on the other hand, we find that fear is unhealthy, it will open the door to worry. The list would be far too long, but as an example, let’s look at one section of Scriptures that I have found cover three separate areas of unhealthy fear and will lead to worry.

James 4:11–17 Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? ¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” ¹⁴ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” ¹⁶ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

For some reason, since Cain and Able, we have allowed ourselves to think we are “our brother’s keeper.” Cain needed to look unto his own actions not his brothers. I have experienced so many problems in the Body of Christ due to individuals thinking it is their job to judge what everyone else is doing. It’s like we “fear” that someone will get away with something that we did not!

Notice what James states:

"Do not speak against one another, brethren…There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?"

Here is how you deal with that unhealthy fear – IT IS NOT MY JOB TO JUDGE! 

Another fear James brings to light here is, fear of the future. If we can just get everything written down in our planner, then we are safe. The problem with that is life never works like your planner!

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’”

Want to get rid of that fear? Embrace this Truth: ONLY GOD CONTROLS THE FUTURE!

A great saint stated: "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."--Corrie Ten Boom

The end of this passage actually exposes a fear that I have had to counsel many believers about. The enemy places in their mind that they are not pleasing God, yet when I ask where, they cannot answer, they just “feel” that way.

This is an easy fear to deal with, James gives us the secret:

“Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

It’s very simple to dispel this unhealthy fear, just say this to yourself: I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR ONLY WHAT I KNOW!

Everything else is a diversion. As God teaches you His Word, then you become responsible to follow and believe it. The only way to mess this up is to remain deliberately ignorant, but then you know you are already NOT obeying what you know. Everywhere in Scripture we are exhorted to study the Word and grow.

Whenever you sense an unhealthy fear, get your Bible out and do a word search on what you are feeling. God’s Word will give you an answer!

Let me leave you with this thought:

"So far as is known, no bird ever tried to build more nests than its neighbor; no fox ever fretted because he had only one hole in which to hide; no squirrel ever died of anxiety lest he should not lay by enough nuts for two winters instead of one; and no dog ever lost any sleep over the fact that he did not have enough bones laid aside for his declining years.” 

The so what? What fears are you struggling with? What are you doing with them? Is there anything in your life that you should fear more than God? If not, then if you fear Him and allow Him to deal with all the “stuff” in your life, He will lead you to peace. Have you done this?