“What Are You CHEWING On?” – The Struggle with Worry

Worrying. Whether we admit it or not, we ALL have had times where worry consumes us. It consumes our minds. It wastes our days. It robs us of sleep. It deteriorates our health. It interferes with our relationships. It paralyzes us with the fear of the unknown. It puts the focus on the situation and takes the spotlight off of the ONLY ONE who can handle it all. So now that you are worried about worrying, what do we do about it?

We are going through, “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World” by Joanna Weaver in our WMU Bible Study on Tuesday mornings. This chapter for tomorrow was amazingly good. Here are some facts, quotes and verses that really stuck out to me:

~ What We Worry About (Whoa!):
– 40% are things that will never happen

– 30% are about the past – which can’t be changed

– 12% are about criticism by others, mostly untrue

– 10% are about health, which gets worse with stress

– 8% are about real problems that can be solved

~ Jesus tells us 350 times to “Fear Not” – so we KNOW that this has always been a problem worth addressing!

~ “Worry doesn’t prevent bad things from happening. In fact, it may prevent us from leading the full lives God intends us to live. Instead of helping us solve life’s problems, anxiety creates new ones, including a tendency to unhealthy introspection. For many of us, our worries can be like Lay’s potato chips – you can’t stop at just one.”

~ Gary Gilley compares and contrasts worry and concern. He says, “Worry is allowing problems and distress to come between us and the heart of God. It is the view that God has somehow lost control of the situation and we cannot trust Him. A legitimate concern presses us closer to the heart of God and causes us to lean and trust on Him all the more.”

~ As my former pastor, Pastor Nathan Osborne always said, “Worry about Nothing, Pray about Everything”. You see, “Fretting magnifies the problem, but prayer magnifies God.”

~ “The war of worry, as well as the trial of temptation, is won and lost on the battlefield of our minds.”

~ So what should we be thinking about, if our thoughts are so important? “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Phil. 4:8)

~ The Old English word for worry meant, “to gnaw”. A worrier chews on his or her problems all day long. On the flip side, the word, meditate (as mentioned in Psalm 1:2), has the connotation of a cow chewing on its cud. As in, constantly bringing back up the Word of God and speaking and thinking and praying His Words all day long. So I guess the best question to ask ourselves is, “What are we chewing on today?”

Some Cud: Phil. 4:6-7 Matt. 6:25-27 2 Cor. 10:5 Isaiah 26:3 2 Timothy 1:7 I Peter 5:7 Matt. 11:28-30