5 Fear-Fighting TruthsSample

God Will Carry Your Concerns

The phone call comes with hard news. Someone I love is in a difficult situation. By the time I hang up, I feel a weight on my shoulders, like it all depends on me.

I begin to worry. This is what I can do, isn’t it? I can carry my worry around like a dog with an old bone. I can gnaw and twist, bury it and dig it up again. Surely this will be helpful, certainly this will save the day.

But into that place of fear, it seems I hear a gentle whisper in my heart, “Your worry cannot change the world, only God can.”

Luke 12:25 says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” Who of us by worrying can make the prodigal come home, the marriage be restored, the meeting go well, the pressure come off, the lights come on, the kids stay safe, the wrong be undone, the project turn out right?

Worry can be seductive because it feels like control. If we are worrying, then we must be helping. But Jesus, in all his gentleness and kindness, his extravagant mercy and care, takes the weight of worry from our hands.

Isn’t that what we really want? We long to know someone is taking care of the people we love, the situation we don't understand, whatever makes our pillow soggy with salty tears. God watches over the sparrows with their wispy feathers and fragile bones. He will do even more for us, with our tender hearts and breakable lives.

After the call I sit on the edge of my bed and listen to a song, headphones in my ears, hands folded on my lap. I whisper, “God, I release this person I love to You.” I add more words, requests, and hopes. I will say this again in the kitchen. In the car. As I sit in a coffee shop. Releasing worry isn't an instant event, it's an imperfect process.

I'm learning what frees our hearts isn’t worry; it’s worship. In other words, taking all the hard things to Someone who cares for us. Choosing to trust and let go. Believing he will mysteriously work it all together for good, that the story isn't finished yet.

Here’s what we can rest in today: The only One who has ever been able to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders is still strong and loving enough to carry all that concerns us too.