::Earth-Shattering Distinctives::

:: Monday, August 30, 2004 ::

Be Still and Know That I am God

I'm a worry wart. I worry constantly... about everything. I worry about cancer in my body and in those of my family, becoming less physically attractive with age, running out of gas without a cell phone, not having enough money to pay bills, my husband being in a car accident on the way to or from work, who's going to take care of me when I'm old, whether my house is clean enough for guests, whether people will like or hate us, whether the banana pudding has a hair in it... you name it. The media knows we worry as women, and it feeds it with constant propoganda about the latest healthy diet, the latest information about breast, cervical or uterine cancer, ways to know if your husband is unfaithful, ad nauseum, ad infinitum. Women worry.

Whenever I read about the creation in the book of Genesis, I always feel sad when I get to Genesis chapter 3. I know that right there is when God first whispered the peace of salvation to His children, covered them with dead animal skins and promised them that through the woman, Christ would destroy with a head wound the very serpent that deceived her in that paradise. Revelation 22 is in the same Bible and God delivered! Still, I can't help wondering how Eve felt, naked ashamed and vulnerable, even after she had clothes on. Not only did she disobey the Lord and feel the shame of that; and experience separation of God for the first time, but she had to listen to God pronounce the curses upon her and her husband. She would now have to submit to a fallen head. Submission was easy before, but now it would be hard. Her head would sin. And that would make her worry. Her children would be sinful, and taking dominion over the earth would now be difficult and that would lead to her worry... all because of her disobedience.

Worry is a sin, just like lust, pride, fornication, etc. It is idolatrous. It is saying, "God, I know what your Word says about your presence being with me through the fire. I know you have extended to me peace like a river. I know that my iniquity is pardoned, my warfare is accomplished, and that I am hidden in Christ who is faithful to present me before the Father as a good and faithful servant on the Last Day. But God, I love my worry more than I love You."

Imagine if we wrote a love letter to our husbands, telling them how wonderful it was to be married to them, thanking them for all of these little things they do for us, or just praising them for being them... those qualities that made us shiver when we fell in love with them. Then imagine at the bottom of the page these awful words, "As wonderful as you are, I'm in love with someone else. And I love him more. I can't give him up and I won't." The hellish pain! I don't even want to think about it. But Christ loves us more than our husbands. How hurt is He when we worry, with all He is and all He's done for us? For you?

I heard a preacher on Sermonaudio tell us that we had to harass our sin. It's part of mastering it... harassment. It's what Cain should have done instead of murdering his brother. Don't let it linger. Cut it out. Do radical surgery on that "eye", "hand" "foot", whatever. Get rid of your television, and stop looking through worldly women's magazines (even while waiting for the doctor) if you know they are going to fill your head with "What if's". Bring your Bible instead, and read all the references in there about God's peace. If you have to spend all day on your knees, do it. Pray with the children. Just say, "Mommy really needs to pray right now. I'm struggling. Will you say a prayer for Mommy?" Wrestle with God. Just get in and do it right now. You don't have to worry about what anyone else is doing or what's going on around you right now. Just pray! If you have to fast a meal a day for a month, commit to it. Refuse to let this sin master you. You have the Holy Spirit... the same Spirit that rose Christ from the dead. The same Spirit that will bring the gospel to all nations before Christ's glorious return. This is what you have to overcome your sin. God is with you.

You set the tone for your home. It is a power that we alone have as women for good or evil Just as being angry gets everyone off course, so does worry. If you worry about finances, your husband will worry about you and concentrate less on his job. Your children will worry because mom's worried. Visitors coming to your home will sense your anxiety in every room of the house.

God promises you victory over the sin of worry. Ask and you shall receive! You have not because you ask not! Ask generously for peace and praise God when he gives it to you, because He will! My prayer for my life and you my beloved sisters in Christ, is that we will draw near to the God who bids us be still.

:: Mal du siecle 9:35 AM |