There is scarcely any one sin against which our Lord Jesus more largely and earnestly warns His disciples, or against which He arms them with more variety of arguments, than the sin of disquieting, distracting, distrustful cares about the things of this life, which are a bad sign that both the treasure and the heart are on the earth.
It is the repeated command of the Lord Jesus to His disciples, that they should not divide and pull in pieces their own minds which care about the world. There is a thought concerning the things of this life, which is not only lawful, but duty, such as is commended in the virtuous woman.
But the thought here forbidden is:
(1) A disquieting, tormenting thought, which hurries the mind hither and thither, and hangs it in suspense; which disturbs our joy in God, and is a damp upon our hope in Him; which breaks the sleep, and hinders our enjoyment of ourselves, of our friends, and of what God has given us.
(2) A distrustful, unbelieving thought. God has promised to provide for those that are His all things needful for life as well as godliness, the life that now is, food and a covering; not dainties, but necessaries. He never said, "They shall be feasted." but, "Verily, they shall be fed."
Now an inordinate care for time to come, and fear of wanting those supplies, spring from a disbelief of these promises, and of the wisdom and goodness of Divine Providence; and that is the evil of it. As to present sustenance, we may and must use lawful means to get it, else we tempt God; we must be diligent in our callings, and prudent in proportioning our expenses to what we have, and we must pray for daily bread; and if all other means fail, we may and must ask relief of those that are able to give it.
But for the future we must cast our care upon God, and take no thought, because it looks like a jealousy of God, who knows how to give what we want when we know not how to get it. Let our souls dwell at ease with Him. (Matthew Henry)
I have spent two days on this one verse; there is a lot more to come. There are so many precepts within this verse that speak to my heart. I tend to fret and worry over things and I can identify with tormenting thoughts that break the sleep and hinder enjoyment of everything. God is not saying that we shouldn't work for our livelihood--we are expect to work and work hard. But we are not to worry and let the needs of today be our driving force. We are to be prudent with our resources and not expect to be pampered.
It's where you get to the point that you can let out a deep breath and just breathe knowing God has your best interest at heart.
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| Not Me |
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