Don’t Worry? Yeah, right.

As a person of faith, and a follower of Jesus Christ, I read my Bible… every day. I do so unapologetically. It’s not an action based off of a religious prescription or mandate. I read the Bible because it connects me, more than anything else, with the way of God, direction for my life, and hope for the world in which I live. And so I make it a daily habit… the same way I eat food every day to provide sustenance to my physical body, I read the Bible to provide sustenance to the spiritual part of who I am.

But when one reads the Bible, there is often a disconnect with the times in which the events took place and when they were recorded. In fact, the 40, or so, authors of the Bible assumed their reader would have an understanding of the of culture, habits & customs of the day. Almost 2000 years after the last book of the Bible was written, much has changed. Separated by roughly 7,000 miles, North America has a much shorter history than the Middle East. All that to say, the more we are able to understand the day and time of the culture of the Bible, we can understand why things were said the way they were said.

Such is the case of Jesus words, found in Matthew 6. He tells his listeners: “Do not worry about your life…. saying ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’” My first thought is: Yeah, Right! Do you know what I’m dealing with? Do you know about my uncertainties? Do you know what keeps me up at night and robs me of sleep? Do you know the things that I deal with?

The truth is that Jesus did… and He does. In that day, the average person had very little beyond basic necessities (food, clothing & shelter). The ability to obtain these basic necessities was predominantly dependent on something they could not control … the weather. Imagine that. If it rains, they ate and were able to cultivate crops enough to provide themselves with clothes & shelter. If it didn’t rain… well… they had nothing. And yet Jesus said “Don’t worry.” He followed up that simple (and yet, insanely difficult-to-swallow) instruction with words of hope: “Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions…. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”

Did he promise the rains would come? No. Did he promise an overflow of the neighboring rivers that would spill over to water the nearby areas? Not at all. Did He promise that there wouldn’t be a reason to stress? Nope. Did He promise that there wouldn’t be a reason to worry? Not in the slightest. But what He did promise is that one way or another, we’d be ok… if we make the greater priority connecting with Him. We might not know how, where, or when the provision will come… but it will come if we get involved in what He is doing, and wants to do with us.

Some of us are in situations where we can control what our days are like. But still, there are many things we cannot control. In all of that, Jesus says “Don’t worry. Seek me.” Tomorrow morning, I’m going to wake up and read my Bible and connect with God. It doesn’t mean that my “rain” will come… although that would be really nice. It doesn’t mean that I won’t have a reason to be afraid. But I’m going to choose to not stress and worry. Instead of saying “Don’t worry? Yeah right” I’m going to say “Don’t worry? Alright!”