It’s surprising the things that we can make us swell up with pride. Winning a board game can prompt us to gloat and brag as if we just found the cure for cancer. A deft move in a pick-up game of basketball makes us think that we are Michael Jordan. Successfully balancing our checkbook causes us to think that we could teach those Wall-Stree traders and Washington politicians a thing or two about how to manage resources. Our own little sphere of influence often becomes our world, and when we are successful in it, we want notice to be taken.
One of the things that may be the most surprising pride inducers is our ability to worry. I see this mostly with women – but I don’t think men are immune from it. We tend to think our ability to stress over details and the careful attention we pay to the possibilities of what may go wrong, is worthy of commendation. It is as if we believe an unwritten rule that says “She who worries most, cares the most” and it prompts us to say things like “I’m your mother; it’s my job to worry.” Of course, nowhere in the Bible is worry a part of a mother’s or anybody else’s job description. Scripture in fact teaches us that we should not “be anxious about anything” (Phil. 4:6) and yet we often act as if this doesn’t apply to the “big things.” We cling to stress over what happens to us and to others as if our ability to do is some sort of prize.
This however, is not God’s desire for His children. He offers us something better than worry – He offers Him. In doing so, He promises His children that He has given us “all things that pertain to life and godliness”(2 Peter 1:3). While we want to cling to our worry, He desires to give us the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control that are demonstrative of a life that is walking in step with Him (See Gal 5:22-23). We think our worry will somehow protect or isolate us from the bad things that could happen, as if our ability to ponder the possibilities somehow keeps the worse things from becoming reality. Yet, even the great worriers among us have challenges and hurdles that we must face. Our worry doesn’t preclude us from enduring bad things, and we would be silly to think it does, but it can prevent us from enjoying God’s peace as we persevere through them.
In teaching His disciples about the generosity of our Heavenly Father, Christ made it abundantly clear that when we turn to God with our cares and concerns, He doesn’t desire to turn us away empty-handed (Mt. 7:7-11). This doesn’t mean that He will give us what we specifically ask for, but it does mean that what He grants us will be good – and that it will be for our benefit and for His glory. It also means that clinging to Him and trusting in His provision will be far better than holding on to the worry that we are tempted to trust instead.