Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer, . . . let your
requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6
A man was sitting on a park bench shredding old newspapers and spreading them around.
"What are you doing?" asked a bystander. "I'm spreading this paper around
to keep the elephants away." The visitor looked around the well-kept city park.
"I don't see any elephants," he said. The man smiled. "Works pretty good,
doesn't it," he replied.
Worry is like that. We expend a lot of energy on problems that don't exist. Yes, I know we
all face real problems, but we often create additional ones by thinking of all the bad
things that might happen but never do.
One of the great challenges for worriers is to turn every care into a prayer and then to
stop there, leaving it with God. Some people find this difficult to do, perhaps because
they are pessimistic or sensitive by nature. But there is hope!
Paul's counsel in Philippians 4:6 is not a mechanical formula but a tested reality. He had
found peace and contentment (vv.7,11). Yet, notice the phrase in verse 12, "I have
learned." Learning takes time. It is a process marked by trial and error, and by
perseverance. Aren't you glad that our teacher, the Lord Jesus, is patient with
useven when we tear up papers and spread them around?
-DJD
Help me, Lord, to place my worries
At Your feet in prayer,
Then to trust Your love and goodness
As I leave them there.
-Sper
Worry is carrying a burden that God never intended us to bear.