Tag: lilies
Antidote for Worry
Scripture reading for October 16: Matthew 6:25-28 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of much more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his life? And why are your anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
vs 33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Jesus came to cure our fears and anxiety. He knew from living on earth among His people how much fear ruled their lives. They were always anxious about life’s necessities. Food insecurity threatened basic daily comfort and survival. Jesus pointed His people to His Father’s care for the birds of the air. They never lacked food for each day. God faithfully supplied all they needed. Were not His children of more value than these birds? Would their Father fail to provide for their basic needs?
Jesus addressed clothing and shelter anxiety by pointing them to the lilies and wildflowers. These were clothed by God with great care and beautiful adornment, even though their lives were short and in the end they would quickly perish. Man, made in God’s image and living eternally, would receive much more enduring covering. Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith and basic understanding of their relationship to God their Father in heaven and His kingdom of righteousness and peace. If instead of living in continual fear they were to seek out God’s kingdom and His righteousness and they would find everything they had been frantically seeking.
Prayer: Father God, forgive me for my lack of faith in Your care for Your children. I have been anxious and fretting. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and faith to seek You for my needs and live in freedom from anxiety. Amen.