A few years ago, I was on a road trip, and it was early in the morning and pouring rain.
After driving for about an hour, my car began to seize up and as I pulled over to the side of the road, it came to a complete stop.
In the middle of no man’s land. In the pouring rain.
Now, earlier that week I noticed that the check engine light was on in the car, but I ignored it.
That day I learned a valuable lesson when my check engine light comes on – I will not ignore it.
Another valuable lesson I have learned over the years, is that worry is like the check engine light on my car.
I have learned that the moment I begin worrying it is an indicator that I need to do something.
Worry steals our peace. Worry steals our sleep. Worry can even make us sick.
The Bible has a prescription for worry in Philippians 4:6-7:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
This was written by the Apostle Paul.
If anyone knew what it was like to deal with something that causes us to worry, Paul knew.
Paul was in prison when he wrote this, and his conditions were miserable. Paul has no control over what is going to happen to him next.
Persecution–maybe even death.
Everything in Paul’s future was dark and uncertain.
The Philippians to whom Paul is writing to are also living in uncertain times and they too don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
And yet, during that, Paul tells them, “Do not worry.”
We worry about so many things.
Did you know that 70% of Americans worry about money?
People who don’t have money – worry about money.
People who have a lot of money – worry about money.
We worry about our health.
We worry about our family. Our children. Our grandchildren. Our marriages.
We all worry about different things, but all that worry has zero power to change anything.
Proverbs 12:25 tells us that anxiety weighs us down.
That’s because worry is a weight we were never meant to carry.
The apostle Peter tells us to cast all our worries on God because He cares for you.
God is saying, give to me what is worrying you.
God wants to carry the burden for us because He cares for you.
Sometimes when I am trying to carry something that is heavy my husband sees me and he says “give me that, it’s too heavy for you, let me carry it.”
It would be silly of me to keep carrying it and hurt myself when I can hand it to him, and he can carry it with ease.
That’s how it is with God.
When we worry, we are saying–no God, I don’t trust you to carry it.
God is strong enough to bear our burdens.
The minute the worry light comes on in your life—
Let’s do what the Apostle Paul teaches us and immediately begin to pray and give it to God, thanking Him that He is going to be your help in this time of need.
The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:7 that God’s peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
God knows your needs and he wants to replace your worry with his peace.
The writer is the campus pastor for The Valley Sidney church which will launch at the Sidney-Shelby County YMCA on Sept. 24.
