Sleep

Do you sometimes feel like if you worry enough you might prevent bad things from happening or you can hurry good things into existence? Personally I do not think worrying is avoidable. The problem is the level of and how often we worry. We all worry about something at some point, whether unfounded or not. However, some people are chronic worriers and allow worry to cling to them like second skin. They have made their beds in “Worryville” and have stopped living or enjoying life. They have put their lives on hold waiting for “that situation” to end or change. They have refused to focus on the other blessings in their lives.

Worrying can get out of hand though if we do not manage it well. The experts say that worrying can actually result in physical illness or bad habits. “Chronic worrying can affect your daily life so much that it may interfere with your appetite, lifestyle, habits, relationships,  sleep, and job performance. Many people who worry excessively are so anxiety-ridden that they seek relief in harmful lifestyle habits such as overeating, cigarette smoking, or using alcohol and drugs.” (WebMD)

Let us see what the Bible says. A favorite of mine is found in Luke 12:25 “Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?”. In other words, worrying is futile. Sometimes worrying makes us feel like we are doing something about the problem but it can actually be likened to running around in circles: you get tired but achieve nothing.

David was going through one of the toughest challenges in his life (and he had many of those), chased into the wilderness by his own son Absaslom who wanted his throne. He had every cause to worry and worry he did. Psalm 3. He must have had many questions: will he ever return home? Will he see his other children and his friends again? Will he have to kill Absalom at some point? Will he die a fugitive? Will the Lord really deliver him? Then he says in verse 5, “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.” He realized that worrying would not bring him any solutions so he chose not to lose sleep over his dire situation but trust God to sustain him.

God will not always take the problem away at the time we ask him. Sometimes He takes much longer than we expect and other times He will not take the problem away at all. He will just provide enough grace to see you through day by day. Like Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”, God sometimes gives us the grace to power through and still live a fruitful, significant and impactful life in spite of our limitations, sicknesses, lack and other difficult situations. Do not let worry prevent you from living.

Like David let us learn to cast our burdens on the Lord and sleep.

Blessings.

Love, Lady Monica