Matthew 6: 25-34

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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?

26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;

29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not [c]arrayed like one of these.

30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Friday the 13th

Back in March of 2020, on Friday the 13th, I lost my job of almost five years. It was the very beginning of the pandemic, and everyone was firing or laying off. No one was hiring. I was placed in a very tough position of having no income, no savings account, and no prospects.

I did what anyone would do for the first month, I hunted for a job, anywhere I could find one, but business after business told me the same thing. We’re not hiring. I was falling into a pretty severe depression pretty quickly. I was getting angry. I was sad. My anxiety was going through the roof, and I was feeling lost.

I quit reading my bible. I quit praying. I turned inwards towards a dark cave that I could just go hide in and give in to disappointment, doubt, and self-hatred. I put on a smile in front of my family and gave them words of encouragement, but I honestly didn’t believe them myself. But I’m a man, a husband, a father, and this was my burden to bear, not theirs.

I had resigned myself to sitting in the dark bedroom or sleeping often when I was alone. And I felt the loneliness. I even felt separated from God. I had lost all my desire for Him. It was a dark place. I was in a dark place.

Coincidence?

One day while laying in the bed, staring at the ceiling while listening to YouTube on autoplay, a preacher I listen to often randomly came on. A man by the name of Paul Washer. This sermon was on God’s provision.

I was only half-listening to it, but then he started talking about Matthew 6, and something caught my ear. “Are you not of more value than they?” Verse 26.

I poured over Chapter 6 so many times that day. I thought on it and thought on it. I hit my knees in prayer and made the decision that I was going to give it all over to God. And boy, was that hard to do.

I think it’s hard for all of us to do. Some people are naturally worried. They worry over everything, and we are naturally prone to trying to solve our own problems and fix whatever we see as wrong in our lives. But the bible address this as well.

Do not worry about what you will eat or drink, don’t worry about clothes. God knows you need this, and if you seek Him first and seek His kingdom, God will add these to you.

Jesus then tells us not to worry about tomorrow, for today has been taken care for. This chapter opened my eyes to a very simple and singular thought.

Letting Go

The thing most of us have trouble with, the thing that we have a hard time letting go of is, the same thing that Jesus says shouldn’t be a concern. I concluded that worry was a sin. I don’t know if that is right or wrong, but I knew that by doing it, I was disobeying Christ.

With that, I made an immediate decision to let it all go. Let me tell you, that in itself is anxiety-producing. It came to the point that when I began to worry, I would begin to pray.

Within two months of losing my job, I went from a dark depression to faithful obedience. When a need arrived, and I began to worry, I would lay it at Christ’s feet and trust in God to meet my need. Here’s the crazy thing, it worked. When I had a need, I prayed, and it was met. If I need $200, I would pray and not ask for it, but pray and thank God for providing it. I prayed as if I already had it, and I truly believed that I did. After all, Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

How many of you pray that way?

Now when I say that God gave me $200, let me explain, $200 didn’t magically appear in my wallet; I didn’t just find 2- 100-dollar bills lying on the road. I would get a text message or a phone call because someone needed help with something or needed a small job done, such as a fence built. They would always offer me exactly what I needed.

A lot of modern churches tell you to name it and claim it, that God is out to just give us everything. God gives us opportunities. And I’m not saying he doesn’t just bless us at times, but I’m pretty sure sitting on the couch and binge-watching Netflix isn’t in God’s plan for us.

So the point I want to make with all of this is two-fold. God is amazing. He IS our provider. He IS watching out for us. He IS a God that takes our worries away and provides for our needs. He IS the God that has blessed me personally and my family with ALL of our needs. None of our success as a family has come from anything we did but everything God has done.

I want to encourage you to turn to God with all of your needs. Lay down ALL of your needs at His feet. And trust Him to fulfill the promise made to us by Jesus in Matthew 6.

AUTHOR

Questions or Thoughts? Leave them in the comments.

Padre

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