When I was a teenager I sometimes challenged my mother when she tried to encourage me to have faith. Trust God. He will take care of you, she would tell me. Its not that simple, Mom! I would bark back. God helps those who help themselves!
But those words, God helps those who help themselves are nowhere to be found in Scripture. Instead, Gods Word teaches us to depend on Him for our daily needs. Jesus tells us, Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:2627).
Everything we enjoyeven the strength to earn a living and help ourselvesare gifts from a heavenly Father who loves us and values us beyond our ability to fathom.
As Mom neared the end of her life, Alzheimers disease robbed her of her creative mind and memories, but her trust in God remained. She lived in our home for a season, where I was given a front-row seat to observe Gods provision for her needs in unexpected waysways that helped me see she had been right all along. Instead of worrying, she entrusted herself to the One who promised to take care of her. And He showed Himself faithful.
INSIGHT
The teaching of Jesus in Matthew 6:2534 emphasizes the fatherly care of God for those who follow Jesus, making worry about the basic things of life unnecessary. The main idea in the word translated worry is distracting or anxious care. In Luke 10:41, Jesus said Martha was worried and upset about many things. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6, Do not be anxious about anything. Six times the word worry appears in Matthew 6:2534. For those who call God Father, worry is unreasonable (vv. 2530), uncharacteristic (vv. 3032), unproductive (v. 33), and unprofitable (v. 34).
What might you be doing or not doing that indicates a lack of trust in God as our faithful heavenly Father?