Matthew 6:34

Written ~ 11-12-2023

Matthew 6:34

³⁴ “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.

Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

It comes naturally to worry about whatever is going on in your day, your job, your family, even situations that are completely out of your control. But Jesus is commanding us not to worry. Don’t be anxious, it does us absolutely no good to worry over things when God is in complete control. For the worrier, it may stem from unresolved trust issues. It may be you can’t trust God enough to handle whatever is going on. Or it may be you don’t like how He is handling a situation because you want it to go a different way. The first three words in our verse for today is, “So don’t worry…”

Let’s look at the word “worry” in the dictionary:

• To Afflict with Mental Distress or Agitation : Make Anxious
• To Subject to Persistent or Nagging Attention or Effort
• To Feel or Experience Concern or Anxiety
• Characterized by Extreme Uneasiness of Mind or Brooding Fear about some contingency
• Disquiet, Uneasiness, Agitation, Nervousness, Anxiety
• Fret, Fuss, Fear, Stress, Agonize, Despair

These characteristics of worry are not good for the body! The negativity that is being added to your entire nervous system can be detrimental. The effects of stress or worry on the body can cause a myriad of problems… let’s see what I found from some research on Google…

• Physical: difficulty breathing, racing heart, muscle tension and pain, headaches, sickness, indigestion, or fatigue
• Mental: negative thoughts, irritability, inflexible thinking, or a short-temper
• Emotional: feeling anxious, fearful, angry, frustrated, sad, overwhelmed, or difficulty focusing and lack of motivation
• Behavioral: sleep problems, lack of exercise, overeating, social withdrawal, or substance use
• Long-term ongoing worry: can increase the risk for hypertension, heart attack, or stroke

Now compare that with what the Bible says…

Matthew 6:27, “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?”

Actually, from the list above, it would seem worrying only shortens life and definitely effects the quality of life.

When we give our worries over to the Lord, and I am talking about truly releasing those anxious thoughts over to the Lord, there is peace. Look at what it says in Philippians…

Philippians 4:6-7, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

It says here that when we give all of our worries over to the Lord, we will experience peace. But not the type of peace we try to understand, we experience God’s peace! This is the type of peace that we can’t understand, it’s not generated by our own will, this is given to us by the Lord. It says in verse 4:7 that God’s peace guards our hearts and minds. God will take over those thoughts that have us so anxious and worried. This does not mean we no longer care about the situation going on, it just means we are allowing God to do what He needs to do in that area. Stressing and worrying about something does absolutely nothing to change whatever is going on. It only makes us sick inside. So, what if you are not experiencing peace after you have prayed about something? It’s a matter of the heart. Are you able to fully trust God? If you are, then a complete release of that stress and worry can happen and relief can come, peace will enter in and God’s comfort will overwhelm your senses. That’s giving it all to Him!

Let’s look at The Message Version of our verse for today…

Matthew 6:34,

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.

God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

I absolutely love how it says, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now…” When we refocus our attention to what God is doing in our lives and take it off of what has us in a ball of worry, it changes everything! Maybe not the situation, not right away, but it changes how we feel inside. If all you have ever known is worry and stress, it may be you don’t even know what the peace of God feels like! That should be your prayer each day, look at these couple of verses, think about how you can apply them to whatever has you worried all the time.

Psalm 116 (MSG), “I love God because He listened to me, listened as I begged for mercy. He listened so intently as I laid out my case before Him… then I called out to God for help: “Please, God!” I cried out…“Save me!”… God is gracious—it is He who makes things right, our most compassionate God.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (MSG), “Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.”

Back in Matthew 6:34 in The Message Version, the last part says,

“God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

Part of letting go of our worry is knowing God will provide whatever strength we need to get through a difficult time.

Jeremiah 29:11 (MSG), “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”

Praying for the “Peace of God,” praying for “God’s plan” to play out, “praying all the time” for the situations that cause us to worry and “being cheerful no matter what,” is what the Word of God says to do. Is that what you do? Or has the worry and the anxious thoughts gotten the better of you and that’s all your heart and mind are consumed with? When we look to the Scriptures for help we need to be mindful that if we put into practice the things we have learned, not just read them, it will make all the difference to how we respond to difficult situations. Let’s really think about what it says in the following verses from Philippians 4.

Philippians 4:8-9 (combination of the MSG and the NLT), “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, honorable, reputable, right, pure, authentic, lovely, admirable, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Changing our anxious thoughts into meditations of what the Lord’s character is, we can release the constant worry from our hearts and minds. Experiencing the Peace of God is something we should long for, not push it away because we want to continue in our worry.

My prayer today is that we all experience God’s Peace, no matter what circumstances have us anxiously worried. Let’s give our anxious thoughts to the Lord, let Him strengthen us in His Peace and comfort.

~AMEN~