March 7, 2024
Outsourcing Worry
But I will call on God, and the Lord will rescue me …
Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you.
He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.
(Psalm 55:16,22, NLT)
We outsource lawn work, shopping for gifts, and paying our bills. Why not outsource worry?
I ran across a story about a man who hired a virtual assistant to worry for him. He sent his assistant a laundry list of things that burdened him with worry. After that, whenever the man started to fret about something, he stopped and thought, I don’t need to concern myself with this; [virtual assistant] is worrying about it for me.
I was ready to sign up! Until I realized I already have a virtual assistant. God. He always knows what I’m into and up to. He sees me and will take care of worrying for me if I let Him.
So, what’s the problem? Me. I can tend to do one of two things. I hang on to my worries to resolve them under my own steam. Or I tell God He can have my worries them but then suffer altar burn when I pull them back because He’s not working fast enough or in the way I think best.
Worry comes from a root word that means to strangle, injure, or choke. And that’s exactly what worry does. It strangles or chokes us. It cuts off our breath of life. Worry can fill us with worst-case scenarios.
Instead of letting worry consume us, we need to let God consume it. We need to lay it upon God’s altar and allow the fires of His compassion devour the worry.
By His Grace,
Gloria
Be Still and Reflect: How do you typically handle worries and concerns in your life? Do you tend to try to resolve them on your own or do you struggle to fully surrender them to God? What steps can you take to entrust your worries more effectively to God’s care?
Pray: Lord God, thank You for being our ever-present help in times of trouble. I confess that too often I try to carry the weight of my worries on my own shoulders instead of trusting in Your loving care. Help me to release my anxieties to You, knowing that You are always aware of my needs and working for my good. Teach me to surrender my worries to Your altar, allowing Your compassion to consume them and bring me peace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.