Can we really eliminate worry?

March 9, 2026

Maria Genesis 28, God's presence, Jacob, Nehemiah, Trusting God, Worry , , , , Leave a comment

At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. As he slept, he had a dream . . . Genesis 28:11–12 NLT

God has been pinpointing several accounts in the Bible to capture my attention about sinful worry. The patriarch Jacob’s reaction to stress while fleeing contrasts with my well-practiced angst. How could this young man sleep knowing his murderous brother was after him?

Then there is Nehemiah. This brave Jew’s response on a perilous mission trip reinforces what I still lack—solid faith that replaces fretting.

Consider what the audacious royal cupbearer for King Artaxerxes undertook when he journeyed the three to four months from Susa to Jerusalem. Not only could he not predict what each successive travel day would bring, he couldn’t plan for potential obstacles or challenges involved in rebuilding the wall. How did he handle all the ‘What ifs’?

Scripture such as these, along with life’s circumstances, press me to admit how little sway I have over life in general and my particular circumstances. My general response as I have aged has been to resort to negative forecasting.

Yet, each time God provides what I need despite pathetic night-interrupting prayers for “all to go well tomorrow,” I tell myself, “Maria, see, you CAN and you SHOULD trust the Lord. He always comes through.”

But I don’t change. In fact, after God has answered a prayer, especially involving the unpredictability of air travel, I’ve muttered, “Yeah, but if I knew that the next flights would go well, I wouldn’t HAVE to worry.”

But God! In a ‘wispy,’ almost ephemeral way, I’m now sensing that I might not need to know how tomorrow will turn out—that the FACT of Jesus’ promised presence and provision is enough.

Mike Foster, author of the book The Seven Primal Questions, sorts all events into three different categories—what we can’t control, what over which we have partial control, and what we CAN determine.

Current struggles concerning our cat Jason’s change in eating habits, sleep ‘success,’ personal digestion issues, emotional states of family members, a friend’s husband potentially dying, and now the military conflict in Iran have impressed on me the futility of worry. And I haven’t even mentioned future travel.

I’m daydreaming about what it would be to just hand everything over to God.

But what if . . .

What if I simply relinquished each ‘worrisome’ circumstance I mentioned? If I just relaxed into a state that proclaimed and REALLY believed in my heart, “What does it matter what happens tomorrow if Jesus is with us? Whatever He brings about is His ‘good’ plan for us. He will give what we need. He has promised to never leave us.”

What fun it would be just to pray earnestly, calling on His character, past deeds, and promises of future grace. And then to let it all go and embrace the day for the joy of it.

Please, Father, strengthen me to try Your way.

Worry – futile and evil

December 4, 2018

Maria Evil, Galatians 2, Hebrews 5, Holiness, Jeremiah 2, Sin, Worry , , , 3 Comments

Luke 12: 22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “And so I tell you not to worry about the food you need to stay alive or about the clothes you need for your body.” (GNT)

Christians know they are commanded NOT to worry.  And some of us do worry from time to time.  This is an account of when I recently succumbed to worry. We had been in Seattle for our mom’s 90th birthday.  And I was NOT at peace about some of the return trip details.

We were due to land in Charlotte, a 3-hour drive from our house in the Smokey Mountains.  On this late November Friday it would be dark when we landed at 7:30 pm.  I brooded about 2 significant details:

  • What about dinner?  First off, we wouldn’t want to spend time at a restaurant, which would only delay our arrival home.  But where would we buy low-carb food that time of night, once we left the airport?  Should we stop at a food place in the airport before claiming our bags?  The problem was that our bodies were operating on Seattle time (4:30 pm) and wouldn’t be hungry.
  • More troublesome than that was my imagined ‘what-if’:  What if there is a tree down across the gravel road leading up to our isolated house?  I didn’t want to imagine Mike, stopping and getting out his chainsaw and in the dark cutting, and removing a tree.  We would be exhausted from the plane ride and the drive and the general stress of air travel at Thanksgiving.

I had been churning over these 2 situations during our trip to Seattle.  And hadn’t come to any resolution.

Here is how God reminded me, yet again, of the futility of worry:

  • Our take-off was delayed by 2 hours (we sat on the plane, having taxied back for a mechanical problem.)
  • Realizing we probably wouldn’t arrive in Charlotte until 9:30 pm, Mike and I chatted and decided it would be wise to get a hotel near the airport.  Because we were on the plane and back at the gate, I could use my phone. I booked us a room.
  • Now, what about food?  Maybe we’d just skip dinner and eat almonds which I always carry in my purse…..fasting wouldn’t hurt us.
  • Here’s how God answered that need.  We arrived at the Charlotte airport hotel at 10:10 pm.  There was a bar in the lobby.  They stopped serving food at 10:30. We checked in, left our luggage in the car, sat down and ordered bunless burgers, a salad and something to drink.

God came through, providing our low-carb dinner AND arranging our drive home for the next day.  We slept soundly, felt rested and made our way home under sunny skies.  And there were no trees down in the cove.

Once again, I saw how pointless it is to worry and ponder imaginary ‘what-ifs’.

Yes, worry is futile.  But how is it evil?

Hebrews 5:13-14 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

These verses above pinged me last week when I read them in a prayer.  Here are my conclusions:

  • Milk and solid food refer to 2 levels of Biblical teaching – the first is basic familiarization for new believers. The latter – a deeper study for mature believers.
  • The Bible teaches God’s standard of righteousness or holiness.
  • We grow more holy as we learn to distinguish good from evil.
  • God is the One and only who has authority to define evil and good.

Here are two examples of God explicitly describing evil.

  •  Jer 2:13 ….my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
  • Another example of how God defines evil is idolatry or serving something created, rather than the Creator.  Gal 2:20 And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

My conclusion from these and other verses? That doing anything not from faith in or grateful reliance on God is sin, aka evil – Romans 14:23 For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Father, PLEASE help me, by your Holy and supernatural Spirit, not only to recognize when I’m straying into worry but to choose NOT to indulge in this futile, evil pattern. Amen.