Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 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: 25-34)
Let me tell you, this is an area of the bible where my life unfortunately does not line up perfectly with this scripture. It’s an area that is a weakness of mine and I need a lot of growth in. I am going to be completely honest here, I worry about a lot of different things at different times. And usually, it’s when I am not in good place with God, spending time in His word, obeying Him and focusing on Him. Where we are weak, He certainly is strong, however we have to rely on Him for that strength.
One of the most recent areas of my life where I have had to trust Him was our living situation and giving birth in about a month. We actually booked it from Florida to Tennessee to look at properties, thinking maybe they are cheaper out there or we could get more house for the money with some acreage. The market however it still at its peak, and even in a small town not near a major city, it’s priced high. We frantically looked for 2 weeks in the middle of the heat at the end of my last trimester with 3 kids, and left pretty surprised. We are still under contract for a home here in Florida, but the deadline keeps getting pushed out where we were supposed to be in there shortly after the winter, and do a home birth there (closer to my midwife). Now, we’ll be giving birth about an hour from my midwife’s home, still at my mother-in-laws home. I need to trust God in this circumstance because He knew this was going to happen, and it’s certainly not easy, but the key is knowing I can trust the God who loves me so much!
The scripture above is pretty clear, worrying is not only sin, but it’s not trusting the God who feeds the birds of the air. I have heard it said many of times, who ever sees a stressed out bird? No one! They are well taken care of, and God values us a lot more than birds, so we need to obey Him, but this verse comes easy only if we have relationship with Him. The words in the bible don’t really hold power without relationship and it is a lot easier to trust someone that you know, verses someone that you do not know personally. My kids trust their daddy because they live with him every day and spend time with them. If another adult took them for the day they wouldn’t be themselves as much or not know what to expect. But if they were with their own daddy, they know that he loves them and cares for them.
Do you have a hard time with this verse as well? Don’t get discouraged, but instead get to know Him. Once you know His heart, it becomes a lot easier to obey! Spend some time in His presence, repent, and believe what He says is true, and then everything else will follow, including a beautiful freedom that births out of genuine relationship with your Creator!