Why Worry? - April 7, 2011

Good Thursday morning! Some mornings the writing tank just seems dry, but the Lord is always there to fill it for me; I will trust in the Lord my God! I often worry about not having any ideas to write down for the devotional or the novels I am working on, and indeed some days there just is nothing to write when I sit down to work on my books. I am not alone in this. I started reading the autobiography of Mark Twain, considered to be one of the great American writers. He described the affliction in exactly the same way: that some days the tank was dry. When it comes to the books, when the tank is dry I go to find something else to do. But in writing the devotional, I always want to have something for you each morning. As God fills up my tank, I pour it out for you. So why the worry? As the infamous second century philosopher Knucklehedicus used to say: "Worries are what keeps a man on his tippy-toes." Jesus simply said that we are not to worry. Jesus is quoted often, probably daily, in many places around the world. Knucklehedicus is lost to history with the exception of my small efforts to revive his infamous quotations. What else can I worry about in the devotional writing? Writing the wrong thing of course. However, when I look in the Bible, I see that false teachers and false prophets had one thing that those who truly believe in Jesus cannot have - the intent to deceive. I can make mistakes, have already made some in fact and probably will again. False teachers on the other hand start out to deceive and follow only their master, that number one deceiver, Satan, who is our adversary. Any other worries we need to shoot down today? Worries about what tomorrow may bring perhaps? As Knucklehedicus liked to say: "Tomorrow is another day!" Actually that came from a man I worked with back in the day. For some reason his today was never anything but depressing and sad, so he constantly quoted himself with that dreadful cant. We can try to worry about tomorrow and throw away today, or we can take God's joy and peace for today and let him worry about tomorrow. Oops, the cat caught me staring, he must be worried that I'm going to use him as an example again. Okay, we'll let the cat off for today. Tomorrow is God's territory; he sees all of it already. We see nothing at all when we try to look at tomorrow. We can guess, plan, anticipate, and even prepare, but when the next day comes all of our planning may be useless in light of what actually happens on the day. Why worry? Of course, I cannot claim to be the champion of trusting in God and never worrying. I guess that I will just have to trust in God to raise me up to a higher level of trust and peace in Jesus Christ! Have a wonderful Thursday. God's love to you on this fine day! Bucky