How many of you remember the song released in 1988 titled “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin? I have to admit, I often sing the song to myself and it has less to do with the words and more todo with the very catchy beat and chorus. “In every life we have some trouble, but when you worry you make it double, don’t worry, be happy.” Sounds easy enough right? Replace your worry with happiness. Why didn’t I think of that? The truth is it doesn’t work like that and it isn’t that easy. Telling yourself to be happy won’t take away the anxiety you may be feeling because happiness in and of itself isn’t firmly rooted in anything.
This teaching starts by Jesus saying “Do not worry” and in this verse he shows the futility in worrying. Worrying doesn’t change the situation and it isn’t helpful to us in any way except to increase anxiety. Worry can even affect us physically if we allow it to have free reign in our minds. So if by worrying we can’t actually affect change in a situation or better ourselves what do we do? How do move out of worry? We focus on Jesus. Worry is a means of the enemy taking our eyes off of the God that knows the beginning from the end and causes us to focus solely on this very specific part of our lives. In a way worry gives us tunnel vision where instead of right sizing what we are going through at this moment and remembering that God is bigger we focus on the situation itself, which only makes it worse. That isn’t to say that the situation isn’t huge and could really be devastating BUT when we take our eyes off of the situation and put them back on the God who spoke and the world was created, we are reminded of where our hope lies. Not in things going exactly as planned but in a God who will never fail us.
by Kalesha Peters
