Have you ever been anxious?  Have you ever gotten so anxious about something that you started to worry about it?  Have you ever worried so much that you made yourself physically ill?  Let’s look at what Jesus says about worrying in Matthew 6:25-34 –

²⁵ Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? ²⁶ Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? ²⁷ Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? ²⁸ And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: ²⁹ And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? ³¹ Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ³² (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. ³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ³⁴ Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

We see in this passage that God is our refuge, our fortress, and our strength, and He can get us through anything.  There is no need to worry about anything, because God will provide for all of our needs.

Let’s look at another passage, Philippians 4:4-7 –

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. ⁵ Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. ⁶ Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

This passage repeats again that we should not be anxious.  We need to pray and worship God in everything we do.  No matter where we are in life – whether everything is going right or everything seems to be going wrong – we need to continue to pray and worship God.  Remember, that the God of the mountain is still God in the valley.  He is with us through all of life’s ups and downs.

Have you ever flown in a plane?  Most of the time, it is a pretty smooth ride.  But, sometimes, there may be a storm, and you get a little bit of turbulence.  This makes the plane start rocking, and the ride isn’t as smooth as it was before.  In most cases, the pilot will contact air traffic control for guidance.  The air traffic controller will check the weather, and will probably tell the pilot to climb to a higher altitude to get above the storm, then maintain that altitude.

Climb and maintain.  That’s what we need to do in our relationship with God.  You see, prayer is our climb, as we should always be talking to God in prayer.  And worship is how we maintain our relationship with God.  Prayer and worship; climb and maintain.

Let’s look at the story of Abraham and Isaac, in Genesis 22:1-14 –

22 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. ² And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. ³ And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. ⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. ⁵ And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. ⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. ⁷ And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? ⁸ And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. ⁹ And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. ¹² And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. ¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

If you look in verse 7 of this passage, Isaac realizes that they have wood and fire for a sacrifice, but asks his father, “where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”  Do you think Isaac may have been getting a little anxious?  He has probably helped his father with many sacrifices by this time in his life, and he can see that something is missing.  In verse 8, Abraham tries his best to comfort Isaac by telling him that “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering”.  Isaac probably got even more anxious, and probably very frightened, when, in verse 9, Abraham built an altar for the burnt offering, then bound Isaac and laid him on the altar.  But, just as Abraham was about to offer his only son as a sacrifice to his God, God stopped him.  Then, just as Abraham had told Isaac, God provided a ram for the burnt offering.  Abraham then named the place Jehovah-jireh, which literally means “God will provide”.

God provided for us all when he sacrifice His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross to save us all from our sins.  Jesus bore the weight of all sin in order to be the sacrifice to God for all of us, so that we wouldn’t have to make this same sacrifice ourselves.  God provided the sacrifice for all sinners.

So, we shouldn’t be anxious or worry about anything.  God will provide for our needs, just as He provided His Son as our sacrifice.  Prayer and worship with God will see us through even the darkest times.  We just need to remember to climb and maintain – not just when we encounter turbulence, but always.

Prayer and worship; climb and maintain.

In Christian Brotherhood,
James Bozeman