Worry Disabled, Fear Disarmed

Worry Disabled, Fear Disarmed

The very busy executive in the television commercial appears concerned. With a few clicks of his computer keyboard, he pulls up a screen shot—presumably of his distant, suburban home—and watches as his front door opens. Two young teens let themselves in and trudge upstairs, backpacks in tow. Knowing (through video surveillance) that his children are home from school, he returns to the tasks at hand.

Then these words close out the spot: “Worry disabled. Fear disarmed.” If only it were that easy.

My worrier often works overtime . . . and fear is close behind it. What if my health plan premiums go up 65 percent this year, and not the “mere” 25 or 40 percent from years just past? What if I or my loved ones are threatened by illness or disability? What if the violence I’m witnessing in other cities visits my own city one lurking night? What if my ability to earn a modest living decreases and the demands for that living increase? Honestly, I laugh now as I remember that in my thirties my most pressing question for the future was, what if I never marry? (The answer: under God, you live, love, and even thrive.)

I’m surprised I even saw the cable company commercial—I hardly turn on the television anymore. I just don’t have the stomach to watch.

The truth is, there is nothing new under the sun. Every age—and every day—has plenty of troubles of its own. The antidote to trouble is not denial or avoidance, and the end result does not have to be fear and worry. It can be faith. But only because I am loved by a good and faithful God, and he is working all things for his glory and my good. Worry and fear are disarmed and disabled only when I think of God and his great love for me. He proved it irrefutably once for all in time and history, and he keeps on proving it, day in and day out, through troubles of every kind.

Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?

Luke 12:25-26, NASB