The apprehension of troubles

There was a time in my life – my late 20s, in particular – when I would’ve told you that I wasn’t a worrier. Plain and simple. It just wasn’t my battle. And then I probably would have told you how foolish it is to focus on all the stuff in life that, at the end of the day, you really can’t control.
But in the spring of 2000, I got walloped with a pretty big Life Event. One of those game-changers you never see coming. And in the process of walking through and dealing with everything that accompanied that particular time in my life, I found myself going toe-to-toe with worry on a pretty regular basis. Fear and anxiety were also hanging around a lot. The four of us were good buddies, in fact.
Looking back, I can see that it was during that season of my life that some sort of Worry Switch got flipped. It was almost like I didn’t know what I’d been missing, so I decided to make up for all my worry-free years by going into worry overtime. I was just, for lack of a better word, consumed. And even when I was way on the other side of that difficult time, the worry stuck around.
Honestly, worry and fear still like to pay me a visit every once in awhile, and they remind me of a bad neighbor: they pop in at the most inconvenient times, and after I invite them in, they won’t leave.
Believe me. I know. I’ve tried to kick them to the curb on more than one occasion.
Last week I had the privilege of hearing someone share a few thoughts on worry, and because of some stuff I’m wrestling with right now, it was more timely than I can even begin to tell you. This quote by Matthew Henry really stuck with me:
What a folly it is to take that trouble upon ourselves this day by care and fear, which belongs to another day, and will be never the lighter when it comes? Let us not pull that upon ourselves all together at once, which Providence has wisely ordered to be borne by parcels. The conclusion of this whole matter then is, that it is the will and command of the Lord Jesus, that His disciples should not be their own tormentors, nor make their passage through this world more dark and unpleasant, by their apprehension of troubles, than God has made it by the troubles themselves.
Let’s stop being our own tormentors today.
Let’s realize that our worry only makes our lives more dark and unpleasant.
Let’s remember that God is faithful.
And let’s rest in the peace of knowing that we can trust Him.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Matthew 6:34