In our family, I have always been the over-preparer. A hurricane may be coming? I buy canned goods and bottled water. One tiny snowflake may fall? I go buy milk and bread, and it doesn’t snow. A deadly virus that is sweeping the globe? You guessed it. I bought toilet paper, just like everyone else. But then the night after I did that, the President addressed the nation, a major celebrity announced he had the virus, colleges began shutting down, and I started really freaking out. I began trying to figure out how I was going to get back to the store and buy diapers and wipes. Could I get more toilet paper on line? Is Amazon still going to deliver? What about Evan? Will he be alright in all of this?
My mind was racing. I was making myself tired, and I hadn’t done anything but overthink things. Then I opened God’s Word. (Shouldn’t I have done that first? Shouldn’t we all?) I am slowly praying through a book of God’s promises as they apply to special needs families, and that day I turned to the section on finances. But in those pages, I found promises directly from the lips of Jesus that apply to this situation our country is in:
“So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:31-34, CSB
Our Heavenly Father already knows the end of this chapter. So it follows that we should trust Him to provide what we need to get through it. We need not fear what the news will say when we get up tomorrow morning because God has gone ahead of us there, and He has already laid out the plan for that day. And the next. And the next. No matter how long this crisis (or any crisis) drags on, Jesus is already there, making a way for us to get through it. Our job is not to worry. Our job is to “aim at and strive after” (Amplified Version) the kingdom of God. That means we stay in His Word and stay in an attitude of prayer.
I encourage you to commit these verses or any other passage that brings you peace to memory or post them where you can see them constantly. (Also, if you know the old song “Seek Ye First,” which is Matthew 6:33 set to music, sing it. A lot. And really loud if needed!) It may be a long road before we are finally out of pandemic land, so we need to be standing on these promises because they are faithful and true. Do not worry, folks. Seek Him first.
My mind was racing. I was making myself tired, and I hadn’t done anything but overthink things. Then I opened God’s Word. (Shouldn’t I have done that first? Shouldn’t we all?) I am slowly praying through a book of God’s promises as they apply to special needs families, and that day I turned to the section on finances. But in those pages, I found promises directly from the lips of Jesus that apply to this situation our country is in:
“So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:31-34, CSB
Our Heavenly Father already knows the end of this chapter. So it follows that we should trust Him to provide what we need to get through it. We need not fear what the news will say when we get up tomorrow morning because God has gone ahead of us there, and He has already laid out the plan for that day. And the next. And the next. No matter how long this crisis (or any crisis) drags on, Jesus is already there, making a way for us to get through it. Our job is not to worry. Our job is to “aim at and strive after” (Amplified Version) the kingdom of God. That means we stay in His Word and stay in an attitude of prayer.
I encourage you to commit these verses or any other passage that brings you peace to memory or post them where you can see them constantly. (Also, if you know the old song “Seek Ye First,” which is Matthew 6:33 set to music, sing it. A lot. And really loud if needed!) It may be a long road before we are finally out of pandemic land, so we need to be standing on these promises because they are faithful and true. Do not worry, folks. Seek Him first.
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