NeuroTalk Support Groups - Give Your Worries To God

There is no disputing the fact that nine times out of ten, worrying about a thing does more damage to those who worry than the thing it self.

W. B. Godbey put it this way, "The most trouble I ever had I never had. I borrowed it from the future and it never came."

Modern science has proved that worry breaks down our resistance to diseases. More than that, it actually disturbs the nervous system and in particular the digestive organs and the heart. A noted cardiologist, Dr. Newell Gilbert has observed that worry causes more heart problems than any other emotion. Add to this the toll of unhappiness and sleepless nights void of internal sunshine and you have a glimpse of the monster who threatens both the body and the soul.

E. Stanley Jones recounts a fable whereby a man met an apparition by the name "Cholera" who way on his way out of a city he had recently consumed. The man asked the specter, "Well, how many did you kill?"

"Over 80,000," came the sinister reply, "but I only touched 20,000!"

Puzzled by the response the man asked, "What happened to the rest?"

"Oh," said Cholera, "they died from worry."

What then is the remedy? Jesus made it perfectly clear in the Sermon on the Mount when He said (in so many words) God is in the tomorrows of life. In dealing with the age-old problems of fear and anxiety He said, "…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 food, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are ye not much better than they?" (Matthew 6:25, 26).

In ancient as well as modern times, the oriental shepherd was always ahead of his flock. He was out in front guiding his sheep to green pastures and sparkling brooks. As he led the way with staff in hand, any attempt to harm the flock had to take him into account. Here is a beautiful picture of God and His sheep, for He too is out in front. He is already in "the tomorrows" of life so that anything that would threaten us has to take Him into account. They have to pass by Him before they can get to us.