KILL OFF THE RATS AND PUT OUT THE FIRES

"Worry is a small trickle of fear that meanders through the mind until it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained" - anonymous

Are you a worrier? I used to pride myself in thinking that I was not...but life has a way of revealing the truths that we don't want to face about ourselves. In recent years I have had to face things which put my soul in turmoil and I also became extremely well acquainted with that old unsavory character, "the knot in the stomach".

The Lord reminded me of something recently which helps. But first a few things to consider:

J.C. Penney, founder of the famous department store chain, was a very deeply committed Christian whose primary focus was the glory of God. In 1929, when the Great Depression hit, he found himself in extreme financial crisis. He began to worry and was unable to sleep. Before long he had developed a painful case of the shingles and was hospitalized. His state only grew worse, and worry was crushing him. His health so failed that at one point he expected to die the next day and wrote a note to family members. But the next morning he awoke to the sound of singing in the hospital chapel. The words of the old hymn came drifting to his worry-sick soul:

"Be not dismayed, whate'er betide...God will take care of you
Beneath His wings of love abide...God will take care of you.

In what he described for the rest of his life as a miraculous occurrence, he was flooded with fresh revelation of how much the Lord loved and cared for him. And instantly all fear and worry was lifted from him and he was never plagued with worry again.

Robert Morgan describes the root meaning of the word "fret'. "Psalm 37 admonishes us "Do not fret...it only causes harm". The English word 'fret' comes from the Old English Fretan, which means 'to devour, to eat, to gnaw something'. The Hebrew word David actually used is Charah, which carries the thought of  'growing warm and blazing up'. Put these two pictures together. Think of worry as a rat inside your soul, gnawing away. Think of satan as an arsonist, setting little blazes of distress inside your heart."


Truly, fretting causes harm. In my own life, I have suffered health problems and my doctor has declared most of them to be the rotten fruit of internalized stress. John Calvin was prone to anxiety. "Those who are extremely anxious", he said, "wear themselves out and become their own executioners".

Recently I was running errands around town and as I drove, my mind rushed ahead, fretting over a possible emotionally painful development. But my worries were not about the present day, but what the results could be in a few weeks, or a month. I was reminded of Jesus' words, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own".

Now you may think this sounds childlike and simplistic, but I was struck by the fact that, at least in this scripture, the Lord was not dealing with the issue of worrying about today's trouble. He was just admonishing us not to worry about tomorrow's troubles.  I'm not saying that the Lord approves of worrying about today, but somehow that simple little revelation helped me tremendously. Because in my life, many, many of the things I worry about (concerning tomorrow) never come to pass. But I worry and fret about them today. They are phantoms. They are phantoms sent by satan to wear me out and hinder my work for Jesus. The Lord has shown me this on numerous occasions. So I thought to myself, "What a relief...for right now I don't need to beat up on myself about today's worries...I just need to stop worrying about tomorrow....and with the Lord's help, I can defer my worries about tomorrow until they materialize (or don't)  and just deal with today's worries.

Soon after, we received a bad report about something which at first caused us to believe that a new, unexpected, and extremely hard situation was arising, and would soon put us in a new and very painful conflict.
But somehow, everytime I thought about it, I sensed the Lord saying, "only a phantom". And I considered the Lord's words, "Do not worry about tomorrow". So far that monster has never materialized. I could have spent hours with my old buddy 'the knot in the stomach' and wreaked havoc upon my physical body. But the Lord wants me to learn His ways.

Are you a victim of satan's darts? Do you fret and worry to the detriment of your own soul and body? Jesus came 'that we might have life and have it more abundantly'. Is there a rat gnawing away in your heart? Is there a fire burning out of control, devouring your peace? Jesus says "do not fret...it only causes harm". Kill off the rats and put out the fires. Your life and ministry for the Lord may depend upon it.