Good advice on beating worry if you ask me. 

Psalms 37: 1-7 1 Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. 

I found it hard to sit still as a kid. That doesn’t make me very unique but I used to (and, full disclosure, still do) sit and bounce my leg up and down. It annoys some people and depending on the structural integrity of the building it can actually be felt by others. Don’t ask me how I know this, I just do. So when the psalmist says basically, “Relax” it’s not something in my wheelhouse.

Similarly, and again not uniquely, I find myself measuring my stuff against others’ stuff which I know is dumb and useless and a waste of time and I shouldn’t do it but I do. It’s sort of like the whole nervous bouncing your leg up and down. So how do we calm down? How do we not compare what we have with what other people have? Well, we have our instructions above: Trust (verse 3), Delight (verse 4) and Commit (verse 5). Those, and be still.

Now being still, as I said, isn’t easy for me but my challenges don’t end there. When it comes to trusting and committing, well unless it’s to pizza, I have a tough time sometimes there too. However, delighting in something? Now that, I can handle. Who doesn’t want to have delight in their lives? No one ever says, “Gosh, I just have too much delight, right now. I wish it’d rain.” You don’t hear people say, “Man, I was at the end of my rope but then, my car broke down and I tell ya, I’m on top of the world!” But the really great part is if we delight in the Lord apparently things will work out for us. We’ll get what we want in our heart.

So for today, just today, give these things a try. They might be new. They might be a bit counter to your inclination but they’re worth it. Relax. Be still. It’ll be all right.

The Everyday Question: What’s worrying you the most today?

Know someone who has a lot of worry? If this might help them, please share it. 

On Saturdays I send subscribers to this blog an email with links to the previous week’s posts. Subscribing is free and you can do it by clicking here. 

If you want to read other posts you can go back to the home page by clicking here.