Trust, and Do Not Worry

one

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us to Trust in Providence and not to worry

'That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. Surely life means more than food, and the body more than clothing! Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are we not worth much more than they are? Can any of you, for all his worrying, add one single cubit to his span of life? And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his regalia was robed like one of these. Now if that is how God clothes the grass in the field which is there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you men of little faith? So do not worry; do not say, "What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be clothed?" It is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be given you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

two

Sometimes there is so much pressure in life that we feel overwhelmed and all alone.

But we are never abandoned and left alone. God is watching and caring for us at every instant. And oftentimes God shows us.

My friend and my brother Jack in Jerusalem has gone through a number of very difficult circumstances. Recently he could not sleep overwhelmed with worry and feeling totally alone. Yet, he felt a tremendous pull to go to the cave where Jesus regularly prayed on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jack has no car so very early he went to the bus station and hopped a bus for a 2 hour ride to Tiberias and made his way to the cave. There he sat where Jesus prayed, but feeling totally abandoned by God in his difficulties. He had never prayed this Rosary Podcast but at that moment found the site and clicked on one of them and began to pray. As he sat there praying the Rosary with us, he hear me say in the Podcast, “and now we offer this decade for my friend Jack in Jerusalem and his daughter Melania.” I have done more than 1200 different Rosary Podcasts. Only once did I pray for Jack. How was it that Jack picked that one? Because we are never abandoned by God. So often we feel abandoned and alone and then God does something to remind us we are not alone.
God knows everything we are going through and he watches over everything from the least to the greatest things in our life, working all things for good. 

God watches over everyone and everything. No one is abandoned.

three

God sees everyone

There is a powerful scene from the series The Chosen where Nathaniel has made a total mess of his life and seems to have lost everything. In despair he flees to the wilderness and in his despair collapses beneath a fig tree and cries out to God, convince he has been abandoned by God.

Later, his friend Philip finds him and introduces him to Jesus. “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming, he said of him, 'There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit'. 'How do you know me?' said Nathanael 'Before Philip came to call you,' said Jesus 'I saw you under the fig tree.'

Feelings are often not a good indication of reality. Nathaniel felt abandoned and alone. But God was with him, watching him. But this watching is not a passive watching. In fact, Providence comes from the word Pro-videre (to see things on our behalf)

1.  From all eternity God saw what you are going through right now; You couldn’t see what was coming, but he did.

2.  Even though you can’t understand what you are going through, God does, He is with you, and He sees it, meaning, He understands it on your behalf.

3.  No matter what you are going through, God will see that it works in your favor, if you cooperate with Him by doing and accepting His will.

four

Nothing can happen in life unless God wills or permits it. And if He permits it, then God will work it for your good.

St. Catherine of Siena said to those who are scandalized and rebel against what happens to them: "Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind."

(Rom. 8:28) God works all things for good for those who love him.

God guides all things to contribute to our spiritual welfare, not only the grace He gives us, not only those natural qualities He endows us with, but sickness, world events, the forces of nature, and apparent failures and defeats.

St. Augustine tells us, even our sins, which God does not want us to commit, He still permits in order to lead us to humility, a greater reliance on Him and a purer love for Him.

This is why God allowed Peter to deny Him three times - to make Peter more humble, less self-reliant, and more trusting in divine mercy.

five

Jesus commands us not to worry. Let’s end with five principles to overcome worry

             i.        Identify the specific source of worry. Are we worried about future things that almost never happen; or things over which we have no control; or things we have been procrastinating. What is the specific cause of worry.

           ii.        Lower the stakes - Another cause of worry or anxiety is that we make the stakes way bigger than the really are. Most likely, the thing we are worrying about probably wont kill us or anyone else.

          iii.        Failure is good. We must fail to grow. We have the false idea that failure is bad, even deadly and this becomes a cause of anxiety. They only way we grow is to try things we haven’t mastered. This entails risk. If we play it safe all the time, with a caution that avoids all mistakes and failures – it will be impossible for us to grow. There is no failure – there is only learning.

        iv.        Live in the present moment. So slow down. Focus on what can and must be done today. Make a plan for the near future. But once you make your plan – quit living in the future and just do the next right step today.

          v.        Exposure to gain evidence. The only way to overcome worry is to face it, go through it, and gain evidence that is was never as bad as though were worried it would be.