The Religious Outlook

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 29 August 1942, Page 6

The Religious Outlook

WORRY

(By the Rev. A. Ledrew Gardner, Rector of St. Paul’s Church, Charlottetown.) “Take no thought.”—St. Matthew 6: 25-34. In simple words —“Don’t worry.” This is very easy to say, but not so easy to do, particularly in days such as these, when lowering clouds tend to create a gloom and darkness that is not always easy to penetrate. Nevertheless, it is not only good advice it is a Divine counsel, if not a Divine command. Worry and God cannot dwell together, and nothing must be allowed to shut God out these days. Yet when worry enters, God has to leave. Where God abides worry and anxiety can never gain admittance. This cannot be more clearly or more strongly stated than in the words of the Lord recorded by St. Matthew. So insistent is He that worry should have no place in life that in the above passage alone He issues a five-fold warning for as many different reasons.

The first and greatest danger of worry is that it may soon become the master, and it is impossible to serve two masters. One cannot serve God and trust Him and at the same time be a slave to worry. “Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey.” There cannot be two aims in life. It is either “God or Mammon.” “Life or meat.” It is the life that seeks the Mammon and the meat that is open to worry. He that is God-centred is set free for God is His master. Never was there greater need for freedom from worry. Worry is futile and unprofitable. “Which of you by taking thought (by being anxious and worried) can add one cubit to his stature?” What has worry ever accomplished? What has it ever profited? Nothing. Rather the reverse. It is a useless waste of energy, a dissipation of natural forces within, a dulling of the mental powers and a stifling of the voice of the Holy Spirit. How foolish to indulge in that which is totally without piofit and which retards the well-being of body, mind and spirit. God has great plans for the future. He will need then, as always, men through whom His grace and power can have free course.

How unnecessary is worry! “Behold the fowls of the air . . .your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Consider the lilies of the field ... if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you . . .?” Is there any need to worry when in the keeping of such a Heavenly Father? Of course one can easily understand those who have no such Father indulging in anxiety and worry. But to those who have God for their Father and who believe His word that “Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered” worry is as impossible as it is unnecessary. There may be ration cards in the darkness of the future, but there is a heavenly Father there, too. No doubt many who do believe in and look to such a heavenly Father worry, not altogether because they doubt His providence, but because they fear He may allow suffering and unpleasant things to come their way. Yes, He may. “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” Even the Beloved One was allowed to go to a cross, but even there He could look up and say “Father.” He cares, He loves, He knows, Nothing this truth can dim. He gives His very best to these Who leave the choice to Him. Worry is quite unworthy of any of the Children of the Kingdom. “Take no thought saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things the Gentiles seek.” Yes, these are the things the Gentiles seek and these are the source of most worries. Worry is a characteristic of those outside the kingdom. They are anxious over food and clothing, health, wealth, the future, and a host of things. They labour, they worry, they slave. Not so the Children of the Kingdom. They work, yes, but not for food, clothing or wealth. The King takes care of these things for them. They have a much nobler aim and a much higher principle. They do not work to live, they live to work. They are citizens of a kingdom ruled over by the most wise, most loving, most benevolent King, and but one thing matters—to render Him true and loving service. He can be trusted to take every care of His loyal subjects. What a day for witness of such a King! “Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” How many worries are for “the morrow.” The bulk of worries are over things that never happen—naturally, that’s why they are worries. It is the uncertain, the unknown that tempts to worry. But with God there is no uncertainty and no unknown. To Him all is everpresent—no dark to-morrow. The future is in His hands just as to-day is and just as the past has been. Why not trust Him for the future? So long thy power hath blessed mo Sure it still will lead me on. The past teaches that the future can well be left in His keeping. He has been equal to the days that lie behind, and can be trusted with the days that are ahead. Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake To guide the future as He has the past. Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake; All now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below. Yes, the present may have dark days, there may be darkness in the days ahead, who knows? But one thing is certain—God is there. Why worry?—“Canadian Churchman.”