Counsel #22 — Worry Is Blind

Picture: Counsel #22 — Worry Is BlindCCW 38.1

If you want to worry, there will always be an endless supply of it. We trick ourselves; we confuse worrying with planning, stressing with strategizing. But these are radically different. Worrying won’t change circumstances; instead it increases anxiety levels, suffocating our faith in an all knowing, all loving God we can trust. In the words of Ellen White, “worry is blind.” It can’t “discern the future.” Worrying is like bowing to an idol and hoping your request will be granted. Rather, pray to God, and focus on what you can do.^{[54]https://www.ministerialassociation.org/pastoral-families/spouses/magazine/archives/2004/3/how-to-break-the-chronic-worry-habit}CCW 38.2

“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” Matthew 6:28-30 NKJVCCW 38.3

“Worry is blind and cannot discern the future. But Jesus sees the end from the beginning, and in every difficulty He has His way prepared to bring relief. Abiding in Christ, we can do all things through Him who strengthens us.” Ellen White in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, p. 297CCW 38.4

Reflect: What practical steps can you take to cultivate a deeper relationship with God and experience His peace?CCW 38.5