Do Not Be Anxious, Just Work Hard and Trust God For All Results

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not depend on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
(Proverbs 3:5,6)

"Dedicate all you do to the Lord and your plans will succeed."
(Proverbs 16:3)

These are notes that I took at church today from a message by the Pastor, Rick Buck.  I really appreciated how he addressed this issue of worry and ambition as it is spelled out by God, in the Bible.

Many times people worry about their futures.  Whether it be about not being successful, or bad things happening, they worry.  God tells us we are not to worry, but rather we are to trust in Him, allowing Him to guide us.  He calls us to surrender all aspects of our lives to Him. 

This can lead people to incorrectly think that in order to be properly surrendered to God, we must sit back and allow God to bring our way whatever He sees fit.  In other words, they think that we should be without ambition in life, because they incorrectly feel that ambition is a sign that they are pursuing their own interests rather than being surrendered compeltely to God. God does not say we should not have ambition, but rather the right kind of ambition.  We are to work hard and make it our ambition to do our best in everything that He brings our way, and to do so with an attitude of dependence and surrender to Him.  Therefore, it is not wrong to be ambitious in life, as long as we have a continual attitude of dependence on God and surrender to Him. 

We are to do our best in all things as an act of worship to Him.  Once we have done our best we are to surrender those efforts to God and allow His will to be done in regards to all the results.

Worry comes as a result of not trusting in, and being completely surrendered to, God.  Life surrendered to God does not bring stress but rather a life of peace.  In being completely surrendered, we know that God is in control and that even if bad or stressful things happen, we can find peace knowing that He holds our situation in His hands, and that He always wants what's best for us.  As Rick Buck said today, "I would rather be in the storm with God than in the sunshine without Him".

When we examine worry, it is easy to see that it is pointless and nonsensical.  After all, much of what we worry about doesn't actually end up happening, or it has happened in the past and cannot be changed but only learned from.  And many people also tend to worry about health issues, but worry negatively affects health.  Worrying never changes anything in positive ways, only negative.  Worry just never makes sense.

I feel the following poem grants further insight into this topic:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr