Hakuna Matata
(“No Worries” in Swahili)
by Grant Gaines
I once heard a folk story of a man who was walking on a road right outside his hometown when he ran into a man who personified Death. Frightened, the man exclaimed, “Death! What are you doing here?” Death responded, “I have come to take 100 people tonight.” Full of anxious energy, the man sprinted back into the city to warn every one of the impending doom.
The next morning the man woke up and read in the newspaper that 1,000 people had died. The man angrily stormed out to the same spot where he met Death before and demanded that Death tell him why he took 1,000 people rather than the 100 people that he had told the man the previous day. Death replied, “I did only take 100. Worry took the rest.”
Isn’t that what worry does to us? Like the Boogie Man or the imaginary monster under your bed, worry has the innate ability to cause us to lose sleep over things that will never happen. And worry is everywhere in today’s world. When you flip on any news station, they’ll tell you that we are under the threat of nuclear attacks, an economic collapse, and melting ice caps. So what does God have to say about this ever so relevant topic of worry?
Well, after giving the Beatitudes, calling us to a standard of excellence, and teaching us how to pray in The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us His answer in Matthew 6:25-34. To sum it up, Jesus rhetorically asks us why we would ever worry when we have a Heavenly Father who knows our names (Psalms 91:14), knows the number of hairs on our heads (Luke 12:7), and even knows our every thought (Psalms 94:11) – not to mention the fact that God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for us (John 3:16).
In conclusion, Jesus tells us that rather than being anxious about the things that God is already in control of, we should, “…seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to [us] as well” (Matthew 6:33, NIV). Or in other words, if we focus on the, “…good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV), we can be confident that God will take care of our daily necessities because He is the, “… Heavenly Father [who] already knows all [our] needs” (Matthew 6:32, NLT).
Paul later expounded on Jesus’s “God-first Principle” found in Matthew 6:33 when he wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 4:6-7, NIV). Once again, we see that rather than worrying, we are to seek God first through prayer and to, “Cast all [our] anxiety on Him because he cares for [us]” (1 Peter 5:7, NIV).
And not only does prayer dissolve our anxiety, it also fills the gap that worrying left with God’s peace which, “…transcends all understanding…” (Philippians 4:7, NIV)! In fact, in Isaiah 26:3 (NIV) God promises that He will, “…keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in [God].”
If you want an example of the perfect peace that God offers us from the Bible, look no further than Peter’s imprisonment in Acts 12. We learn of Peter’s situation in Acts 12:6 (NIV) which says, “The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.” Peter was mere hours, or possibly even minutes away from his execution and what was he doing? He was sleeping! We later read that Peter was in such a deep and comfortable sleep that the angel who led Peter’s exodus out of prison couldn’t quietly call Peter to wake him up, he couldn’t simply tap Peter on his shoulder, no, he had to “strike” Peter on the side to wake him up (Acts 12:7, NIV).Now that’s some deep sleep!
Think about the things that have kept you up at night. Maybe you were worried about the stack of bills sitting on your desk, tomorrow’s big business presentation, or how your child would do in next week’s try out, but how many of your worries compare to the worry of being executed before lunch the following day like Peter faced?
Instead of worrying, wouldn’t it be great to be described as someone who allows, “…the peace of Christ to rule in your hearts…” (Colossians 3:15, NIV)? It can be, if you bring every concern to God in prayer.
“O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.[1]”
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
[1] “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” Joseph M. Scriven
