Most of us have had difficult times in our lives. When challenging things cause us concern, we can sometimes feel overwhelmed, upset, nervous. Sometimes those things keep us up at night with anxiety and worry. And even if we take into consideration everything else that is OK in our lives, those things that are not OK are preoccupying and dominate our thoughts and feelings. And when we’re in the midst of those kinds of concerns, nothing else matters.
It is easy to give advice to someone in the midst of such existential concerns when you’re not in the middle of them—to give sound, rational advice filled with the perspective that nothing awful lasts forever, and you’ve survived worse things, and God’s got you even if it doesn’t feel like it now. And it’s easy to go to those pleasant, encouraging platitudes—the “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” sayings. But when you’re in the middle of it, you can’t see a way out, and that no matter if you believe it won’t last forever, it is horrible right now, and right now is where you are. Where is help? Where is relief? Where is God?
There is much in the Bible about God’s presence in the midst of hurt and loss and difficulties. It would be impossible to cover all of it. But a couple of encouraging passages will guide Sunday’s worship. One is Psalm 46—the Psalms being the poems and songs that the people cry out to God with; many of the Psalms are those crying out from challenges and pain in their lives. Rather than begin with the pain, Psalm 46 begins with what we need to remember in the midst of the pain: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change . . .” The change referred to here is natural disasters, the mountains shaking, the waters roaring. Not much we can do in our own thinking to stop it, so we need to trust that God isn’t just hanging around, but is a “very present help in trouble”—now, not just when it’s over. God is with you in the midst, even when it’s overwhelming.
In Matthew 6, Jesus assures then that God is with them in the midst of their worry. Don’t worry—God knows you, is with you, and will sustain you. If God cares for the birds, the flowers, the grass, you are being cared for even more so. Remember—Jesus was talking to a lot of people who were pretty much living at a subsistence level, and he assures then that they shouldn’t worry because God’s love and mercy and kindness is with them.
If God takes care of the birds and the flowers and the grass, God takes care of us too. God DOES have us, even if it doesn’t feel like it in the midst of the trouble.
PSALTER Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 ‘Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.’
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
GOSPEL Matthew 6:25-34
25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.,34 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.