“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Sometimes at 3:00 A.M., I wake in the darkness and struggle to find my way back to a place of trust in God. In the stillness of that hour, my wants and worries are amplified. If I flip on the TV, the commercials airing in the dead of night offer a host of treatments promising to bring relief to harried insomniacs: bankruptcy lawyers who can fix financial woes, sleeping aids to silence restless minds, or whole life insurance policies to provide for families. (Oh, and lots of $19.95 kitschy cooking aids!)
I’m often awake in the middle of the night thanks to my midlife physiology. I remind myself that the words of Jesus are just as true at 3:00 A.M. as they are at 3:00 P.M., when the light of day and a busy schedule turn down the volume on the temporal worries that seem so permanent, so urgent in the darkness.
Jesus told his followers that they could trust his Father to provide just what they needed. Seeking to live under his loving rule means I will actively pursue his ways. When I am awake in the dark and my imagination kicks into overdrive, tempted to spin negative scenarios out of all of my worries, Jesus is there. He is not calling me to pep-talk myself through my worries in his name, but to turn to him just as I am.
Reflect:
Read Matthew 6:19–34. How would you summarize what Jesus is saying in this passage? What worries are you carrying with you today?
Pray:
As you confess your concerns in prayer, follow with your expression of desire to better learn how to seek God in the midst of them—even at 3:00 A.M. Thank him for his 24/7 unchanging love for you.
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
We’ve got little information on Jesus’ appearance and personality. But that’s the way God designed it.españolFrançais
C.S. Lewis recommended discernment over diatribes in exactly the moments we’re most eager to indulge in critique.
