Drive 'Em Crazy!

Our house is set amongst a group of similarly designed cluster homes situated in a beautiful park like arrangement.  Most of the homes are formed into groups of four with three of their patios connected to the each other.  Meandering pathways lined by impeccable green lawns, lush greenery and tall trees intertwine their way in between the different homes.  If there is anything that might detract from living here it would be the closeness of the residences.  But it is a pretty tight-knit and friendly community which tends to negate any potential problems.

As I meditate on the Word in the quiet of the early morning in my study, I enjoy glancing out the large window that sits to the left of my desk area and enjoy the picturesque scene outside the window.  Almost every week day that stillness is broken as my neighbor’s door bangs open and the Mom and her two little kids come out, as I assume she is off to work and the kids possibly to daycare.  It is an enjoyable sight to me as the little boy usually is the first one out and bursts upon the pathway with joyful frolic, running across the wet grass and jumping up and down on the sidewalk as Mom attempts to wrangle him and his younger sister to her side and shoo them down the walk to the parking area.

I would imagine that Mom has all kinds of things on her mind including the time, the events scheduled that day at the office, dropping off the kids and a myriad of other important items.  To the cute little boy though, his only thoughts are of the moment and the fun and games at hand!  Their daily antics always put a smile in my heart as I watch them scampering down the path with Mom carrying her purse and a large satchel full of the kids things with both arms around the kids pushing them toward the car while both of the young ones skip merrily along the way!

Those precious kids are doing exactly what Paul encourages us to do through Philippians 4:4 were he says to “Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again I say, rejoice!”  (NKJV)  My neighbor’s kids aren’t concerned or worried about the day, they are just happy to enjoy the events happening before them.  I’m sure that they are secure in trusting their Mom and Dad and are therefore free to rejoice!

And you know what?  That’s exactly how you and I should be because of our secure trust in our heavenly Father and the truth of His Word!  It is the kind of lifestyle that He wants us to pursue in our daily lives.  A couple verses later Paul even goes so far as to tell us to “Never worry about anything, (but just) pray and ask God for everything you need…” (Philippians 4:6 Easy-To-Read Version) 

Can you imagine the audacity of the Apostle making such an outrageous statement?  How could he possibly even think that we could, or would even want to not worry about everything that we are faced with each day?  Worry is what we’re supposed to do isn’t it?  Why, people will think of me as being uncaring if I don’t worry!

Well, your right!  Many will think that you are uncaring and many other things if you don’t respond in anxiousness and worry when troubled times arise in your life!  I can personally vouch for that!  But it is what God tells us to do BECAUSE once we put the situation into His hands it is out of our control and in His!  Therefore, we’ve got NOTHING to worry or be anxious about, for Romans 8:28 tells us that “All things work together for good to them who love God…” (God’s Word ©)

I guess it all boils down to the question of what you are looking at once you commit the situation to God.  Are you keeping your eyes on the physical situation or on the impossible possibilities of the all-powerful and all-knowing and all-loving God?  I had close relatives rip into my kids with questions and accusations about why (they thought) I was doing so little to help out our situation soon after my wife’s problems were diagnosed.  There were big concerns being voiced about our finances, medical care costs and our living quarters among other things.

Once we received the official diagnosis (or “name”) of her health problem, my wife and I immediately went to the Lord, commanded the disease to bow it’s knee before the mighty name of Jesus (see: Philippians 2:9-11) and then began to rejoice and thank the Lord for her total and complete healing.  At that point the problem was totally in His hands… so why worry about it any longer?  From that point on we walked around with a smile on our faces and peace in our hearts.

As far as finances, we were actually doing okay at the time as my re-established lawn-care business was growing, I was on part-time staff at our church and we had money saved in case of emergency.  Obviously also unbeknownst to those questioning our ability, was that I had already been pursuing medical care aid and insurance programs for quite a few months, was in the process of filling out the required paperwork and we were just waiting for the required waiting period to be completed before we could physically apply.  So as far as we were concerned, everything in the natural was in motion and in the spiritual realm, God was (and still is) working steadily behind the scenes!  I had quietly and confidently done my part by pursuing all the avenues to stabilize our situation and we were confident that God was doing His part.

From this personal experience, I can almost guarantee it that when you DO Philippians 4:4-6 people, even some seemingly strong Christians, will get upset when you DON’T WORRY after you’ve asked God for help!  They’ll say that it’s just not natural to NOT WORRY!  Well, I guess their right… It’s not natural, it’s SUPERNATURAL!

So… (He! He!) if you want to drive some people around you absolutely crazy, just be happy, full of joy and rejoice as you cast your cares upon the Lord and NOT WORRY about ANYTHING!  Then after the initial confusion at your response wears off, they might just ask you WHY?  Then you’ll have an open door to share of your faithful and unshakeable trust in the Lord and how much He LOVES you and THEM!  Have a great weekend.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What JOY am I expecting today?”