Why Worry?
Have you ever watched a hamster run on a wheel? You ever wonder why they do that? I honestly have no idea. I was hoping you did. But, for some reason, they will run as hard and fast as they can on a wheel that is going nowhere.
Kinda stupid huh? Though I shouldn’t fault the hamsters. They were made with small brains.
But perhaps God views our human worrying in much the same way. He must get frustrated with us. He desires so much for us to draw near to Him and trust in His ability to give us immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine. He must wonder where on earth is our faith? And yet we, like the small-minded hamster, spend much of our lives in fruitless, unproductive worry.
The irony here of course is 99.9% of the things you worry about will never come to pass. Think about the things you worried over just a year ago. What’s that you say? You can’t remember them? Right, me either. It’s the things I never see coming that life tends to blindside me with. For all the things we worry over, we are wrong on most of them. Probably all of them.
Jesus put it far better when He said “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” (Luke 12:24-25)
Worry all you want, it simply won’t do you any good. It won’t change anything that could happen to you. It won’t prevent anything from happening to you. And in all likelihood, all your worrying will only decrease your life quality and possibly decrease your life quantity.
It’s rather humbling to consider that all the worry, stress and anxiety we build up in life is kind of like a hamster trying to get out of its cage by running on that silly wheel. You and I both know he’s not going anywhere. And yet, day after day, he gets in the wheel, and runs his heart out.
Worry robs of us of our best energy, passion, productivity and brain power. I shudder to think of all the opportunities we’ve missed merely because we were too busy running our hearts out.
Let’s be better than the hamsters. They have small brains so at least they have an excuse. But, we are made in the image of God—and we have every reason to trust Him!
This week, take a break from running on your wheel of worry. Instead, try casting. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) Pray to God. Cast every single worry, and anxiety that troubles your heart onto the heart of your Father who loves you and cares for you deeply.
When you cast your cares to Him, I guarantee they will trouble you no longer.