Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down,
but a good word makes him glad. – Proverbs 12:25
Anxiety doesn’t announce itself with a parade and a marching band. There’s no welcoming party. It just settles in and presses against us, draining the joy out of ordinary moments until suddenly everything seems a whole lot heaver than it should.
I was thinking about the disciples earlier today. And I tried to imagine what it must’ve been like to be one of the Twelve. Jesus gathers you in and starts talking about sending you out. No long-term plan. No sack of money. No backup supplies. And then, almost casually, He says you’re going out like lambs among wolves (Luke 9, 10). That’s not exactly a pep talk! I can imagine the looks they must’ve exchanged… the quiet calculations they started to run in their heads. What about food? Safety? Shelter? What if this goes wrong? What if we fail? (or at least that’s where my mind would’ve gone).
But wait. Isn’t this the same Jesus who tells them in Matthew 6, “Don’t worry about your life… So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’… Your Heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Matt 6:25, 31-32).
That’s the tension. Jesus doesn’t deny the wolves, He doesn’t pretend the road is safe. He just refuses to let worry lead the conversation.
Their mission would require trust – real trust. Trust that God would provide daily bread… trust that God would meet them in hostile places. Trust that their obedience wouldn’t outrun God’s care for them.
Now, fast-forward 2000 years.
We read these passages knowing how the story turns out. We know Jesus is the Messiah. We know He heals the sick, restores sight to the blind, raises the dead, and defeats death itself. From where we sit, it’s easy to say, “Of course you can trust Him! Look who’s talking!”
But then the question turns inward, to us.
Do I trust God with my money?
Do I trust Him when I lose my job – or fear losing it?
Do I trust Him when life stops making sense and explanations don’t come?
Or do I worry?
Most of my worry doesn’t come from what is happening, but from what might happen. The endless “what-ifs.” What if this falls apart? What if that doesn’t work out? What if I’m not okay in the end? And before I know it, I’ve given away peace and joy that God never asked me to surrender.
In his book, Run Today’s Race, Oswald Chamber observes, “All of our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God.” That comment resonates with me. I’m pretty good at planning. I’m also pretty good at leaving God out of those plans and then wondering why the math doesn’t seem to work out.
Proverbs 12:25 reminds us that anxiety weighs the heart down – but a good word lifts it. And the good word isn’t, “Everything will be easy.” The good word is, “You’re not alone. And you’re not responsible for the outcome, I am.”
We don’t need to get ahead of God. We don’t need to outrun tomorrow. There’s nowhere we will go, no place we will arrive, no circumstance we will face where God isn’t already there – present, aware, and faithful.
The thought for today is to slow down a bit. Stop calculating without God. Trust the One who sends us out – and promises to meet us there on the road.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. – Hebrews 10:23
Former Blackout Artist 