How to Toss Out Worry

In WWII researchers did a study on infantry and fighter pilots. Here is what they discovered, they discovered. That after 60 days of unending combat infantry men were emotionally wounded and fatigued, some were emotionally dead. The problem was with the unpredictability of their job. Often they would get ambushed; they just kind of walk through the field then all the sudden they are fired upon. With no sense of control, their emotions were frayed.

On the other hand, they found that 93% of WWII fighter pilots expressed deep joy, contentment, and happiness in their job, even though as fighter pilots they had a 50% mortality rate. Why? Because there was a sense of control. They knew where the enemy was coming from. There was a sense of predictability to it. There was a sense of control.

In fact, one of the things that they unearthed from this study was that anxiety increases as perceived control decreases. That is the recipe, when life comes to you fast, anxiety spikes. An attempt to bring back normalcy and predictability is called worry. (www.americansoldierww2.org/topics/air-combat, 2021)

We come now to our text; here there are two stories united by the theme of worry.  In each story we see that there is an incredible need. In story number one there is five-thousand men who need to be fed. This is a low number; most scholars believe that the crowd was much larger. Why? Because John points out that it was just five-thousand men. Now this is in Jewish antiquity, so if we say on average each man was married, and they had on average two kids, (which is a very low estimate), we can count on there being twenty thousand people who need to be fed.

In the second story, we find the disciples are rowing across the sea and all a sudden a storm happens; and they are frightened because there is an incredible need. In both stories they do not have the resources to meet the need. The question is where are they going to get bread to feed all these people? I did not have the resources to match the need. In the second story there is not an off switch that the disciples can hit to end this storm. In both scenarios their need outpaces their resources, and the disciples were frightened.

That is where some of you are right now. In fact, we have all been there. Not some of you have all been there, we have all been there. Oh, we have had a couple tours of duty in the land called worry and anxiety. Here we are feeling good one day, wake up the next and there is a lump on your breast. Something out of order with your body. You have a need for health and here you are thrust into the land of worry. You cannot fix yourself. Maybe there are too many MONTHs at the end of the MONEY. Some may be wondering how’s rent going to be paid. How is this bill going to be fixed? Others have tried to raise kids in the fear and admonition of the Lord; when they were younger you thought you were in control but they hit the teenage, young adult years, and you’re watching them making choices and decisions and your realizing that you don’t have as much control as you thought. In fact, when you try to exert control it does not make it better. We have all been there. What do we do?

This text gives us three answers on how to toss out worry in our lives. First thing you do when worry hits: Do what you can do! Even though what you offer is very little, do something. Like if you are stuck in an elevator, it does you no good to sit there and worry. Pick up the phone in the elevator and call the number, do what you can. If you are stuck in an unhappy marriage it does you no good to worry about it, do what you can, call on God. Pray! Call for a counselor or a therapist. If you have financial pressures, do what you can. Cry out for help. Call a financial planner, sit with someone, show them your bills, draft a plan, do what you can. If you feel funny about your body, get a physical.  Well, I am afraid of what the doctor might find. So, by not going you think it is going to go away? Here is the thing you might think that you have cancer, but you have a bad case of indigestion. But you are not going to know until you find out. 

Secondly, you must relinquish control. Here the disciples in story number one have 20,000 people who need to eat. Just imagine the conversation, there is a little boy who has five loaves of bread, two pieces of fish and here’s Jesus. Maybe he gets eyeball to eyeball to this little boy and he says to this little boy, “Listen I know that these five loaves and two fish you were counting on it for your lunch, it was going to be your source of sustenance, but I’ve got bigger plans that what you’ve got. Would you place your lunch in my hands? Would you release it?”  How do I deal with worry in my life? Do what you can, but secondly you must relinquish control. Relinquishing control is never a one-and-done decision.

Third and finally, do not forget your basket. One of the things that always perplexed me about this story was that at the end of feeding the people there were twelve baskets left over.  This messes with me because the God I serve is not a God of lack or waste. So, what is up with the leftovers? Scholars tell us that it was the custom of the day that whenever you served people those who served ate last. Here are the disciples and God miraculous takes little and makes it more than enough. Then it is the disciples time to eat at the end. How many disciples were there? There is twelve.  How many baskets are there left over? Twelve. The text now tells us when evening came the disciples were in a boat in the middle of sea when a storm came upon them. Which begs the question, where are those twelve baskets? There in the boat. But what are the disciples doing? They are freaking out! What do those baskets represent? They represent God’s miraculous provision of seeing you through an incredible challenge. Why are you freaking out when you have with you a visual reminder of the faithfulness of God? Because their problem is our problem. You are either in a storm, or just out of a storm, or headed back into a storm and you had better bring your basket. When the storms hit our problem, we focus on the storms of the present and forget God’s baskets of blessing of the past.

I think one of the best spiritual disciplines we can ever do is to learn is the discipline of journaling. This has been a learning curve in my ministry, but it has been so helpful. Every year I write out my prayers to God. What do I write about? I pray about those times when you ask me to pray about something, I put you in there. There are things I pray for myself and my family. I have journaled about struggles that I have. Situations that I find myself in. Sometimes when I find myself in present day storms the Holy Spirit says to me, “Why don’t you reach for 2017 basket.”  Because there is something helpful about reading through years past and how God has brought me through. If God has brought me through this experience, I know that God can bring me through my present reality.

Until Next Week When We Meet at the P.E.W

(Pastor’s Encouragement Weekly)

Pastor Joel