(1 – Psalm 23)
Good morning. Today, we are beginning a new series called Stress-Busters. All of us have times in our lives, when we have a little more stress than we know what to do with. In fact, we are going to look at the 7 greatest sources of stress. And as we do that, we will find that they are all addressed in one scripture. They are all 7 found in Psalm 23. And the antidotes or the solution to these problems can also be found in Psalm 23.
The 23rd Psalm is the most well know chunk of scripture in the whole Bible. And it tells us what God is really like. In a way, it is a picture of God. My goal for the next 7 weeks is that we get a good look at Psalm 23, and that we find some solutions to the stress in our lives. Today, we will be looking at God’s Antidote For Worry.
Before we do that though, allow me to open with a word of prayer. Let’s Pray!
One of the biggest causes of stress in our lives is due to worry. We all have our worries, finances, jobs, relationships, marriage, kids, health, and the list goes on. There are 3 problems with worry. Worry is unhelpful, it is unreasonable, and it is unhealthy.
It’s unhelpful because it never accomplishes anything, it never solves anything. It is stewing without doing. It’s like flooring your gas peddle, and holding in the brake at the same time. You create a lot of smoke and noise but you don’t go anywhere.
Worry has never solved a single problem. Worry cannot change the past. Worry cannot control the future. It only makes us miserable today. Worry is unhelpful, it doesn’t work.
Worry is also unreasonable. It exaggerates your problems, makes mountains out of molehills. It just makes problems seem bigger than they really are. The more you worry about a certain issue, the bigger it gets. To worry about something that you can not change is useless. To worry about something you can change is stupid, just change it. But either way, “Don’t Worry!”
And then, we also learn that worry is unhealthy. The body was not made to worry, it’s unnatural. When you worry you get ulcers, backaches, headaches, in general, you don’t feel too good. Our bodies were not made to worry. Plants and animals don’t worry. The only thing that worries in all of God’s creation is people. We worry and it usually makes us unhappy and unhealthy. The old English word for worry is the word “to strangle” or “to choke.” And that’s what worry does, it strangles the life out of you.
So, if there are so many problems to worry, what is the antidote, or the solution to worry?
First, It Is To Believe That God Will Take Care Of You!
Psalm 23:1 says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”
If I believe that God is going to take care of me, I’m not going to worry. How does making God my shepherd show the antidote to stress in my life? If I let the Lord be my Shepherd how is that an antidote to worry? In order to answer that question, you have to know what shepherds do.
1. A shepherd provides. He provides food, shelter, the basic necessities for his sheep.
2. A shepherd protects. He defends against enemies, he keeps the sheep from harm.
3. A shepherd guides. He leads the sheep when they are confused and they don’t know where to go.
4. A shepherd corrects. Any problem that comes along, he corrects it, he fixes it.
Now, the amazing thing is this, God has promised to do these 4 things in your life if you’ll trust Him, if you’ll let Him be your shepherd. He says, “I will provide for you, I will protect you, I will guide you, and I will correct the problems in your life for you. I will do all of these things, if you will let me be your Shepherd.”
Isaiah 40:11 says, “He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart.” In other words, God takes care of His people like a shepherd would take care of his sheep.
Paul even gets more specific in Philippians 4:19 when it says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
God says, “I will...” He doesn’t say, “I might, I’ll think about it, possibly, or even maybe.” He says, “I will….” When God makes a promise He is going to follow through with what He says. He has never gone back on a promise that He has made to us. God says, “I will…” which means He’s going to do whatever it is that He says.
God says, “I will meet all ...” What does “all” include? Doctor payments? Mortgage payments? Spiritual needs? Financial needs? Health needs? Relational needs? Yes, everything. If God has promised to provide for all of your needs, to protect you, to guide you when you’re confused, and to correct the problems in your life, what does that leave for you to worry about? Nothing!
When you have an insurance policy, once you know what’s covered in that policy, you don’t worry about it anymore. If something happens, whatever is covered, you don’t worry about. In the Bible, there are over 7,000 promises, the coverage that God puts on your life. And when you understand them, what is left to worry about?
God also says, “I will meet all of your needs.” He doesn’t say, “I will meet all of your greed.” There’s a difference between needs and wants. If God met all of your wants, you’d be the biggest spoiled brat in the world. You’d be spoiled and self-centered. He’s not going to give you everything you want. Believe it or not, if God gave us everything that we wanted, soon we would be miserable. But He has said, “I will meet all of your needs.”
Worry is not only unhelpful, unreasonable, and unhealthy, it’s also unnecessary if Jesus is you’re Shepherd. Anytime you worry, in essence you are saying, “God is not going to keep His promises, God’s not going to take care of my needs.”
So, how do you make God your shepherd? You see, God is not the Shepherd of everybody. He’s only the Shepherd of those who let Him be their shepherd.
“The Lord is my shepherd…” The Lord can’t be your shepherd until the shepherd is your Lord. The 2 go together. You can’t ask Him to be the shepherd without allowing Him to be your Lord.
What does it mean to be Lord? It means to be in control. Lord simply means whoever is in charge. Today we might say boss, or manager, or CEO, or chairman of the board. Lord means under control, the person who is on top, in control, calling the shots.
Jesus is Lord in your life if He’s the one calling the shots in your life. If He’s not calling the shots, He’s not Lord. And if He’s not Lord, He’s not your shepherd either. Because, “The Lord is my shepherd…”
To accept Jesus as Lord means 3 things. John 10:14, 27 says, “Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd... my sheep know me ... they listen to my voice, and they follow me.”
These 3 words are what it means to have Jesus as Lord. You know Jesus, you listen to Jesus, and you follow Jesus. Plain and simple, you put Him in control of your life.
So, who’s in control of your life? God gives you the option. He doesn’t force Himself on anybody’s life. You have 2 options: either you can be in control of your life, or you can let God be in control of your life. God doesn’t co-pilot your life. Either He’s in control, or He’s not in control.
God is not going to force it on you, either you can be in control of your life or you can let Him be in control of your life. He made you. He knows what will make you happy more than you do. He has the power to bring the problems in your life to pass. But He’s still going to give you the option.
If you’re running your own life without God’s direction, you ought to be worried. But if God is running your life and He’s your Lord and your Shepherd, and you believe that He can control anything, then there is not need to worry.
So, you can begin to take care of the problem of worry in your life by allowing God to be your Lord and Shepherd, and by believing that He will take care of your every need.
Secondly, The Solution To Worry Is To Begin Praying About Everything!
Instead of worrying about things in life, begin praying about everything. Pray about all the stuff you usually worry about. Just talk to God. He wants your friendship, He wants a relationship with you. A lot of people will say that they don’t have time to pray? But they do have time to worry? If we prayed about all the things we worry about we would have an awfully lot less to have to worry about. Worry doesn’t change anything, but prayer does. Prayer gets in touch with God who can change it.
Whenever you are worried, you have 2 options. You can panic or you can pray.
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
In other words, we are told, don’t worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything, and God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand, will be with you.
That verse uses the word “everything.” Don’t just pray about religious things. Most people, when they pray, pray prayers they think God wants to hear. But this verse tells us to pray about everything. If it’s big enough to worry about, it’s big enough to pray about. God’s ability is greater than your anxiety.
I Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all of your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
The word “cast” means to unload, or to let it go. The Greek word literally means to drop. Prayer is an incredible stress reliever. Everything, whatever you’re stressed out about, upset about, or irritated about. All you have to do is cast it all on Him. Drop it on Him. Unload it. Cast your cares on Him.
But the problem is that most of us do the casting like we do in fishing. We cast our worries out, but then we real them back in. We hand them over for a second, but then we take them right back and continue worrying about them.
During the summer, I got to fly for the first time. We flew from Dayton, Ohio to Denver Colorado, and then from there we flew to Spokane Washington. During one of those flights, there was fog all over. As I got into the plane, climbed up through the fog, it was bright and sunny on the other side.
Worry is kind of like a dense fog sometimes. When it comes in, you can’t see clearly. Have you ever tried to drive in the fog? You can’t see what’s ahead of you. It’s an illusion. Well, worry is like that. Worry and fog create an illusion. The National Bureau of Standards has discovered that if you took a dense fog that would cover 7 square blocks of a city, 100 feet deep, and condense the fog it would only equal enough moisture to fill less than one glass of water.
That’s what worry does. It expands and exaggerates the problem. It makes it seem worse than it really is. And it can be difficult to maneuver around. But through prayer, we can begin to clear things up. And through our prayer, we can relieve the stress of worry.
And finally, there is a third thing you do if you want to deal with worry.
Consider One Day At A Time!
Focus, concentrate and consider one day at a time. Matthew 6:34 says, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
In other words, Jesus says, “Don’t worry about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.” Jesus is saying, “Don’t open your umbrella until it starts raining. Today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. When you worry you don’t do anything about yesterday, you can’t control tomorrow, you just mess up today. The future can seem overwhelming. Therefore, God has put it in little bite-size pieces. He just gives it to us in one little 24 hour increment at a time. And He tells us to live one day at a time.
Matthew 6:11 says, “Give us today our daily bread.”
Overcoming worry is a day to day choice. There is no pill that will make you stop worrying. There is no seminar, tape, or book that will make you stop worrying. There is no spiritual experience that you can have that will cause you to never worry again. Worry, and the antidote to it, is going to be a daily choice, sometimes hourly, sometimes even a moment by moment choice in which you say, “Am I going to believe the Lord is my Shepherd or am I going to try and control things myself? Who is in control of my life? Who’s calling the shots? If I’m in control, I have a lot to worry about. But if God’s in control, it’s His problem and He can handle it.
So, what’s got you worried? What is it that causes you to fuss and fume, toss and turn, wondering, “Is it ever going to work out?” What is it that when you think about it you get sick to your stomach and you begin to worry even more? I don’t know what you’re going through right now, but that doesn’t matter, because God does. God knows exactly what you’re going through.
Your Heavenly Father already knows perfectly well what you need, and He will give them to you if you give Him first place in your life and live as He wants you to.
Go home and read the 23rd Psalm again. You will find that the words “I,” “my,” or “me” are used 17 times in 6 verses.
This is an intensely personal psalm. The word “You,” talking about God, is used 5 times, and the words “He” or “His” are used about 5 times. This psalm is about a relationship with God.
That’s the antidote to your stress. Religion will not get rid of your stress. Religion will not help you stop worrying. You don’t need religion. You need a relationship. You need a Shepherd, somebody who provides, protects, guides, and corrects. God says, “That’s what I made you for. I didn’t make you for religion. I made you for a relationship. I want you to know me.” He knows all about you, and He wants you to know Him.
Wilbur Chapman was asked to come and cheer up a little 10 year old boy who was dying of cancer. He went to the home of the little boy. The little boy was worried about dying and Chapman said, “I want to teach you something. Let me have your hand. The Bible says, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Every time you start to get worried about what’s going to happen to you, you think, “The Lord is my shepherd” and you hold onto your index finger.” Sadly, 2 weeks later the little boy died in the middle of the night. The next morning his mother found him holding onto his index finger.
I don’t know what you’re worried about or stressed out about today, but I do know this, God loves you, He cares about your stress, and He can help you.
“The Lord is my shepherd.”
“The LORD is my shepherd.” There is only one real Lord, all the others are fakes and imitations. “The Lord IS my shepherd.” Not might be, He will be, He always has been, He always will be. “The Lord is my SHEPHERD.” Can you say that with certainty? Is the Lord your shepherd? Is the shepherd your Lord? He can’t be one without the other. When you can say that and mean it, you’re going to stop worrying. Don’t carry that burden one more second. Accept Him today, and cast all your cares on Him.
So, the antidote, or the solution to our worry in life, is to realize that, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”
Let’s Pray!
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