Do You Worry Or Are You Just Concerned?
by HJS
Are there situations that are so overwhelming that you just can't help it but worry? First, the Bible makes it clear that worrying is wrong because it shuts God out of the loop as though everything depends on you.That's why the New Testament almost always follows the "don't worry about this" with an injunction to "instead, pray about this." When you believe the God who laughs at the difficult and scorns the word impossible can change the situation that distresses you, the meter on the scale shifts from worry to concern.
The difference between worry and concern from a biblical perspective has to be framed in the context of how you face trouble. Let me illustrate. If you took the time to do a word study of concern and worry in the Bible, you would discover that on a number of occasions God expressed concern - strong concern - over a situation. Concern leads to positive action, but worry doesn't consider the fact that there is no situation that God cannot reverse.
Jesus had a lot to say about worry: "Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' (Matthew 6:31) with a reminder that it was pagans who did not understand that it is God who sustains us.
So what is the bottom line difference between worry and concern? It is how you position God in relationship to your trouble. Shut Him out of the loop, and you worry - and you had better worry, too. But mentally put God between you and your problem, and the hopeless factor dissipates. And that means there is no need to worry.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanskgiving, present your requests to God. PHILIPPIANS 4:6