In this episode we will be exploring the topic of trust. According to Yeshua, an intentional trust that is placed in God is a remedy to reducing our anxiety and our emotional responses to stress.
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34
We all understand that we carry way more anxiety than we should be, and to live simply trusting in the provision of God is certainly a welcome thought in our current day and age of information and emotional overload.
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All music:
Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Hello and welcome to the Core of the Bible podcast. My name is Steve, and I will be your host as we explore "the message of the Bible reduced to its simplest form."
It's my belief the core of the Bible consists of seven main principles of conduct surrounding the topics of Kingdom, Integrity, Vigilance, Holiness, Trust, Forgiveness, and Compassion.
In this episode we will be exploring the topic of trust. According to Yeshua, an intentional trust that is placed in God is a remedy to reducing our anxiety and our emotional responses to stress.
According the Natl Institute of Mental health
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.
Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only 36.9% of those suffering receive treatment.
Stress vs. Anxiety
| Stress | Both Stress and Anxiety | Anxiety |
|---|---|---|
Generally is a response to an external cause, such as taking a big test or arguing with a friend. Goes away once the situation is resolved. Can be positive or negative. For example, it may inspire you to meet a deadline, or it may cause you to lose sleep. | Both stress and anxiety can affect your mind and body. You may experience symptoms such as: Excessive worry Uneasiness Tension Headaches or body pain High blood pressure Loss of sleep | Generally is internal, meaning it's your reaction to stress. Usually involves a persistent feeling of apprehension or dread that doesn't go away, and that interferes with how you live your life. Is constant, even if there is no immediate threat. |
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:34
As we are reviewing this core of the Bible, the Sermon on the Mount, when people encounter this passage, it tends to resonate. We all understand that we carry way more anxiety than we should be, and to live simply trusting in the provision of God is certainly a welcome thought in our current day and age of information and emotional overload.
So let's take a little closer look at this verse in chap 6 v 34: “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
This verse has three basic sections to it, and in order to understand it better, we can highlight each section.
The first section is "do not worry about tomorrow." How does the Bible define worry?
merimnaó: to be anxious, to care for
Original Word: μεριμνάω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: merimnaó
Phonetic Spelling: (mer-im-nah'-o)
Definition: to be anxious, to care for
Usage: I am over-anxious; with acc: I am anxious about, distracted; I care for.
HELPS Word-studies digs a little deeper
3309 merimnáō (from 3308 /mérimna, "a part, as opposed to the whole") – properly, drawn in opposite directions; "divided into parts" (A. T. Robertson); (figuratively) "to go to pieces" because pulled apart (in different directions), like the force exerted by sinful anxiety (worry). Positively, 3309 (merimnáō) is used of effectively distributing concern, in proper relation to the whole picture (cf. 1 Cor 12:25; Phil 2:20).
Reading these definitions, it becomes apparent how anxiety causes its harm: it divides our concerns and distracts us with negative potentiality. The irony is how situations and events that haven't happened (or more specifically, may not even happen at all) can affect our present emotional state.
We can understand this logically, that it makes no sense to worry about non-existent things, but our emotional responses to these abstract thoughts about fictitious realities can run ahead of our logic, and they typically do.
In another context, Yeshua shares some instruction about this type of divided attention.
Mark 3:23 So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand. 26And if Satan is divided and rises against himself, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
Now, while the context of this teaching has to do with a larger spiritual reality, the core logic does have a universal application: a house divided against itself cannot stand. Even Abraham Lincoln applied this saying to America during the dark days of the US Civil War.
Viewed from this perspective, this is also true about our personal struggle with anxiety: it divides us against ourselves, with the result being that we cannot stand.
In a parallel reading in Luke 11, Yeshua provides the parable of the strong man to illustrate this universal concept further.
11:21When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are secure. 22But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted, and then he divides up his plunder.
If we take this parabolic truth and apply it in our context of anxiety, the strong man would represent the conscious self, and anxiety would be the one who ties up the strong man and then plunders the house. But when the strong man guards his house (that is, staves off anxiety with taking no thought of fictitious realities), his possessions are secure.
When we do not worry about tomorrow, that is, when we do not allow our cognitive abilities to become distracted with non-existent potentialities, we can remain secure in our house.
The second part of the verse explains why we should not worry about tomorrow: "for tomorrow will care for itself."
That can seem odd to us, saying that a day can take care of itself. But this type of personification of inanimate or non-sentient things runs all through the Bible.
'Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy' (Psalm 98:8).
'When the waters saw you, they were afraid; the very deep trembled' (Psalm 77:16).
'Then the moon will be abashed, and the sun ashamed' (Isaiah 24:23).
'What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground' (Genesis 4:10).
John Gill in his commentary from the 1700s' writes:
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. The morrow is here introduced by a "prosopopeia", [a figure of speech in which an abstract thing is personified] as if it was a person sufficiently thoughtful and careful for the necessaries of it:
This process of personification is a classic Hebraic method of communicating an abstract concept in a more relatable and understandable way.
We sometimes do this as a way of gaining perspective on the past or future. we might process this through writing to our "future self" or in reliving what our "past self" has accomplished. These are just ways for us to help grasp abstract concepts in practical ways.
This idea that tomorrow will take care of itself is an encouragement that, as the old song says, "whatever will be, will be." When the day is complete, whatever will happen will be done, and "the day" will be considered as "having taken care of itself."
We have to exercise care here in not adopting a fatalistic attitude; that we have no control over our actions each day. Yeshua simply uses this method as a way of helping us understand that even though tomorrow doesn't exist yet, it will have its own complete share of challenges that will be worked through, good, bad, or indifferent.
The third part of the verse captures the last thought in this philosophy of trusting God:
Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:34
Gill’s Exposition of the Bible
This is expressed in the Talmud (s), nearer the sense of Christ's words, after this manner: "do not distress thyself with tomorrow's affliction, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth"; perhaps tomorrow may not be, and thou wilt be found distressing thyself, for the time which is nothing to thee.''
And should it come, it is unnecessary to be thoughtful of it in a distressing manner before hand...
sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
It is very wrong to anticipate trouble, or meet it before hand; if it was for no other reason but this, that every day's trouble is enough, and should not be needlessly added to, by an over concern what shall be done for tomorrow; or how shall the necessities of it be answered, or the trials of it be endured...
every day brings along with it fresh care and thought, being attended with fresh wants and troubles; and therefore, it is very unadvisable, to bring the cares and troubles of two days upon one; as he does, who is anxiously concerned today, for the things of tomorrow;
(s) T. Bab. Sanhedrim, fol. 100. 2.((t) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 9. 2.
Martin Luther observes the same principle from this passage when he writes:
Why wilt thou be concerned beyond to-day, and take upon thyself the misfortunes of two days? Abide by that which to-day lays upon thee: to-morrow, the day will bring thee something else.
Trouble and problems in this life are a given. We all experience varying degrees of these and yet they are a very tangible reality. This is acknowledged all through the Bible.
Consider the stories of men like Noah, having to face the adversity of widespread destruction, or Joseph, being ridiculed by his brothers and unjustly sent to prison in a foreign country. Consider the severe trial of Job losing his family and all the possessions he had. In some ways, the Bible is really all about the types of troubles we experience, which is why these types of stories are so enduring and relatable. It's because we all share some of these same types of struggles. Each day definitely has trouble of its own.
The good news is that the Bible also provides the insight to overcoming the troubles of each day. Noah trusted God and was safely conveyed through the flood, Joseph trusted God and rose to prominence in Egypt. Job never wavered in his trust in God and had his family and fortunes returned, and even increased.
The Psalms are filled with encouragement of God's help in our times of trouble:
Psalm 86:6-7 - Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me.
Psalm 9:9-10 - The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 27:5 - For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.
Psalm 46:1 - God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Believers in Messiah wrote of the same confidence in God:
Php 4:6 Be anxious about nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
1 Pet 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
All of these are admonitions to not be anxious about what hasn’t happened yet; let the future carry its own anxieties. If we continue to be anxious about every aspect of our life, can we, as believers, truly be considered to be trusting God? If we are trusting him, aren’t we trusting him for everything?
“For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out,” (1 Timothy 6:7).
If we have come with nothing and will be leaving with nothing, what is the value of what remains? “And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content,” (1 Timothy 6:8).
Yet we continue to have anxiety over so much in this life that has no value, and is really unnecessary in our lives. What is truly essential for us? If we read the context of the passage where we have our lesson today, we can glean a little more wisdom about things that truly qualify for worry.
25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.
If the essential things like food, drink, and clothing are not worth worrying about, what are we currently so focused on that can surpass these basic necessities? Notice, there is no promise of shelter, fancy cars or successful businesses. Life is more than all these things, and they can distract us from what is really important.
According to Yeshua, if we are seeking first the kingdom above the cares of the basic necessities of food, drink, and clothing, we are exhibiting trust in God that he will provide these basic things while we are focused on the more essential realities. In his Providence and timing God can certainly provide those homes and cars and businesses, and it's not wrong to prepare those things in your life. But we have to remember God is not obligated to make us successful in the world's eyes, and we need to keep our primary focus on his purposes and kingdom.
Instead, let’s replace our anxieties of an unknown future with gratefulness for what we do have. God has not provided us the ability to foresee the future, but if you are listenting to me right now, he has given us today. We need to be living for him and his kingdom in the here and now, and not be worrying about some fictional future that may or may not come to pass. God meets all of our needs now, and we can dwell in his presence each day, resting assured that he is the great Provider. This is trusting God.
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Well, that's the topic of the day: Trust. Trust in God is integral within the core of the Bible qualities of kingdom, integrity, vigilance, holiness, forgiveness and compassion. It is my hope you will continue to review with me these aspects of human expression that, I believe, God expects of all people.
Be sure to visit coreofthebible.org to join the conversation through comments, access the show notes in the blog, and to find free downloadable resources regarding the message of the Bible reduced to its simplest form.
Thanks for your interest in listening today. I hope to be invited back into your headphones in another episode to come. Take care!
Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille