Rocking Chairs (Worry)
Week Fifty-One
December 14, 2025
If 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?
— Matthew 6:30 (BSB)
Someone has been quoted as saying, “Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.”¹ There’s truth to that, isn’t there? But how do we avoid rocking away our days going nowhere with our worries?
Worry is a thief that gives and takes. This hand-wrenching, meddlesome busybody knows no rest. Given permission, it steals our peace, robs us of clear thinking, and sacks our joy. But worry is also a giver. Wrapped in its dull and dreary gray packaging are sleepless nights and anxious thoughts along with many other terrible contents. And placed neatly on top of this package is the black bow of a short temper. If you want to repel others, embrace worry.
But worry stutters in the light of God’s goodness over our lives, burning off like the morning fog under the sun of his faithfulness. We are sheep and we worry — we are easily startled and quickly unsettled. But our Shepherd’s voice resonates in soothing baritone vibrations as he holds us close to his heart and dispels our wild and wandering thoughts with his firm words and even-keeled demeanor. “Be still, little lamb; seek and find me here in your darkest valleys.”
On January 12th, 2024, I retired at age 59. The company I’ve worked at for 32 years has offered an early retirement package and I decided to take it. I saw the need to find a source of income for the coming years until I could draw on my retirement resources, but I knew then and I know now that God’s provision will not diminish or be depleted. The unknown future that lay before me was a road of opportunity, not an occasion for worry. God offers us a Joshua spirit to face the giants of our unknown future and the opportunity to make him great in our eyes.
“What will I do?”, should not leave us with a bucket full of worry, for God has not left our future to “fate.” The question, “What will happen?”, is simply reiterating the truth that while we don’t know the future, the one who intimately knows us does. His kind providence rules over our lives because he cares for us and loves us. The flowers of the field are dressed by God himself and you, my friend, are worth much more than many fields of flora. May this truth silence your worry.
God turns our giants into grasshoppers when our confidence rests in his ability and not our own. He will make a way. In his series, “Bible Portraits”, Dwight L. Moody explores different characters in Scripture. In preaching about Joshua’s life, he says the following, which I hope will bring you encouragement to face your worries head on with the strength that God provides:
“Be of good courage; fear nothing. Believe that God is willing to use you, and then he will use you in such a way that, like Joshua, nothing shall be able to stand before you.”² If God is for us, who can be against us? So why worry?
Monday
December 15, 2025
I will abundantly bless her provision …
— Psalm 132:15 (ESV)
What God provides, he protects. There’s a story in the gospel of John where some of the disciples were fishing (after Jesus’ resurrection) with no success. At Jesus’ instruction from the shore (they didn’t know it was Jesus), the disciples cast their net over the right side of the boat and went from an empty catch to over 150 big fish — amazing provision from the Lord. But John is careful to point out an important detail in this account: “... the net was not torn.”³ At times we worry that what God has provided will wear out, skip out, or fail, as if his provision was flawed. The Lord knows how to keep his gifts intact. And he knows how to keep you intact as well. You see, after this miraculous catch of oversized fish, Jesus restored Peter to his calling; the disciple who denied him, now followed him. That’s who Jesus is and that’s what he does, so why worry?
Do you think the disciples were concerned that the net was going to tear? Why do you think it is that we even worry about what God has blessed us with?
Have you ever experienced the restorative power of Jesus in your life? What did you gain from that experience?
Tuesday
December 16, 2025
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
— Matthew 6:27 (BSB)
Worry is a wasteful thing. Like a wart on our apportioned time, it draws the eye to its ugliness and steals our focus off of the beauty of life. Though it may be in our genes, we have no need to embrace worry’s fatal attraction, even when facing difficult or scary circumstances. You may even find yourself in a foreign country, miles away from your hotel, with no idea as to which of the twenty buses staring you in the face would bring you back to your lodging. My wife and I experienced this on our 25th wedding anniversary trip to England. The Lord used this disconcerting situation to show us that he cares for us and that we have no need of worrying by sending an unknown woman to direct us. She saw the questioning look on our faces and offered, “I saw you getting on the bus earlier this morning. Follow me; the bus I’m going on stops at your lodging.” We have no need of worry and God is out to prove that — to prove himself.
Can you recall a time or situation when you worried needlessly? Can you recall a time in your life when worry was of benefit to you?
How has the Lord shown you that you can trust his care and provision for you? What is something that causes you to worry? Can you commit that to the Lord right now?
Wednesday
December 17, 2025
Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
— Psalm 19:2 (NIV)
It sometimes seems that our life in the Lord is one long school lesson. It can often feel like we are under his constant tutelage. Our primary subject lesson many days? Trust. Call it the silver bullet, the kryptonite, the wooden stake against worry. His faithfulness is on display around us and in our lives. I love taking walks; many people do. The beauty that surrounds us as the twigs and leaves crunch under our feet has been put on display as a reminder to our spirits of the faithfulness of God. The Lord has been good before, he will be good again. May we listen and learn and come to know his faithfulness and power to sustain. May we see, hear, remember, receive, and understand this: as followers of Jesus, as children of the true King, we have no need of worry.⁴
What is one thing in nature that speaks to you about God’s power and faithfulness? In what way do the heavens declare God’s glory?
Why do you think it is that we still worry, even with God’s faithfulness on display around us? How is trust personal?
Thursday
December 18, 2025
When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”
— Luke 7:13 (NIV)
Loss happens; just ask the widow who lost her only son. With no husband and her son now gone, her broken heart would have been shrouded by a cloud of worry. How would she support herself? Who would keep her company during the lonely nights? Worry must have wrapped around her thoughts like an invasive vine pressing on her mind with life-choking questions. But she had an advantage that she wasn’t aware of — Jesus saw her. And Jesus sees you. That which concerns you concerns him. As with the burdened widow, his heart goes out to you. You may be facing an overwhelming situation, but you are not alone. The sovereign King of the universe is aware. His invitation is simple: “Commit your what-if’s to me.” You may not receive a needed resurrection today, but one day, the Jesus you are reading about today in this devotional will raise your spirit into an eternal worry-free, joy-filled heavenly home.
How should we respond when the very thing we worry about comes upon us? Does the fact that life can bring loss lessen the love and care of God?
What kind of antidotes for worry does the world provide? How does this compare to God’s solution for a worried soul?
Friday
December 19, 2025
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption ...
— 1 Corinthians 1:30 (ESV)
In Christ we have a full supply of all that we need despite our glaring weaknesses and apparent deficiencies. We are complete in him. So why worry? It may help to make a chart, so if you would, grab a pen, a ruler, and a lined piece of paper. We’re going to take inventory of God’s goodness to us in the face of opposing challenges. Draw a line down the middle of the paper. On the top left of the paper, create a header called, “What he did”. On the top right side of the paper, create a header called, “Opposition” (it’s important to take note of what the Lord is able to overcome). Now, start filling the chart out, line by line, with what he’s done for you and the opposition that was overcome in bringing that about. When you’ve finished your list, take a look at it. Then, take a look at it again. Reminders have a way of lifting our spirits, don’t they?⁵
How does remembering God’s past goodness help us to battle future worry? What goodness might God show to you in the future that could be added to your list?
Why do you think there is such a disconnect between the truth we know and the worry we feel? What is one way we might bring our feelings of worry into alignment with what we know to be true?