"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today."[Matthew 6:34]
Have you ever been gripped by fear? You know the feeling. Your blood goes cold. You get that shiver down your spine. Your hair stands on end. (In my case, that is singular, not plural.) Your stomach sinks. Your mouth goes dry.
Then there is the other emotion that is often coupled with fear, and that is worry. There are a lot of things people can worry about today. The state of our country. Our economy. Terrorism. The threat of a war. We are a nation filled with worry.
But there is nothing productive about it. In fact, the word worry comes from an old German word that means "to choke" or "to strangle." And that is exactly what worry does. It chokes you spiritually. It creates an emotional and mental stranglehold on your life. It doesn't ever make anything better. In fact, it makes things worse. That is why Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today" (Matthew 6:34).
Paul tackled this problem in Philippians 4 when he wrote, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done" (verse 6). Where was Paul when he wrote those words? He was incarcerated in Rome. He didn't know what was going to happen to him. So there was Paul in a difficult situation, and what did he say? "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything."
What happens with worry is that our hopes pull us in one direction while our fears pull us in another. When you worry about the future, you cripple yourself in the present. Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.
Share this today:
Today's Bible Reading
Numbers 17:1 (16:36) Adonai said to Moshe, 2 (16:37) “Tell El‘azar the son of Aharon the cohen to remove the fire pans from the fire, and scatter the smoldering coals at a distance, because they have become holy. 3 (16:38) Also the fire pans of these men, whose sin cost them their lives, have become holy, because they were offered before Adonai. Therefore, have them hammered into plates to cover the altar. This will be a sign for the people of Isra’el.”
4 (16:39) El‘azar the cohen took the brass fire pans which the men who had been burned to death had offered, and they hammered them into a covering for the altar, 5 (16:40) to remind the people of Isra’el that an ordinary person, not descended from Aharon, is not to approach and burn incense before Adonai, if he wants to avoid the fate of Korach and his group — as Adonai had said to him through Moshe.
6 (16:41) But the very next day, the whole community of the people of Isra’el complained against Moshe and Aharon: “You have killed Adonai’s people!” 7 (16:42) However, as the community was assembling against Moshe and Aharon, they looked in the direction of the tent of meeting and saw the cloud cover it and the glory of Adonai appear. 8 (16:43) Moshe and Aharon came to the front of the tent of meeting.
(iv) 9 (16:44) Adonai said to Moshe, 10 (16:45) “Get away from this assembly, and I will destroy them at once!” But they fell on their faces. 11 (16:46) Moshe said to Aharon, “Take your fire pan, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, and hurry with it to the assembly to make atonement for them, because anger has gone out from Adonai, and the plague has already begun!” 12 (16:47) Aharon took it, as Moshe had said, and ran into the middle of the assembly. There the plague had already begun among the people, but he added the incense and made atonement for the people. 13 (16:48) He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 14 (16:49) Those dying from the plague numbered 14,700 — besides those who died in the Korach incident. 15 (16:50) Aharon returned to Moshe at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.
(v) 16 (1) Adonai said to Moshe, 17 (2) “Speak to the people of Isra’el, and take from them staffs, one for each ancestral tribe from each leader of a tribe, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff; 18 (3) and write Aharon’s name on the staff of Levi, for each tribe’s leader is to have one staff. 19 (4) Put them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you. 20 (5) The staff of the man I am going to choose will sprout buds — in this way I will put a stop to the complaints the people of Isra’el keep making against you.”
21 (6) Moshe spoke to the people of Isra’el, and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral tribes, twelve staffs. Aharon’s staff was among their staffs. 22 (7) Moshe put the staffs before Adonai in the tent of the testimony. 23 (8) The next day Moshe went into the tent of the testimony, and there he saw that Aharon’s staff for the house of Levi had budded — it had sprouted not only buds but flowers and ripe almonds as well. 24 (9) Moshe brought out all the staffs from before Adonai to all the people of Isra’el, and they looked, and each man took back his staff.
(vi) 25 (10) Adonai said to Moshe, “Return Aharon’s staff to its place in front of the testimony. It is to be kept there as a sign to the rebels, so that they will stop grumbling against me and thus not die.” 26 (11) Moshe did this; he did as Adonai had ordered him.
27 (12) But the people of Isra’el said to Moshe, “Oh no! We’re dead men! Lost! We’re all lost! 28 (13) Whenever anyone approaches the tabernacle of Adonai, he dies! Will we all perish?”
18:1 Adonai said to Aharon, “You, your sons and your father’s family line will be responsible for anything that goes wrong in the sanctuary. You and your sons with you will be responsible for anything wrong in your service as cohanim. 2 But you are to bring your kinsmen, the tribe of Levi, along with yourselves, to work together with you and help you — you and your sons with you — when you are there before the tent of meeting. 3 They are to be at your disposal and perform all kinds of tasks related to the tent; only they are not to come near the holy furnishings or the altar, so that neither they nor you will die. 4 They will work together with you in your duties related to the tent of meeting, whatever the service in the tent may be; but an unauthorized person is not to come near you. 5 You will take charge of all the holy things and the altar, so that there will no longer be anger against the people of Isra’el. 6 I myself have taken your kinsmen the L’vi’im from among the people of Isra’el; they have been given as a gift to Adonai for you, so that you can perform the service in the tent of meeting. 7 You and your sons with you will exercise your prerogatives and duties as cohanim in regard to everything having to do with the altar and within the curtain. I entrust the service required of cohanim to you; the unauthorized person who tries to perform it is to be put to death.”
8 Adonai said to Aharon, “I myself have put you in charge of the contributions given to me. Everything consecrated by the people of Isra’el I have given and set aside for you and your sons; this is a perpetual law. 9 Here is what is to be yours of the especially holy things taken from the fire: every offering they make — that is, every grain offering, sin offering and guilt offering of theirs that they turn over to me — will be especially holy for you and your sons. 10 You are to eat it in an especially holy place; every male may eat it; it will be set apart for you.
11 “Also yours is the contribution the people of Isra’el give in the form of wave offerings. I have given these to you, your sons and your daughters with you; this is a perpetual law. Everyone in your family who is clean may eat it. 12 All the best of the olive oil, wine and grain, the first portion of what they give to Adonai, I have given to you. 13 The first produce to turn ripe of all that is in their land, which they bring to Adonai, is to be yours; every clean person in your family may eat it.
14 “Everything in Isra’el which has been consecrated unconditionally is to be yours.
15 “Everything that comes first out of the womb, of all living things which they offer to Adonai, whether human or animal, will be yours. However, the firstborn of a human being you must redeem, and the firstborn of an unclean beast you are to redeem. 16 The sum to be paid for redeeming anyone a month old or over is to be five shekels of silver [two ounces], as you value it, using the sanctuary shekel (this is the same as twenty gerahs). 17 But the firstborn of an ox, sheep or goat you are not to redeem; they are holy — you are to splash their blood against the altar and make their fat go up in smoke as an offering made by fire, as a fragrant aroma for Adonai. 18 Their meat will be yours, like the breast that is waved and the right thigh — they will be yours. 19 All the contributions of holy things which the people of Isra’el offer to Adonai I have given to you, your sons and your daughters with you; this is a perpetual law, an eternal covenant of salt before Adonai for you and your descendants with you.”
20 Adonai said to Aharon, “You are not to have any inheritance or portion in their land; I am your portion and inheritance among the people of Isra’el.
(vii) 21 “To the descendants of Levi I have given the entire tenth of the produce collected in Isra’el. It is their inheritance in payment for the service they render in the tent of meeting. 22 From now on, the people of Isra’el are not to approach the tent of meeting, so that they will not bear the consequences of their sin and die. 23 Only the L’vi’im are to perform the service in the tent of meeting, and they will be responsible for whatever they do wrong. This is to be a permanent regulation through all your generations. They are to have no inheritance among the people of Isra’el, 24 because I have given to the L’vi’im as their inheritance the tenths of the produce which the people of Isra’el set aside as a gift for Adonai. This is why I have said to them that they are to have no inheritance among the people of Isra’el.”
25 Adonai said to Moshe, 26 “Tell the L’vi’im, ‘When you take from the people of Isra’el the tenth of the produce which I have given you from them as your inheritance, you are to set aside from it a gift for Adonai, one tenth of the tenth. 27 The gift you set aside will be accounted to you as if it were grain from the threshing-floor and grape juice from the wine vat. 28 In this way you will set aside a gift for Adonai from all your tenths that you receive from the people of Isra’el, and from these tenths you are to give to Aharon the cohen the gift set aside for Adonai. 29 From everything given to you, you are to set aside all that is due Adonai, the best part of it, its holy portion.’
(Maftir) 30 “Therefore you are to tell them, ‘When you set aside from it its best part, it will be accounted to the L’vi’im as if it were grain from the threshing-floor and grape juice from the wine vat. 31 You may eat it anywhere, you and your households; because it is your payment in return for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 Moreover, because you will have set aside from it its best parts, you will not be committing any sin because of it; for you are not to profane the holy things of the people of Isra’el, or you will die.’”
Psalm 29: (0) A psalm of David:
(1) Give Adonai his due, you who are godly;
give Adonai his due of glory and strength;
2 give Adonai the glory due his name;
worship Adonai in holy splendor.
3 The voice of Adonai is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
Adonai over rushing waters,
4 the voice of Adonai in power,
the voice of Adonai in splendor.
5 The voice of Adonai cracks the cedars;
Adonai splinters the cedars of the L’vanon
6 and makes the L’vanon skip like a calf,
Siryon like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of Adonai flashes fiery flames;
8 the voice of Adonai rocks the desert,
Adonai convulses the Kadesh Desert.
9 The voice of Adonai causes deer to give birth
and strips the forests bare —
while in his temple, all cry, “Glory!”
10 Adonai sits enthroned above the flood!
Adonai sits enthroned as king forever!
11 May Adonai give strength to his people!
May Adonai bless his people with shalom!
Mark 4:1 Again Yeshua began to teach by the lake, but the crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the crowd remained on shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things in parables. In the course of his teaching, he said to them: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell alongside the path; and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky patches where there was not much soil. It sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow; 6 but when the sun rose, the young plants were scorched; and since their roots were not deep, they dried up. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked it; so that it yielded no grain. 8 But other seed fell into rich soil and produced grain; it sprouted, and grew, and yielded a crop — thirty, sixty, even a hundred times what was sown.” 9 And he concluded, “Whoever has ears to hear with, let him hear!”
10 When Yeshua was alone, the people around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. 11 He answered them, “To you the secret of the Kingdom of God has been given; but to those outside, everything is in parables, 12 so that
they may be always looking but never seeing;
always listening but never understanding.
Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven!”[a]
13 Then Yeshua said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you be able to understand any parable? 14 The sower sows the message. 15 Those alongside the path where the message is sown are people who no sooner hear it than the Adversary comes and takes away the message sown in them. 16 Likewise, those receiving seed on rocky patches are people who hear the message and joyfully accept it at once; 17 but they have no root in themselves. So they hold out for a while, but as soon as some trouble or persecution arises on account of the message, they immediately fall away. 18 Others are those sown among thorns — they hear the message; 19 but the worries of the world, the deceitful glamor of wealth and all the other kinds of desires push in and choke the message; so that it produces nothing. 20 But those sown on rich soil hear the message, accept it and bear fruit — thirty, sixty or a hundredfold.”
21 He said to them, “A lamp isn’t brought in to be put under a bowl or under the bed, is it? Wouldn’t you put it on a lampstand? 22 Indeed, nothing is hidden, except to be disclosed; and nothing is covered up, except to come out into the open. 23 Those who have ears to hear with, let them hear!”
24 He also said to them, “Pay attention to what you are hearing! The measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you — and more besides! 25 For anyone who has something will be given more; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he does have will be taken away.”
26 And he said, “The Kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. 27 Nights he sleeps, days he’s awake; and meanwhile the seeds sprout and grow — how, he doesn’t know. 28 By itself the soil produces a crop — first the stalk, then the head, and finally the full grain in the head. 29 But as soon as the crop is ready, the man comes with his sickle, because it’s harvest-time.”
30 Yeshua also said, “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God? What illustration should we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when planted, is the smallest of all the seeds in the field; 32 but after it has been planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all the plants, with such big branches that the birds flying about can build nests in its shade.”
33 With many parables like these he spoke the message to them, to the extent that they were capable of hearing it. 34 He did not say a thing to them without using a parable; when he was alone with his own talmidim he explained everything to them.
35 That day, when evening had come, Yeshua said to them, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So, leaving the crowd behind, they took him just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. 37 A furious windstorm arose, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was close to being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern on a cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, “Rabbi, doesn’t it matter to you that we’re about to be killed?” 39 He awoke, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind subsided, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no trust even now?” 41 But they were terrified and asked each other, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”[Footnotes:
Mark 4:12 Isaiah 6:9–10]
Harvest Ministries with Greg LaurieP.O. Box 4000
Riverside, California 92514-4000 United States
Phone: 1-800-821-3300
____________________________
____________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment