September 10

Anxious care forbidden

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Phil. 4:6).
“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding” (Isa. 40:28).

The command, “Be careful for nothing,” is unlimited, and so is the expression, “casting all your care upon him.” If we cast our burdens upon another, can they continue to press upon us? If we bring them away with us from the throne of grace, it is evident that we do not leave them there.
With respect to myself, I have made this one test of my prayers. If, after committing anything to God, I can, like Hannah, come away and have my countenance no more sad, my heart no more pained or anxious, I look upon it as one proof that I prayed in faith. But if I bring away my burden, I conclude that faith was not in exercise.
—Edward Payson.

But where is the room for care, when in everything we may make our requests unto God? Let the requests be large. Let them embrace perfect purity of life and perfect obedience in all things, and this command will be easily fulfilled. Think to Whom thou dost make thy request.
Were Christianity only useful in liberating men from care, it ought to earn the liveliest gratitude of the entire universe. Ever since sin came into our world, care has pressed upon our race with awful force. The wrinkled brows, the stooping gait, and the anxious countenances of thousands, tell of an amount of care that can be comprehended only by God. But by the wonderful provision made for us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we may be freed from all care. Indeed, if we put trust in Jesus for full salvation, we shall be freed from all care.
To profess to be a follower of the Lord Jesus, and yet to be full of care, casts a sad reflection on the goodness of our heavenly Father. Has He not made fullest provision for our wants? Has He not distinctly forbidden care? Has He not urged us to make Him a confidant, and open our hearts in grateful recognition of His goodness, and trust in His continued guidance to help?
—King’s Highway.

Oh, if men would but give God credit for sincerity!
—Hewitson.

It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more on a man than he can bear. But worry is rust upon the blade. It is not movement that destroys the machinery, but friction.
—Henry Ward Beecher.

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