“Be Anxious for Nothing”

The night is coming when no one can work.

John 9:4

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Psalm 11:3

This world is coming apart at the seams, but when Jesus said, “Be anxious for nothing,” he meant not to be anxious about it.  More important than the world falling apart is many believers are coming unglued, too, under the pressure of the gross immorality being adopted as normal by this culture.  This is what Jesus foretold when he said that near the end of this age, the love of many of God’s children would wax cold because wickedness would be so prevalent that it would influence their spirits.  The foundations of faith in Christ are being undermined, destroying many saints’ love for truth.  When that love is gone, God’s servants will not be able to work, for there will be nothing to work with.

But Jesus said not to worry even about that.  He saw the night coming.

Sin is being redefined now in order to accommodate detestable lusts, and righteousness is dismissed, sometimes even made illegal.  And men are not doing this in secret, but openly and proudly.  Tragically, weak saints are yielding to the pressure to fit in with the world.  (Build yourselves up by praying in the holy Ghost!)  We are seeing for ourselves the truth of Paul’s words concerning people in his day (including God’s people) who once had a conscience: “claiming to be wise, they were turned over to foolishness” (Rom. 1:22).  Foolish people will not tolerate the truth, and where no truth is welcome, God’s servants cannot work.

But Jesus said not to worry about it.  He knew the night was coming.

We can rejoice because in spite of all that men do, God is faithful.  He has given His children promises which neither the world nor backslidden believers can nullify.  In Him is not even a hint of turning.  He is entirely unaffected by anything humans say or do, and He has made the way for us to be just like Him.  When Jesus said the night was coming when we could not work, it was because men would become so blackhearted that God would stop working to try to save them.

I cannot adequately describe the fury and supreme contempt I felt from God the evening He said to me, “What difference does it make, what men say about anything‽”  It was as if the word men was, to God, a filthy “four-letter word”.  And He continued, with great rage, “If men call a man a pastor, does that make him a pastor‽  If men call a man a prophet, does that make him a prophet‽  If men call something the body of Christ, does that make it the body of Christ‽” etc.  And at last, He added, “Am I confused by your delusions‽”  So, what of it, if men call good evil, and evil good?  What of it, if men call us evil?  It means nothing to God.  What of it, if we can’t work, if there is nothing we can do for some people?  God still loves us, and He has not changed.

Set your eyes on Jesus, and rejoice that you have been chosen for the honor of bowing low at Jesus’ feet.  Whether or not we can do any work is not up to us, but up to God.  That is why we may be anxious for nothing.