Your ShelfYour Projects

Fret Not

8%

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 11, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 37.

Read the full edition

"Fret Not"

By J. M. Cole

J. M. COLE
THERE is a great difference between sorrow and worry. Christ was "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs;" but we never read of his worrying over his sorrows. His sorrows brought him nearer to his Father. "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour."
Sorrow can be made one of the best things in our lives, if we bear it bravely and well; for in all our sorrows God is with us. "In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the Angel of his presence saved them." If we trust, it is proof that we do not worry; and if we worry, it is proof that we do not trust the Lord as we should. The spirit of worry and fret shuts out the blessing of God from the heart, and unfits us to be a help and blessing to others. Therefore to worry is sinful.
The whole example and teaching of Jesus is against worry. "Take no thought for your life [no anxious worry], . . . for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." It is not characteristic of little children to worry. That is one thing little children never do. And from this scripture it is plain to be seen that God's children will trust to the Heavenly Father to look ahead and provide for them. The testimony of one of God's little children is, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."
Look at the gentle rebuke Jesus gives to all the Marthas who fret and worry about the little things of the home. There is a "better part" for God's children to act. Take all that perplexes to the feet of Jesus and leave it there, and in place take the "My peace I give unto you."
Did you ever look upon that familiar scripture in John 14:1, 27, as a command, Thou shalt not worry? It is about the last command Christ gave to his disciples. He knew of the great sorrow that would come to them in a few days, and he did not want them to worry over this trial. Listen to his sympathetic warning: "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." And again, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Don't worry, for out of all this great sorrow will come to you comfort and joy.
Do not worry is a command of God to be obeyed. Ps. 37:1. But we excuse ourselves by saying, "I cannot help it. It is so natural for me to worry." It is natural for some to steal. It is natural for men to disobey all God's commands. But God will take away the natural heart and give us a new heart that will obey him if we will let him. Where sin has abounded, he has promised that his grace will much more abound. "My grace is sufficient for thee."
Israel worried and fretted because the water was bitter. Did all their fretting make the water sweet? Did their worry help matters? There was no need of all that fussing. The man of God sets the right example for all of us, "He cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree." And if we cry unto the Lord, he will sweeten all our bitter experiences. Hagar wept for water to keep her son from dying, when there was a good well of water within a stone's throw.
Hannah made herself and her husband miserable by her constant fretting. But when she left it all in the hand of the Lord, he changed her fret into perfect trust, and was able to work for her, and gave her the desire of her soul. You see worry only hinders God from working for us.
Jacob's last act was to call God "the Angel which redeemed me from all evil." Why not call God our Redeemer long before we die? Why not know that he delivers us from all evil every day? "My God shall supply all your need." "In quietness and in confidence [not by worrying] shall be your strength." Let us ask the Lord to save us from the sin of worry.
Longburn, New Zealand.