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Program D-7307

Have you ever heard this Present-Day Proverb:  “Don’t trouble trouble until trouble troubles you”?  Actually it’s not that new, because Jesus said pretty much the same thing in his sermon on the mount, found in Matthew 6:

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (verse 34)

Trouble is a part of our lives.  Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble.”  But it’s possible that you are heaping unnecessary trouble on yourself because you “trouble trouble.”  What does that mean?  Well it means you stir it up; you dwell on it; you refuse to turn it over to God; you imagine the worse, you talk about it too much.  You pronounce self-fulfilling prophecies.

For example, you trouble trouble when you say things like I heard the company is going to lay off a bunch of people; I’m sure I’ll be one of them.  You trouble trouble when you worry about things over which you have no control. I confess that I can trouble trouble over little stuff like traffic or the weather, so I’m learning to say to myself, “Mary, you have no control here; let it go.”  In other words, stop troubling trouble!

Here’s the really good news:  When trouble truly is troubling you, as a Christ-follower, you have an answer, a recourse, a plan of action that will make a huge difference.  You have the right to call to your Heavenly Father for relief, as David did in Psalm 25:

Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish. (verse 17)

And again in Psalm 34:

This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. (verse 6)

And the wonderful promise given to us by the Lord himself, in John 14:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (verse 27)

Then the incredible thing is that God can use our troubles to help others, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

(God) comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

(2 Corinthians 1:4)

So, don’t be troubled today, but if something troubles you, give it over to Jesus and receive his peace, so you can comfort others who are troubled.