The Wisdom of God: Don’t Worry (Psalm 37:8)

The technician for the heating company opened up the door to the furnace room. He took the metal plate off the front of the furnace and started to disassemble the unit. With the light-beam from his hat and the specialty tools he used, he looked like a miner in the cave of my basement, looking for something precious.

I too worried about something precious, as I wondered – what is this going to cost me?

As part of my house maintenance service, the technician comes every autumn. He makes sure that no carbon monoxide fumes escape into the house. He tightens all the wires, replaces the filter and looks into every nook and cranny of the giant machine. The house suddenly warms as he tests the thermostat and checks how the jets work. He even turns on the humidifier and cleans out any traps that might have extra dust or mold.

It’s really quite an operation, and I’m grateful for his skills. But still, I wondered – what if something goes wrong? What if one of those jets don’t fire just right? How much does a new furnace cost? Oh, dear – what are we going to do if something is wrong with this mechanism?

Then God reminded me that he is so much bigger than furnace problems. In fact, he is bigger than any type of problem we might face. He has promised to provide for everything we need, even our heating source in the dead of winter.

The Psalmist underlined this truth in Psalm 37:8, “Do not fret – it leads only to evil.” How can fretting – excessive worry and anxiety – lead to evil?

For one thing, worry creates unnecessary stress, and stress is not a good thing for my body.

My neck tightens, my stomach hurts. I imagine how empty the checking account will be when the money for all the repairs is subtracted from my account. Will I have enough to cover the cost?

Fretting also leads me to focus on the things of this world and the troubles they inflict rather than focusing on the sovereignty and power of God. Anytime my focus changes from God to the world, those thoughts can lead me to greater fear, more fretting and troublesome attitudes.

            I want to stay away from any type of evil caused by fretting. Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Luke 12:22-29)

God reminded me to praise him even while the furnace technician blew into a tube and banged on a bolt. I silently praised God that he knew even more than the heating company about my house. The same God who created the original source of heat – the sun – was certainly able to figure out a way for us to stay warm during the winter.

As I focused on the positive aspects of this situation, I continued to praise God for the skills of this technician, for the fact that we own a house with a furnace installed in it, for the joy that we don’t have to gather firewood to stay warm, gratitude that we do not live in a cave or a tent.

I thanked God that no matter what happened with the maintenance agreement, God was able to provide in ways that I currently could not imagine.

Nothing is impossible with God and as long as I obey and don’t fret – I can stay in peace.

The technician finished the check-up and turned around with a smile. “Everything looks great,” he said. “It’s safe to turn on your heater whenever you need it.”

I was grateful for this particular lesson, because there really was no need to worry. Fret not, God says. Even over the furnace.

Check out an earlier post by RJ here.