PROTECTION FROM NEGATIVE EMOTIONS
Worry-Free Living
(1 Peter 5:7)
In technologically advancing countries of the world, an interesting phenomenon took place during the 1990s. Advances in so many fields were happening at such a rapid pace that people began to get more and more anxious about the future. Take life expectancy, for example. A baby born in 1850 in the United States had a life expectancy of only 38 years. By 1900, it had climbed to 48 years; by 1950, to 66 years; by 1980, to 71 years; by 1999, to 76 years, and by 2015, a new baby could expect to live more than 78 years. Advances in medical technology are keeping people alive longer—sometimes, in fact, longer than they might prefer.
While technology has advanced at an even more rapid rate in the early 2000s, people’s sense of security and optimism about the future is not keeping pace. Threats of biological terrorism, global warming/climate change, moral anarchy, world wars, food shortages, overpopulation, biohazards, the breakdown of the family and other traditional institutions—all of these “developments” cause people to wonder whether living longer and longer in an increasingly insecure world is really such a worthy expectation. With the increasing life span of adults, many express anxiety about who will be there to take care of them in the twilight of their lives.
Perhaps every generation thinks its immediate future is the most perilous in history. The generation to which the apostle Peter wrote had worries of its own. Why else would he have given them the counsel he did, “[Cast] all your anxiety on [God], because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7)? No one can predict the future. There is only one way to have peace and security about what tomorrow may bring, and that is to rest in the One who knows history from beginning to end.
Trusting in God for the future does not mean that life will always be problem-free. But it does mean that, from God’s perspective, our future is in His hands. That fact alone is enough for the believer to live anxiety-free, day by day. With God in control of the past, present, and future, we have no need to worry.
God’s Promise:
He can see all your tomorrows, and each one is under His care.