Everyone worries about the future from time to time. Personally, I worry about being successful at my job. I worry about my children being happy and healthy. I worry about things in the news, like war, and politics, and terrorism. What do you worry about?
Thankfully, I don’t worry all the time. In fact, because of the New Church, I have learned how to deal with worry so it doesn’t last. Sure, fear about the future returns from time to time-sometimes quite forcefully. But I now know three powerful truths that help me escape from anxiety, when I remember to use them. Following them transforms my life, and I would love to share them with you.
The Lord God Jesus Christ is in charge of everything. This is the best news ever declared! Think about it. If we could put one per- son in charge of absolutely everything- the laws of physics, the workings of our very bodies, the events of our lives, our eternal destiny-who would we choose?
First of all, it would have to be some- one wise enough to handle all of the decisions and complications in life and the world. This means someone with the ability to see the big picture while at the same time managing every last tiny detail without messing things up. Just as importantly, though, it would have to be someone who loved everyone equally. In fact, it should be someone whose capacity for loving is unlimited, whose patience is infinite, whose heart desires to make every one of us, no matter our faults, as happy as we can be. Finally, it would need to be the most powerful person we could find.
Well, that person is the Lord. He created everything, and He continually rules over all of it and each of us in every last detail. He is Love itself and Wisdom itself, and He is in charge. As it says in the Writings for the New Church, believing in the Lord is the most basic form of faith, and “to believe in Him is to have confidence that He saves” (True Christian Religion 2:3).
So why do I ever worry?
There is a part of me that wishes I was in charge of everything. You see, we’re all born with the desire to run our own lives. This sense of self- ownership is natural, and-in its proper place-useful. It’s one thing to have faith that the Lord is in charge of every last detail of our lives and another thing entirely to be constantly aware of it.
The Writings for the New Church teach that if we were actively aware of “the working of divine providence, we would not act freely and rationally, and nothing would seem to be really ours” (Divine Providence 176).
So the Lord keeps His government of everything hidden behind the scenes. He doesn’t want us just to wait around passively for Him to act, and He doesn’t want us to feel cramped or over- controlled.
But this sense that we own our own lives often gets out of control. Because we don’t see the Lord’s hand actively running everything, we naturally tend to assume that everything that happens is caused either by ourselves, by other people, by nature, or by chance. And that’s where worry starts. How can we trust that other people will make the right decisions? How can we leave our lives at the mercy of uncaring nature? Or of blind chance? It’s too risky!
So we try to control everything around us. We try to control our environment. We try to control future events. Eventually we try to control other people. In the end, our natural desire to take care of ourselves leads us to the selfish desire to control everything. In short, worry comes from the false idea that we are in charge.
But we aren’t infinitely wise, or infinitely powerful, or infinitely loving. Only the Lord is. I know that if I were truly in charge of everything, I’d make a complete mess of it all in very little time.
So what do I do when I find myself going down this path of worry?
If I ask the Lord to take away my need to control, He will, because He loves me. More good news! In the Writings for the New Church we are taught that when we pray for heavenly and spiritual things, the Lord will answer us in our hearts with “hope, comfort, or some inward joy” (Secrets of Heaven 2535). They also teach that to change our lives, we need to examine ourselves, identify something that is against the Lord’s will, and then pray to Him to remove it from us. This is real repentance, and it works.
So when I find myself starting to worry, I name that worry for what it is: my selfish desire for control. Then I ask the Lord to put it back in its place, to take away some of my selfishness so that I can once again have faith in how He runs the universe. And when I am sincere in this prayer, He acts. And He will do the same for you. He’s just waiting for your permission.
Now, He doesn’t take away our need to control all at once. We wouldn’t like that. But gently, over time, as we repeatedly invite Him in and acknowledge that He is in charge, He transforms us, little by little.
Does this mean that we shouldn’t think about the future at all? No. The Lord wants us to plan for the future-to take care of ourselves and our loved ones. Once we’ve made our plans, though, He wants us not to worry about them. As He said to His disciples, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).