Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello and welcome back to Life Refresh podcast. You know who it as always, it's Ryan Robinson here.
[00:00:09] I think I just want to go ahead and get right to it, but before I do, if you know that someone may need some of the topics that we've been talking about. We've been talking about baggage, we've been talking about living a lean life and what that looks like. If you know someone who could benefit from this podcast, share it with somebody. Okay. I think it's very beneficial. I think that it's something that most people for a lot of things. The Bible has a lot of answers for the things that we go through. And based on some experiences I've had, I want to just share the story and it might resonate with somebody, it might not. But if you do think that someone might benefit from it, I'd love for you to share it and let somebody know and rank it. If you could leave a comment, let somebody know that it's here. Okay? All right, so I'm going to jump right into the notes for today and what we're going to talk about. We've been really going through the book of Samuel, First Samuel, and we've been talking about Saul and where they found him. They found him amongst the baggage. This is First Samuel.
[00:01:24] I want to say 14, 1st Samuel ten, sorry. It is one Samuel 15 that we find that Saul has been rejected by God because he disobeyed him. And essentially in One Samuel chapter ten, samuel announces Saul as king and the people are looking for him because they don't find him.
[00:01:49] And it's like in a cartoon where someone gets announced and no one's looking for him or someone's looking for him. They can't find him. And God says he's amongst the baggage. And we talked a little bit about what does it mean for someone to hide amongst the baggage? And the first instance of which we see people hiding is we found them hiding in the first few books or the first few chapters. Particularly chapter three in Genesis where Adam and Eve had sinned. And when their eyes were open after eating from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they were ashamed and they hid. So what we find is when people hide from some kind of circumstance, generally, it is because they have a sense of shame about them. Not saying that I did something wrong, but something is wrong with me. And that bears some fruit in this instance because the first response that we do to our sinful nature and our challenges and the insufficiencies that we see in us is that we try to cover them up, we try to hide them. And again, this is very clear because again, where we find Saul before he enters into his kingship is essentially what kept him or actually led him to rejecting God and disobeying him. And the bible says, at least me. The prophet Samuel says, obedience is better than sacrifice.
[00:03:22] So in that case, want to make sure that we adhere to what God is saying versus just doing things without understanding where the obedience or where the order came from. Right? So I wanted to at least establish that. But there are things that we all have that are baggage to us that we don't necessarily acknowledge. And as I had alluded to a couple previous podcasts ago about the song Bag Lady by Erica Badu, you might have heard a little bit of it in the podcast before. If not, you know what to do. Go to Spotify. Go to Apple Music.
[00:04:07] I'm an Apple Music person, so for all those people that use the other service with the Green Circle, please, it works just as well.
[00:04:18] But there are some things that we put in our bags that actually weigh us down. And I'm going to just talk about a couple of these because these are, I'll say maybe three, because obviously shame is one of them. But shame has a longer thing. So that's going to be the last one that we talk about. But the first one we're going to talk about that actually keeps us from really doing and becoming who we've been called to be in Christ or just who we call to be as individuals, period. Is this thing called worry? I just want to share here that God really wants us to wash our worries away. And I've heard that worry is actually faith working in reverse.
[00:05:05] There are things that we have in our mind that we are like, man, I have this particular circumstance. I don't know how it's going to turn out. And essentially some of these things can anesthesize so much that it could lead to anxiety.
[00:05:21] But worry is actually the first piece of this that actually grabs us and actually keeps us from doing certain things. Now, the thing is, there are areas in our life that we don't worry about, okay? For example, we don't worry generally in this country about the power. I mean, I got lights on right now, right? We don't necessarily worry that the water isn't going to turn on. Some people do.
[00:05:51] There are other circumstances that say, I'm worried that the Internet is not going to work. I would say 80% of the United States does not have a problem getting on the Internet. So there's things that we just don't worry about. But if there is, there might be a specific thing that we worry about. Our car may not be working.
[00:06:15] We might have some issues with the heating in our house. There might be something that happens that we are specifically worried about, and there is an answer in the word of God around worry. But I want to give a little bit more context to what worry actually is and what worry actually does to us. So we're going to kind of start with what depicts or what characterizes worry.
[00:06:47] Worry, for example, is something that resides in our minds. So we actually rehearse it over and over and over again.
[00:06:59] If we don't take hold of what is in our thoughts, if we let it keep going, like I said earlier, it will lead to anxiety and those thoughts will lead to something in our body. So there are just some things that happen when we think a little bit too much or overthink. In many cases, the worry is specific. So we talked about that earlier. So my car may not be working. I might be worried that something might happen and the heat might not turn on if it gets cold enough. And those are specific things that we worry about, okay?
[00:07:37] Is grounded in reality.
[00:07:40] That's number three.
[00:07:42] There's evidence there that it could actually take place. So what happens is we are trying to make sense, our brain is trying to make sense of a certain reality that's happening. We have evidence it's real, that we've had challenges. I'm going to use the car, for example, because we've all have had car trouble at some point in time and because we've had previous experience of a car not working, it then leads us to think maybe this might happen to my car. Or if it is happening to your car, you then worry about, man, maybe I hope things work out. I hope that the tire stays on. I don't even know if that's a good thing to say.
[00:08:32] If your tire is not staying on, you really need to go to the body shop and get your car fixed by a mechanic for real. Don't fix it yourself. But there are just things that you've had previous if you've had issues with it before in the past, it's not that you're worrying about something that's abstract, right? You have evidence because something happened to you. So then you try to figure out, man, what's going to happen at this point. And because it's happened again, I can be worried about the circumstance because I don't have control of the matter. Okay. The other one, the thing is worry is actually temporary. So it actually will prompt you to figure out how to create a solution to it.
[00:09:20] So if you're worried about your car not working, just as I said earlier, the best thing to do is to do something about it and take it to a mechanic, take it to the body shop.
[00:09:32] Whatever needs to be done needs to be done. There's some action that actually dissipates and actually causes the worry to go away. Why? Because you took action on it. So you didn't let it ruminate, you didn't dwell on it, you didn't repeat it, you didn't overthink. And I would say many cases overthinking is actually a manifestation of worry.
[00:09:58] Because again, we rehearse these situations, these circumstances all the time in our minds. And the thing is, and I mentioned this at some point, that we never worry or overthink positive things.
[00:10:19] The pastor, Erwin McManus, from Mosaic Church, he's a very incredible creative and thought leader. His church is out in La. Just actually close by hollywood Boulevard, actually.
[00:10:37] And he said in one of his conversations, that overthinking. We never overthink positive things.
[00:10:48] Quarterback never says, man, I wonder if I'm going to throw 100 touchdowns today. They never worry. We don't worry about positive things. We worry about the negative things. And because we think about the negative things, our worry is actually our attempt to control the outcome.
[00:11:07] I'm going to say that again. Our worry is our attempt to control the outcome.
[00:11:14] And what makes that so challenging and what makes that really dangerous is the outcomes aren't determined by all the inputs you put in. There are other conditions that are actually outside of your control that actually happen.
[00:11:31] I mean, we can't control. Some people can. But if an accident happens on the road and you follow the rules, you went when it was green, but someone else drove when it was red, that's out of your control. You couldn't stop that.
[00:11:51] There's other circumstances that are in our control that we can have an immediate impact to, that we can immediately fix. But honestly, nine times out of ten, the outcome is something that we can control. But how we interpret that, how we manage ourselves during those times, is essentially what makes us be able to manage our worry and put something different in place and take action on it. Okay, so the last note, the five one, is that worry does not impair action or function. It actually can be a driver to getting something done. Okay, so I'm going to run through these five pieces here, and then we're going to go through and see what the Bible talks about it, and we're going to see what Jesus talks about. So first, worry resides in our minds, okay? So that's where we overthink it. The worry is specific to a particular circumstance or situation that is there. The worry is grounded in reality. Is grounded in reality. So it's something that has happened to us. It's something that we've had previous experience in. Therefore, it is a real thing that could happen. It's not abstract. It is a reality. The worry is temporary because if we solve what we're worrying about, the worry will go away. Therefore, in the last point, worry does not impair function, but it actually forces us to take action due to our challenges and wanting to get and alleviate the worry of a particular area, situation or circumstance. Okay, so those are the five things that some clinical psychologists really talk about, how worry manages. So again, we're going to talk about where in the Bible does Jesus talk about worry?
[00:13:54] And the Bible actually has a lot to say about worry. And if you will, you want to go to the book of Matthew. We've been teaching from the Old Testament.
[00:14:07] We're going to go to the Book of Matthew, chapter six.
[00:14:11] And this is actually one of my favorite scriptures, the Sermon on the Mount. And there's so many things that Jesus talks about in this. The Our Father is actually listed in here, the beatitudes being salt and light, teaching about the law of Moses and what that means and how to manage your anger. There's a lot of things in here in the Bible, if you read it, that can tell you better than any self help book that you could pick up, because I guarantee it derived from something in the Bible, right? Actually, let me put my paper Bible up in this Bible, in this one.
[00:15:01] It's in here, and it's the word of God.
[00:15:07] It works if you work it.
[00:15:12] Anyway, I want to bring some practicality to it. Okay? So again, I went to Matthew, chapter six, beginning at verse 25.
[00:15:25] Okay? So I'm reading from the New Living translation. So it's a little bit there's a lot less. These thou's and those thou, there are actually none. So it's in our typical English language.
[00:15:39] It says, this is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life, whether you have enough food and drink, or whether or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food? And your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns for your Heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you more valuable to Him than they are?
[00:16:08] Can all your worries add one single moment to your life?
[00:16:14] And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow.
[00:16:21] They don't work or make their clothing. Yet Solomon, in all of his glory, was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully about the wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don't worry about these things saying, what will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers. But your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. So there's a lot in this and a lot of the things, and I will talk about this a little bit in the next podcast about anxiety, because there's things that happen that we really need that cause anxiety.
[00:17:35] But right now we're at worry. So we've talked about this, looking at the biggest things. These are main things that we need, right? We need everyday life items like food, drink, what we're going to wear, shelter, those kinds of things.
[00:17:56] And what Jesus is saying to us is that God actually cares more than we think he does. I can't say that we are that good that we provided for ourselves, that we've gotten the job. But who's providing? Who created the currency that we use? So we always say that our source of income is a resource or it gives us resources from a particular job that we do. So we receive resources re, meaning a continuation of a source. So it has to come from somewhere, right? So I believe that God is the source and he uses another instrument or another vehicle so that it becomes a resource. It doesn't become the main source, but it becomes a resource to me, to you, that we be able to receive those items. The things here is that Jesus is bringing to our attention some very basic things about his creation.
[00:19:09] Now, if we go back to Genesis, chapter one and two, where God is creating the heavens and the Earth He is going through, he's created, he said, Let there be light and there was light. And the next day he created day and he created night. And he put into a place where the heavens and the Earth were going to be. And then he put light for the sun in for the day and a lesser light in the evening that is the moon. And he did a lot of stuff.
[00:19:40] And part of that process was that he created birds of the air, things that creepy crawley on the ground and things that are in the water.
[00:19:51] Now, the thing is, God created them. They are his creation, right? So the thing is, if we don't really process that and like, okay, God made these beautiful, incredible animals that serve a purpose in the ecosystem that we call Earth and our planet, god said those were good. God said those were good. But it isn't until God created man that God says he says amongst himself. And again, this is a foreshadowing of he says, let us make man of our image. It's God, Jesus, Holy Spirit. And they kind of have a talk and he says, let us make man in our image. So the thing is, if it bears God's image, then it must be important to Him.
[00:20:47] I'm going to say that again. If it bears his image, it must be important to Him.
[00:20:55] My son actually my daughter looks more like me than many people think, right?
[00:21:03] And the thing is, my son too, he has attributes that look like me. He looks more like his mother, my wife a bit too. But the thing is, at the end of the day, they are our image bearers. They look like us, but they are not us. Therefore, if they look like us, there is opportunity for us to influence them because they have our characteristics.
[00:21:32] And the thing is, as a father and as a mother and parents to two kids, we don't want our kids looking raggedy and mommy and daddy are looking flock. You don't want to do that.
[00:21:49] I don't think there would be a parent who would want their kids looking worse than they are. In fact, at least I'm going to make sure they are looking good, just as good, if not better than me a little bit, you know what I'm saying? They're going to have some nice shoes, they're going to look pretty, they're going to be handsome, they're going to have the hair did, all those kinds of things. They are going to have what they need because why they bear our image. And if we love them like we say we do, we will do the things that we need to do to take care of them. I feel like that's something that is built into us as human beings, that God, no matter what, he always sees Himself in us. But the challenge is we never see ourselves, Him in each other, we never see God in each other.
[00:22:42] So we are all image bearers of God. Not all of us are sons and daughters of God, because that is a decision that's a later podcast about salvation. But at the end of the day, we are all image bearers in God's creation.
[00:23:01] Therefore, as a person who bears his image, god is going to take care of them just like you would take care of your children.
[00:23:13] God takes care of us.
[00:23:16] So the first thing he picks out is a bird.
[00:23:19] A bird doesn't have a place. It flies, it moves around, it cleans itself. It literally doesn't have a residence. And when it's done with the residence, after the eggs are hatched, they go about their business.
[00:23:36] The nest is vacant until it's time for more eggs to hatch. Right?
[00:23:45] And then those are some things that are super important because again, they don't dress up for anything.
[00:23:53] Where do they find their food?
[00:23:55] I mean, they don't have radar, they have eyesight, but they're not that good by themselves.
[00:24:04] There has to be someone providing for it. And then this is the one that gets me the clothing part.
[00:24:15] I like clothes, I like to dress nice. And Jesus decides to use a lily.
[00:24:22] Lilies are very beautiful, but this is the thing.
[00:24:26] He compares a lily to Solomon.
[00:24:33] Now, if you don't know who Solomon is, I'm going to give you quick note. You can Google him, but King Solomon was the third King of Israel, son of King David, who was considered the richest and wealthiest individual to have ever lived.
[00:24:52] The book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon are credit to his authorship.
[00:25:01] For the most part.
[00:25:04] What's crazy about him is the Queen of Sheba and the Queen of Sheba came to visit him because Solomon's reputation was so massive that people would come to see how rich and how wealthy the nation was under his leadership. And the Queen of Sheba comes and sees him and she says she's surely the thing that took her breath away was the fact that the people that were serving Solomon lived so well and he had money, he had clothes. The temple that he built, Solomon's Temple, was laid out, gold, jewels. I mean, it is incredible what the temple, solomon's Temple, looked like and how extravagant it was. It was over the top. When you think like, mean, it had mean. And David just stacked up stuff so that Solomon could do what he needed to do to build it. But the wood was overlaid with gold with all of these intricate designs. I mean, it was incredible.
[00:26:20] And to be a king, to make sure you have incredible things, you need to be clean, too. But there was nothing that he did that he had on that compared to a lily.
[00:26:34] Jesus used the richest man that has ever lived and said, a lily is more fly than him.
[00:26:44] How crazy is that?
[00:26:48] And then he says, a lily that is here today and then gets burned up, thrown into a fire tomorrow, how much more will he care for you? The thing that is more fly than and beautiful and more stunning than Solomon gets thrown into a fire here today, gone tomorrow. He said, how much will God make sure that you're clothed?
[00:27:22] And the thing is, what the Bible does very often, and I'm going to get to a close here, is that it continuously repeats the things that are important because these are typically the things that we get hung up on the most.
[00:27:37] So I will count how many times Jesus says don't worry.
[00:27:44] In the Scripture, he says it at least I'm going to count right now, tell you not to worry. Not to worry. One how can you add your life not worry. Two don't worry about these things. Three and then four.
[00:28:00] So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. So I think I called out three, three times different places, but three times Jesus emphasized, don't worry, don't worry. Don't worry today's thing is for today, don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself, but don't worry about today. Don't worry. And he says, Why don't you believe, you of so little faith.
[00:28:33] So the key to dislodging worry is what he says. Right here is faith. It's faith. So we need to increase our faith. Bible says the faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So the thing is, I may not have the evidence, but I believe in who has the power to do that, which is God Himself, to take care of that issue. I don't know how he's going to do it, but I believe he can do it and believe that he will do it for me. That's the faith that we're talking about. Okay, so that concludes worry.
[00:29:14] That concludes the baggage of worry.
[00:29:17] We have to really get to this next one. And this next one is anxiety.
[00:29:25] It is what happens when worry has too much time on its hands and it builds into not just a circumstance, but a condition overall.
[00:29:39] There's no evidence or you're just anxious for no reason. You don't know what's happening.
[00:29:44] And then we'll get to some examples of it. But this is an opportunity for us to stop ourselves from going into anxiety, but going into worry and tying this all back together.
[00:30:01] There might have been some worry that was in Solomon's baggage that made him do the things that he thought he needed to do. Maybe he was worrying that God wouldn't provide, so he wanted to keep the best of the spoils from his conquest.
[00:30:20] I don't know.
[00:30:22] But there was something that wasn't there that made him do what he did.
[00:30:28] So we're going to start in our next podcast talking about anxiety. Make sure you keep it locked here. Thanks for listening. Talk to you soon. Peace.
