Don’t Worry. Be Happy!

The worship leader played a couple of bars of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” before the service began. I heard a friend say, “I wonder if he’s actually going to play that during church. It sure isn’t very spiritual.” Actually, I think those two lines are very spiritual. What about that verse, ‘Be anxious for nothing’? What if we all lived these words: “Don’t worry. Be happy! Trust the Lord!” I think people would start coming up to us and saying, “What have you got? I want that!”

Imagine a couple of heavily loaded hitchhikers finally offered a ride. (I’m not condoning hitchhiking here). Suppose, once in the vehicle, they refused to take off their heavy packs, saying, “You were so nice to give us a lift. It would be too much to ask you to carry all our gear as well.” Dumb, huh? We do that every time we wallow in anxiety about some part of our lives when we’ve already told the Lord we want him to be in charge. Why miss out on the peace we’ve been promised? Do we think what we’re dealing with is too much for him to handle?

Jesus asked us to become as little children. I would be hurt beyond measure if my children stopped trusting me to care for them. I wonder if our heavenly Father is saddened when he sees us worried about our lives.

Maybe we should start each day with a prayer like this. “Okay, God, it’s all yours. You can have my life and do whatever you want with it. You can have my health, my reputation, my possessions, my family, and everything else that concerns me. I’ll keep working, but I’m done worrying.”

Philippians 4 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). In other words, don’t worry, and you can be filled with the peace of God. What could be a happier state than that?