WORRY IS A SNARE

 “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe” (Proverbs 29:25)

With the experience of the Pandemic that the world has just suffered (suffering), it is not difficult to see how worried people all-over the globe are. It makes sense because, unlike other pandemics and epidemics that this world has ever experienced, the uniqueness in this (COVID-19) was that it directly attacked the economy by immobilizing humanity regardless of whether they test positive or negative. As conscience beings are quarantined in their houses without timelines and the sick isolated in hospitals without a defined cure, they cannot help but worry. First, we ask:

What is Worry?

Worry is a thought matter; it is a form of thinking about the future, based on the past or existing circumstance/event concerning an anticipated consequence. To engage in a mental problem concern whose (problem) outcome is uncertain but contains the possibility of one or more negative outcomes is what worry is.  Based on what happens (is happening) to us, we have the amazing ability to mentally simulate future events. In the process, we anticipate either success or obstacles/problems, and the default result is either excitement or worry.

Clinically, medical practitioners insist that excessive worry is the primary symptom of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Anxiety is when worry turns into one’s lifestyle. In the medical world, the terms ‘hypothetical worry’ and ‘real event worry’ are often used to describe the distinction between occasional worry and a continuous stress disorder. People with GAD often experience their worries as uncontrollable and will worry habitually instead of in response to particular triggers. In this respect, worry is a snare to one’s physical health. It is a trap set in one’s head to breakdown their body. The word of God says; “Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up.” (Proverbs 12:25). Worry then is a snare to your physical health.

A Snare to Your Spiritual Health

The Christian life is about living a life of peace, joy and hope regardless of what is happening to us be it better or bitter. It is a Christian who says: “thou he slay me, yet I will trust in the Lord” (Job 13:15). It is us, believers while suffering a series of woes who say; “Even then, in all these things we are more than conquerors in Jesus Christ” (Romans 8:37). Those of us who have entrusted our lives with God-Jesus Christ sing while chains hang on our hands and we are behind the bars (Acts 16:25). We praise and worship while we are in a fiery furnace (Daniel 3). To such Christians, Worry is one of Satan’s greatest tools to keep us from living a life of joy and peace through Christ Jesus. We can get so caught up in worrying about tomorrow and all the what-ifs that we fail to see how God is working in our lives and leading us. God commands us to not worry and to trust in Him.

Reasons why you shouldn’t Worry

First, it is important to understand that it normal for a human being to be concerned when hurt or even attacked with problems. We are human beings with both a conscience and an emotional response to whatever happens to us be it good or bad. It okay and fine for us to emotionally and psychologically respond to our daily experiences of both gain and loss, however, what we are forbidden as Christians is the habitual and overstaying concerns around and about things that we have nothing to do about. The thing is, if a situation presents itself on your doorstep and you know what to do, why worry? Just fix it. but if what hit you is something with all your resources can do nothing, why worry? Just surrender and live or die peacefully. These are the eight reasons why you shouldn’t worry:

• Worry is the fear of the unknown: of an assumed outcome of the present trouble. It is a state of concern about what you don’t know. This makes worry a logical fallacy and a fault in thinking. This fault in thinking can lead to error in both perception and decision making.
• Worry is superstition: It is not faith and therefore a cult. Christians are not supposed to be superstitious.
• Worry is a problem promoter and fertilizer: You sponsor the growth of your problems in a state of worry and hysteria (Mathew 6:27). Worry, therefore, is a form of worship, one that magnifies the problem and God is decreased in the sufferer’s conscience.
• Worry is assuming God’s office: worry when a Christian takes matters in their own hands and get concerned with the business that exclusively belongs to their God (Mathew 6:25).
• Worry is disobedience: To worry when God says ‘worry not’, is disobedience. To obey God is not circumstantial. We don’t obey God’s word based on our evaluation of the situation; we obey God based on the principle order in his command. When God asked us not to worry, he was not indifferent to the magnitude of problem attack and how vulnerable our emotions can be. He rather intended that pain shouldn’t throw us off-balance. Not to listen to him amidst pain is disobedience and pain isn’t a sufficient excuse.
• Worry is unbelief: When you are sure, something bad will happen because of your situation, it is unbelief in the promise of your God to rescue you. Belief is acting contrary to the existing evidence. That is why Christians don’t ‘walk by sight but by faith’ (2Corinthians 5:7). We are called to exercise a lifestyle amidst the pain of ‘the evidence of things not seen and the assurance of things hoped for’ (Hebrews 11:1). Worry robs us of belief and replaces it with unbelief.
• Worry is a form of atheism: Atheism is a belief system that argues there is no God and by that they mean there is no absolute reality which operates as the reference point of everything. What is happening now is in charge and no power outside and beyond it can be referred to. To worry about the fame of evil and its effectiveness is to denounce the existence and efficiency of the existing (then and now) good.
• Worry can lead to physical problems: It’s common clinical information that the state of your mind will affect the health of almost all your internal organs. It is therefore advised that you protect your physiology through your psychology.

There could be practically more reasons not to worry but these are the ones I could come up with and here are a few verses you need to look at. Mathew 6:25-34, Proverbs 12:25, 1Peter 5:7, Philippians 4:6-7, Ecclesiastes 11:10, Job 1:20-21

The Snare

A snare is a trap. In the hunter’s world, snares are set in a favorable location and if the prey is a bird, for instance, the grain is scattered to attract its attention. A snare is a disguised bribe to ensure that the target doesn’t suspect any danger and once the prey takes it, it (the prey) loses more than it gains. King Saul while hunting David and wishing his failure, set a snare to David to ensure he (David) loses his kingdom goal (1Samuel 18:21). I come from a cattle keeper’s background and 30 years ago we used to be nomads who moved around jungles and here is what I learnt about the Lion as a predator to cattle.

A lion cannot jump into a Kraal to pick an animal, what it does is to roar by the fence of the Kraal and sprinkle its irritating urine into the Kraal. In the process, it causes tension, panic and worry, and the individual animal that worries the most jumps out the Kraal and falls prey to the predator outside. Now that is what we mean when say that worry is a snare. Here is what the word of God says:

“Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary, the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.”

(1Peter 5:8-10 NRS)

God bless you I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM, and FAITH (2Tim 2:7) 

Priest M.I.T WHITE (+256-775 822833 for further inquiries)

iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)

QUESTIONING TO BELIEVE, BELIEVING TO LIVE