Worries
Day 348, Friday, July 25
Luke 7:18 – 8:39
“When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.”
The words of the old hymn come to mind when I read of Jesus calming the storm that has his disciples so fearful.
One can imagine their fear and worry. Even on solid ground literal storms often make us fearful, worried about what might happen. And, of course, not all of the storms we encounter are the kind you hear about on the weather report.
I’d like to look back a few verses in the same chapter to part of the parable of the sower—you know the one, where a farmer drops seed along the path and it falls into different kinds of soil and has different outcomes.
One of those is the seed that falls among the thorns: “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.”
We don’t normally equate those three things: worries, riches and pleasures. All three, though, are things that distract us from more important things in life.
The disciples were so wrapped up in their worries that they forgot the reassurance they had just heard.
“Where is your faith?,” Jesus asked them after he calmed the storm.
Indeed, where is our faith when we let worries, riches and pleasures drown out the reassurance we have of what really matters in life.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Friday meditation

Job 11:1-12
Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: “Are all these words to go unanswered? Is this talker to be vindicated? Will your idle talk reduce others to silence? Will no one rebuke you when you mock? You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless and I am pure in your sight.’ Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.
“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.
“If he comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him? Surely he recognizes deceivers; and when he sees evil, does he not take note? But the witless can no more become wise than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human.

Prayer focus
Grant us the maturity to not be distracted by worries, riches and pleasure.