Daily devotion – Safe!
Matthew 6:25
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”
Worry is something none of us wants—yet somehow, we all seem to have it.
Is Jesus telling us to live carelessly, like a wrecking ball, with no thought for life at all? No. The word thought or worry in this context carries the idea of “to strangle.” When we worry about what we will eat, wear, or possess materially, our emotions become tied up, and life itself begins to feel strangled.
Someone once said that worry is like sitting in a rocking chair—it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.
I read that it takes 60 trillion droplets of fog to cover just seven city blocks. That amount of fog can shut down an airport or bring traffic to a standstill. Yet if those 60 trillion droplets were condensed, you would end up with only half a glass of water.
You might say, “But I have some serious issues happening in my life.” And that’s true—there are seasons when we all face our own Goliaths, or find ourselves rowing through storms, seemingly getting nowhere near the shore.
Jesus does not throw us a lifeline—He gives us His hand. He assures us that we are safe there, no matter what force seeks to shake us:
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”
(John 10:27–28)
Worry is that half-glass of water. When we begin to dwell on it—wrestling with questions like How will this work out? How will I get through this?—we lose sight of God. The fog rolls in, the airport shuts down, and we stop hearing from the Lord as clearly as we once did.
That is why Jesus said, “Do not take any anxious thought.” Do not allow worry to strangle you. Don’t end up living in the fog.
You are in His hand, and nothing—nothing—can take you out of His hand.
We used to sing:
Safe am I, safe am I,
In the hollow of His hand.
Sheltered over, sheltered over,
With His love forevermore.
No ill can harm me, no foe alarm me;
For He keeps both day and night.
Safe am I, safe am I,
In the hollow of His hand.