by John MacArthur
- What did I learn from the book? Life comes from God and the fullness of life from Jesus Christ. Christians who worry believe God can redeem them, break the shackles of Satan, take them from hell to Heaven, put them into His kingdom, and give them eternal life; but they just don’t think He can get them through the next couple of days. That is pretty ridiculous. We can believe God for the greater fight and then stumble and not believe Him for the lesser one. What is wrong with us? When you and I worry, we are choosing to be overcome by our circumstances instead of by the truth of God. The hardships and trials of life pale in comparison to the greatness of our salvation. When we worry, we are not trusting our heavenly Father. Jesus said, “So do not worry for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). He was saying, “Don’t worry about the future. Even though, it will have its share of problems they have a way of working themselves out at the right time. Just deal with them as they come, for there’s no way to solve them in advance.” Providing for tomorrow is good, but worrying about tomorrow is a sin because God is the God of tomorrow just as He is the God of today. The believer who doesn’t live in the confidence of God’s sovereignty will lack God’s peace and be left to the chaos of a troubled heart. But our confident trust in the Lord will allow us to thank Him in the midst of trials because we have God’s peace on duty to protect our hearts. The only way this is achieved is through constant study of His Word and prayer.
2. How will I use this book in the future? I want to live for today. Because today is all I really have, for God permits none of us to live in tomorrow until it turns into today. I am going to try and understand that God is using all the difficulties I face to perfect me, where I will be at peace and rely only on Him. It is not all for nothing. I may not like what I am going through, but I am going to be encouraged that there is a good reason and He will reveal it to me when He sees fit.