Is Being Prepared Being Worried?
1 The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, But the righteous are bold as a lion.
Proverbs 28:1 (NASB)
"Worried!" by photoloni is marked with CC BY 2.0.
My Sunday school class packed meals yesterday for Rise Against Hunger. It’s a fun and interesting process helping put together the food packets they use to send out to people. A foundation at my church sponsored the event, and it had church-wide participation. Over the course of 90 minutes, we collectively packed 10,000 meals to be sent worldwide to ease hunger in regions hit by problems. That’s why today’s devotion is not based on the study material sent out because we didn’t have class this week. This is a bonus devotion.
The scripture above popped up in the Lenten study of Job chapter twenty-seven this morning, and it got me thinking about several things. The context is that a prideful person constructs environments that force people to rely on them creates situations of co-dependency, and he generally doesn’t prepare people to take care of themselves. When this prideful person is gone, all those around him who were trained and forced to rely on him are stuck needing help. They become a greater or lesser burden on those around them for some time.
The point of including that passage with the Job passage was to indicate that it is a bad thing to be that prideful person who creates situations that force people to rely on them. A forced co-dependency isn’t co-dependence. It is manipulation. It is deceit. It is a symptom of the sickness that is the sin of pride.
The other aspect of this passage got me thinking about things like being prepared for [INSERT CALAMITY HERE.] Is playing through scenarios with a “What Would I Do?” attitude worrying from nothing or simply being prudent? When Joseph was in Egypt, he foresaw the coming famine and laid up literally tons of grain in preparation for that calamity. For Joseph, he was counted wise for being prepared.
53 When the seven years of plenty which had been in the land of Egypt came to an end,
54 and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said, then there was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
55 So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do.”
56 When the famine was spread over all the face of the earth, then Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
57 The people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.
Genesis 41:53-57 (NASB)
Joseph prepared for a catastrophe that many said wasn’t coming. He was ready because he prepared. He was viewed as wise by the people who were telling him he was foolish just a short time ago. Where does being prepared for an event that may never come stop being wise and start becoming foolish? Was it ever wise to begin with? Should we just not worry about it and let God handle it all?
31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:31-34 (NASB)