Day Thirty Two

Matthew 6:25-33

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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? 

²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 

²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

 ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 

²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 

³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 

³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

         Jesus said these words during the Sermon on the Mount. To the people He was speaking to, starvation was an ever present danger. Clothing could easily be an issue. Almost everyone understood about thirst.

         The society in Israel at that time is nothing like what we know. If we are thirsty, we go to the sink. If we are hungry, we go to the freezer. If we need clothes, we go to a store that sells those clothes. If we don’t have money for these things, there are government programs that can provide the money. The vast majority of Americans have never known want.

         Which is not to say that there are not things that we want. Water is just one of the beverages to drink that is available to us. We might have a taste for a certain type of soda pop. We might want tea or milk or energy drinks. And, we are not usually quenching our thirst. We drink because we have it. Thirst is not a problem. There is an abundance of food and vast choices. When the Bible talks of eating the fatted calf, we do not realize what is involved. It is more than just throwing steaks on the grill. They would take a prized animal, kill it, butcher it and then make the meals. To have that, they had given up an animal that was hard to replace and they had spent the whole day at it. I can walk into Subway and get the same type of food and walk out in ten minutes. We never think of eating as a sacrifice of resources. We eat because it is time. How many times have we said “When is supper? I am starving!”  And then there is clothing. We want something new, we either get it off the rack or we order it and get it in five to seven business days. In the Bible times, making thread was the job for old women who had trouble walking and could only use their hands. The fleece from a shorn sheep would be placed in front of the woman. She would take one strand of wool between the thumb and forefinger of one hand and then do the same with the other. Then she would bring the ends of the two strands together and would begin to spin those two strands between the finger and thumb of one hand. Once those two had joined, she would pick up another strand and add that to the thread. We never think of that, but that is how the thread was made and is still how it is made by the Bedouin tribesmen today. You could go to the bazaar and by cloth, but it was made in the same manner and was terribly expensive. Most people had only one or two cloaks in their lifetime because creating that was so hard.

         They were so very different! And so, when Jesus says in verse thirty one; Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ He was talking about their very lives. They were not to fret over those things, for He would handle it. We fret about what land to buy or what vehicle to purchase. We fret about what restaurant to go to or what program to watch. If Jesus is telling those people not to fret over the things needed to simply live, then He is telling us not to fret over luxuries.  

               The key verse is verse thirty three; But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. The thing of real importance is seeking God. If we do that, our needs will be met. “Wait! I can’t have that new boat or truck or luxury item I want!!!?” If we are truly seeking the Lord, He will reorder our wants and He will take care of it.

         The way to pray today is to begin really seeking His righteousness. He is a great God and He has so much for us, but righteousness must come first.