Letting go of ... concern

Dave Gobbett | 18:08, 01 May 2020

By now, quite a lot of you know that I'm a bit of a visual thinker, and I thought it might be helpful to make use of my Whiteboard in presenting today’s devotional. I suggest the way we think about the pressures imposed by the coronavirus, and our response to it, can be represented by a couple of concentric circles.

there are some things in our present situation that we are really, really concerned about

So we start with a big circle on the outside, then a smaller circle on the inside. Now there are some things in our present situation that we are really, really concerned about, but have next to no direct influence over. So, the word ‘CONCERN’ in the outer circle covers all these big questions, like when will the lock-down end? or things like why did the coronavirus happen?; what is God doing?

Other concerns involve our own health or that of our family. Then there is the economy; are we going to have a job by the year’s end? Will we be able to provide for our nearest and dearest? All major concerns.

there are other matters for which we are directly responsible for

Then there are other matters for which we are directly responsible for, and these go in the smaller circle marked RESPONSIBLE. What am I going to do today, How am I going to use my time and my energy? What are my family needs? How am I going to spend my money today?

The fact is that there are some things we are concerned about where we can't really make much of a difference. And there are some things which we're responsible for where we can make a difference. Now I’m conscious that I’m addressing a wide range of different people with very different concerns and different kinds of responsibility.

If you are Professor Chris Whitty you have much greater responsibilities right now because you are advising the Government on things like the lockdown and the wisdom of relaxing it. If you are Rishi Sunak  you are working out what can be done to support particular groups of workers. NHS Trust Heads are wrestling with problems of PPE supplies or other equipment shortages.

Most of us can't make any contribution to these debates, but we are properly concerned about them. How should we think about that from a Christian perspective? The fact is we often get really, really worried about these things. Reading my Bible yesterday I came across a great verse in Deuteronomy, chapter 29: 29. I love this verse tucked away at the end of that book when Moses says:

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may follow all the words of this law.

So, there are some things that are secret that we can’t know, and there are some things revealed to us that we do know and have been given some direction on. The fact is there are some things in the CONCERN circle that we may be concerned about but which are concealed from us, like why has this begun? Why did God allow the coronavirus to occur? What are the implications for my health, my job, my family? To be honest, we can’t know because these secret things belong to God alone. He's the one operating the levers in the CONCERN circle, not us. We are operating the levers in the RESPONSIBLE circle.

So, remember what the Lord said in Deuteronomy: The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may follow all the words of this law. In other words God hasn't told us everything about what he's doing in the world and provided all the answers to our present questions. But he has told us some specific things that we need to be doing right now.

So for those things that fall within the RESPONSIBLE circle, we are not here to worry about them but to get on with obeying God and do what he has told us to do. If you think about the whole Bible context, the big message about all that was the one we were considering at a Sunday service just before lockdown: LOVE GOD MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF.

How should we deal with our concerns and our responsibilities?

So, how should we approach life in lockdown? How should we deal with our concerns and our responsibilities?  In summary, we are to trust God for stuff in the outer circle; trust Him with the secret things that belong to Him. He's in control. And for the things in the inner circle we should obey Him. The things that you are actually responsible for today.

You are responsible for what you do today. You are responsible for loving God today more than anything else. You are responsible for loving other people on your street, in your household; people who are serving you; and loving them as you love yourself

In brief, trust God for all the stuff that is beyond your power to influence, and obey him for all that for which he has given you responsibility. Remember the words of that little song that we used to sing as kids:

Trust and obey,
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.

We need to learn to let go of everything in the CONCERN circle and trust in our good, loving and faithful God. Then obey him in those areas which he has entrusted to us. Whatever your responsibilities today, obey God faithfully. Love God more than anything else, and love others like you love yourself.

For everything else, God is saying to you today: the secret things belong to me so trust me leave it with me; I've got this; I'm in control. Will you do it??

[With thanks to Paul David Tripp and his book Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands for the diagram and ideas that go with it]

Dave Gobbett Highfields Church Lead Minister