Don’t Worry, Be Happy
“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” Matthew 6:25 NASB
Do not be worried – God worries about you. Do you think that’s true? Is God the kind of being who frets over the actions of men? Who loses sleep over your choices? (A metaphor, of course). Is God bothered about your future?
Do these questions seem completely wrong? How can we possibly imagine that God, the perfect Being, could be worried about anything at all? That just doesn’t make any sense. People worry about things they can’t control, things that mightor might not happen. Synonyms for “worry” are ”anxiety,” or “concern,” or “unease.” Is that how we would describe God? Of course not! God doesn’t depend on fate or circumstances. He controls everything. Why should He worry? If we are going to be like Him, then we need to pay attention to Yeshua’s directive. “Be happy. Don’t worry.” God will take care of everything.
Wrong! Reading the text like the lyrics of a reggae song is a terrible mistake. It’s quintessentially Greek (Yeah, mon. Not Jamaican). It’s all about Plato’s view of happiness.
“The Greeks have always regarded the gods as immortal and happy beings par excellence. Since the first condition for happiness is the absence of worry, which can be attained only by ataraxia, by living apart from the world, politics, and affairs, concern with which spoils tranquility and peace, it therefore appeared absurd, according to Epicurus, to assume that the gods should concern themselves with the affairs of men. What holds true for man holds true for the gods. The slightest concern for the government of the world or human affairs would upset their serenity and happiness. This, then, is the right conception of divine existence: existence without cares, like the existence of the sage who takes no interest in human affairs. Possessing everything necessary for their well-being, the gods live in interstellar space in a state of bliss and serenity, are indifferent to the world, and in no need of human worship.”[1]
The Greeks believed in worry-free gods. Unfortunately, so do we. That’s why we think Yeshua is telling us to be like Epicurus. He isn’t! “The idea of the self-sufficiency of God became fused with the idea of the self-sufficiency of man. The certainty of man’s capacity to find peace, perfection, and the meaning of existence gained increasing momentum with the advancement of technology. . . Man is too good to be in need of supernatural guidance.”[2] If we start with the wrong idea about God, we will inevitably end up with the wrong idea about men—and about our purpose and goal. The biblical view of God is not super-Zeus, contemplating the world from the lofty perch of Heaven. The God of Israel worries about how things will turn out, not just in the long run but in the everyday world of our individual choices. He is a concerned Father. He agonizes over us, sharing our joys, weeping in our defeats. When Yeshua says, “me merimnate” (“do not be worried-anxious”), he conditions that remark upon his previous observation. The sentence starts with dia (“because”). What conditions must exist in order not to be anxious? The answer is radically important. Because God worries for us! No, it’s not about God’s care for the birds or the flowers. The reason we don’t have to worry is because, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (verse 24). Yeshua says, “For this reason.” That means the reason comes before the example of the birds and the flowers. And the reason is this: if you’re serving God as your master, He will take on the worry!
That doesn’t mean God is detached and merely contemplating your pitiful situation. That means God is absolutely and completely involved in your circumstances. He’s got your back. Stop worrying about it.
This is not the god of the Greeks, or of Reggae musicians. This is the God of Israel who has invested Himself in the human predicament. The living God of Israel is not a Greek idea of the Good. He’s not an idea at all. He’s a living Being involved in life—in all of life—on behalf of the ones He loves. Plato was wrong. Epicurus was a fool. God cares! The bottom line of the whole Bible is just this: God cares. Everything else is explanation.
Topical Index: worry, merimnate, Greeks, gods, care, Matthew 6:25
[1] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets: Two Volumes in One (Hendrickson Publishers, 1962), Vol. 2, p. 13.
[2] Ibid. p. 15.
