Living in the Land of "What ifs?"

What if we get hit by a tornado tonight?  

What if we can’t pay our bills this month? 

What if I can’t finish this project on time?  

What if this medical test reveals something awful?

I am an anxious person.  I admit it.  My mind can conjure up one hundred case scenarios that present “what if” situations.

C.S. Lewis says, “One is given strength to bear what happens to him or her, but not the 101 different things that might happen.”  What truth!

When I focus on “what ifs” I have taken my eyes off “what is”.  

In Luke 10:38-42, we find Martha distracted and anxious as Jesus and his followers have come to her house for a time of rest and refreshment.  The word “distracted” in the Greek means to be encumbered or to drag around something.  Martha was dragging around all the “what ifs”.  What if my house isn’t clean enough for Jesus?  What if the meal isn’t done on time?   The word “anxious” in the Greek has at its core meaning “to be pulled or torn in two” or to be “divided”.

Mary was overwhelmed with all the “what if’s” and divided in her heart about how to solve her problem or who could solve her problem. 

When I am focusing on what if’s, many times I look around at who should be solving this problem.  In other words, who should be helping me?  I begin to point fingers.  That is what Martha did.  She looked at Mary, who was breaking the Jewish custom by sitting at the feet of a rabbi and listening. In Martha’s mind, Mary should be in the kitchen helping her. 

How would the scenario played out if Martha had sat at Jesus’ feet alongside Mary and then said, “Oh Master, I am so sorry the meal is not ready yet.  I just wanted to hear all you had to teach me.”

Who knows, maybe Jesus would have thanked the Father for what Martha had set on the table and more food would have been miraculously produced.  After all, He was/is the Creator of the universe.

Martha took her eyes off Who He was and what was.  Almighty God had walked into her door and was teaching.  She was worried about dinner.

Before we throw too many stones at Martha, don’t forget that before this happened, Jesus had just sent out the 72 disciples and told the story of the Good Samaritan.  Jesus was not criticizing the act of serving.  However, if we serve and we forget who He is and what He has already done, we, too, can become distracted and anxious.  

Did Martha learn her lesson?  In John 11:21-27 after Lazarus, her brother, dies, Martha was the one to run out her door to meet Jesus, who was already on His way to her house. Martha does question where Jesus had been. However, she was no longer in the kitchen distracted and anxious. This time she runs to her Savior and acknowledges who Jesus is:  “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God…”  

Next time you find yourself filled with anxiety and distracted by the things of this world, go to Jesus and declare who He is, focus on what He has done and ask Him to help.