3rd Sunday of Matthew
Scripture: Matthew 6:22-33
When we’re struggling, it’s easy to see through a well-intentioned platitude like, “Don’t worry, God has a plan for your life.” If God really did have a plan, why is he letting us struggle? Why does he seem so absent?
Faced with God’s absence, we’re tempted to create our own plans to take control of our lives. The people of Jesus’ time also felt God’s absence; they needed to survive under oppressive Roman rule, so they worried about what they would eat, drink, and wear.
This is also what happened at the time of Moses. When Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Law, it took him so long that the Israelites thought God had abandoned them in the desert, a hostile place. So, they created a golden calf to worship instead. But this only led them astray and brought death upon them.
Yes, it may have seemed that God was absent to the Israelites, but he had also saved them from slavery, and he was preparing a Law for them so that they may have life. This Law would eventually lead to God walking among them in the flesh.
God had never truly left the Israelites. And just as God cared for the restless Israelites, he cares for us as well.
Looking back at my life, I can see how God has always been with me. Though I may have felt that God was far from me at times, I’ve learned that patience and trust is the key to trusting God.
God tells us today that we are more valuable than the birds of the air and more beautiful than the lilies of the field. Just as he cares for them, he cares for us. Knowing this, we are no longer restless but patient as God cares for us in every moment.