Are you not put to shame by every little bird that sits upon the bough and sings, though it has not two grains of barley in all the world?

Are you not put to shame by every little bird that sits upon the bough and sings, though it has not two grains of barley in all the world?
(Charles Spurgeon, "A Good Start!")
Matthew 6:25-32

Undue anxiety is very common among the unsaved--I suppose they cannot help it. Yet Christians must help it; for the Lord's precept is plain and binding: "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Fretful anxiety is forbidden to the Christian!

It is needless. "Behold the fowls of the air:" said Christ: "for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" If you have a Father in Heaven to care for you--are you not put to shame by every little bird that sits upon the bough and sings, though it has not two grains of barley in all the world? God takes charge of the birds of the air, and thus they live exempt from anxious care--why do not we?

Our Lord also taught that such anxiety is useless as well as needless; for, with all our care, we cannot add a single hour to our life!

Can we do anything else by fretful care? What if the farmer deplores that there is no rain? Do his fears unstop the bottles of Heaven? Or if the merchant sighs because the wind detains his ship laden with goods--will his complainings turn the gale to another quarter?

We do not better ourselves a bit, by all our fretting and fuming. It would be infinitely wiser to do our best--and then casts our care upon our God!

Prudence is wisdom--for it adapts means to ends.
But anxiety is folly--for it groans and worries, and accomplishes nothing!

Besides, according to our Saviour, anxiety about worldly things is heathenish:   "(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." They have no God and no providence--and therefore they try to be a providence to themselves. Let the heir of Heaven act a nobler part than the mere man of the world--who has his portion in this life, and lives without God and without hope.

Our distrust of our God is both childish and dishonouring. I was driven through the streets one day by a friend in a four-wheeled carriage, and he, being a good driver, must needs drive into narrow places, where it seemed to me that we would be crushed by the vans and omnibuses. I shrank back in my timidity, and expressed my unwise alarms so freely, that with a smile he laid the reins in my hand, and said, "If you cannot trust me--would you like to drive yourself?" From that ambition I was wholly free, and I assured him that he might drive as he liked, rather than make me the charioteer!

Surely, the great God might well put the same proposal to those who are complaining of His providence. If we cannot trust Him--could we manage better ourselves?

If we are Christians, let us believe in our God, and leave the governance of the great world to the Lord God, our heavenly Father, who will surely cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him!