Taking Thought? -- Under Law

The Law is a burden which man cannot bear:

"And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." (Luke 11:46)

Jesus has come to give us rest from our own dead works of trying to earn His righteousness:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. " (Matthew 11: 28)

and

"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14)

Through His Blood, through His Finished Work, we enter the Promised Land of rest:

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

"For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 9-11)

Now, Jesus has contrasted seeking and receiving His righteousness with taking thought:

"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? . . .

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6: 25, 33-34)

If Law is about us achieving our own righteousness, then it follows simply that taking thought is a result of trying to keep the law.

If we worry, we are presuming that God will not come through for us in whatever needs we may have. Yet the Bible teaches otherwise:

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8: 31-32)

and

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." (1 Peter 5:6-7)

Let Him rest you, receive His grace, and trust that He has everything under control.