God tasks the watchman with some tremendous responsibilities. He has to remain alert for troubles at all hours of his watch and cannot slacken his resolve to stay attentive. Yet, we are told that if the Lord chooses not to intervene, all of the watchman’s worries and efforts are simply in vain. Interestingly, the watchman’s job is to worry! The fear of trouble keeps him up at night and causes him to rise up early in the morning to do his duty. Eventually, however, this worry produces physical ailments within the individual. With these negative outcomes, the worry and anxiety also provide no solution for the problems of this life. Worrying has deprived many good people of restfulness and sleep without offering the desperately sought after solutions. It is important to note that help has never come simply as a result of one’s worry, and no problems ever resolved themselves simply due to the magnitude of one’s worry. Bottom line: except the Lord intervenes in the problems at hand, no help will be forthcoming. Worry is vain!
Believers are commanded to “Be careful for nothing.” Contextually, the word careful means to be care full or full of cares. That being said, this is one of the most disobeyed commands in all of scripture. In Matthew 6:25, the Lord warned His disciples against dwelling upon or worrying about what they would eat, or drink, or how they would be clothed. The Lord’s rebuke implies that not even the necessities of life should serve as a source of worry for God’s people. It is important to note that worry and faith are at opposite ends of the spectrum because they do not and cannot coexist within the believer’s life and walk. A believer who is “careful” for things cannot and will not simultaneously trust God’s faithful provision. When a believer worries rather than trusting in God’s provision and protection, the believer’s actions deem God incapable to accomplish the matter without the individual contributing his “carefulness.”
In Deuteronomy 7:7-8, the Lord expressed His great love for the nation of Israel. In the midst of this declaration, the Lord provided reasons why He placed His love upon this particular nation. In Deuteronomy 1:27, the people began to murmur and their murmurings bred lies. They stated that the Lord brought them out of Egypt to destroy them because of His great hatred for them. Their statements were completely false. This is true in most circumstances when people turn to murmuring. The problem gets exaggerated and the truth corrupted. Fabricating lies helps the one murmuring to feel better about voicing the complaint. Interestingly, the truth is usually not worth murmuring about.
