“.. it means no worries for the rest of your days, it’s a
problem-free philosophy, Hakuna Matata”
Anyone who has watched the hit movie “The Lion King” will
recognise those lyrics (don’t deny it, you probably sang along as you read
that…. Or maybe that was just me… The little dance I did as I sang along was
probably just me too…). Timone and Pumba sing the song “Hakuna Matata” to Simba
the lion cub, revealing exactly how they feel about life: basically, you just
shouldn’t worry about anything.
Now that’s great, imagine going through life and never
worrying about anything, it would be absolutely amazing. But then reality hits.
In comes the thoughts of “How can I afford to pay even more for petrol this
month?” or “What am I supposed to prepare for work this week?” or “I have a big
test coming up, how will I find the time to study?”, or my biggest dilemma: “I
don’t have anything to wear!!!” (meanwhile I’ve got about a billion clothing
items tucked away in my cupboard).
Life is stressful, trust me, I know that. Although I’m not
very organised (it’s actually bad, you should just see some of my school
files), I do like to have a bit of a plan for things, but then of course, as
soon as you have a plan, something always has to go wrong, and that stresses me
out to the next level. Aside from that, I stress about school and people and
exercise and data and what caption to post onto Instagram and when to find time
to read my Bible and so on.
Every single person is different and every single person has
their own list of things to worry about, and my worries may not necessarily be
your worries, but the fact is, I’m sure 90% of the people on earth worry about something.
But here’s the thing... Do you know what God says about
worrying?
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air, they
do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying
add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you- you of little faith? So do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you- you of little faith? So do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
And you know what? That’s not all!
Philippians 4:6-7
“Don’t worry about
anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him
for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds
anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you
live in Christ Jesus.”
There are many other references to worry and anxiety in the
Bible (for example Luke 12:24-34, Matthew 11:28-30, John 14:27 and Psalm
55:22), but these are the two I’d like to concentrate on today.
So let’s start with Matthew 6.
God is essentially telling us that worrying about material things is futile, it’s worthless. You know that HUGE problem you’re worrying about right now? I’m sure in the greater scheme of things, it actually is not that significant. For example, I was beyond worried about how I would get to Pinetown in order to drop off this paper at a lady’s house. Now why would I be worried about that? Firstly, I really haven’t had my license very long (I still park about 2km away from the shops in the shopping centre so that I’m away of all other cars, or as I like to call them, potential crash targets). Secondly, driving in Pinetown is as dangerous as driving in rush hour traffic with a blindfold on and your hands tied behind your back while doing the Macarena (ok, maybe I over exaggerate a bit, but it’s scary!!). And thirdly, I have NO sense of direction (seriously, I get lost driving to my house from Spar. Spar is 2km away. Just saying). So anyway, I was super worried, but then after talking to my gran, we realised that there is actually no use worrying about it because the problem is easy to solve: Take an experienced driver with me! Easy as pie.
God is essentially telling us that worrying about material things is futile, it’s worthless. You know that HUGE problem you’re worrying about right now? I’m sure in the greater scheme of things, it actually is not that significant. For example, I was beyond worried about how I would get to Pinetown in order to drop off this paper at a lady’s house. Now why would I be worried about that? Firstly, I really haven’t had my license very long (I still park about 2km away from the shops in the shopping centre so that I’m away of all other cars, or as I like to call them, potential crash targets). Secondly, driving in Pinetown is as dangerous as driving in rush hour traffic with a blindfold on and your hands tied behind your back while doing the Macarena (ok, maybe I over exaggerate a bit, but it’s scary!!). And thirdly, I have NO sense of direction (seriously, I get lost driving to my house from Spar. Spar is 2km away. Just saying). So anyway, I was super worried, but then after talking to my gran, we realised that there is actually no use worrying about it because the problem is easy to solve: Take an experienced driver with me! Easy as pie.
Sometimes we tend to overthink our worries and make a
mountain out of a mole hill, when in actual fact, they’re very easily solveable
if you just think about it in a calm, and relaxed way. Also, just as the verse
says “Is not life worth more than food, and the body more than clothes?”, that
is often the case in life: we tend to worry and stress about things that
actually aren’t that important. Yes, it’s great to have a nice body and look
good, but if you’re so worried about it that it stops you from experiencing
some of life’s greatest treasures (like a huge, juicy, flame-grilled Steers
burger) , or that it turns into some kind of eating disorder, you may have to
shift your priorities. That was a superficial example, but it works on a deeper
level, too. If you’re so worried about finances that you make yourself sick and
moody and it affects your family life, you probably need to shift your
priorities too. Just because you may have to cut down on some costs shouldn’t
mean that you have to cut down on more important things, like family or
friends, and most importantly, your relationship with God.
Another important point from that piece of Scripture is the
fact that we worry about things like clothes and food, but in reality, God
cares so so so so SO much about you. In fact, you are worth more than the birds
in the sky and flowers of the field, yet God still takes care of them, so
wouldn’t He take even more special care of you?
I’ve often heard people tell me to “Give it to God” when I’m worried about something, and to be honest, I struggle with that. I mean I’m a strong, independent, 21st century woman, I should be able to take care of myself, right? Well yes, to an extent, but the thing is, why choose to climb Mt. Everest all by yourself when you can have the world’s best Guide going with you, showing you the way and helping you to overcome even the worst kinds of obstacles? By giving something to God, you pray, ask Him to help, and that trust that He’ll pull through. BUT WAIT! Remember God’s plans are different to our own, He may decide to answer you in a far different length of time than you expected, or He may decide to blow your mind and answer you in a completely different way from what you expected, but trust me, He will always pull through, NO MATTER WHAT.
I’ve often heard people tell me to “Give it to God” when I’m worried about something, and to be honest, I struggle with that. I mean I’m a strong, independent, 21st century woman, I should be able to take care of myself, right? Well yes, to an extent, but the thing is, why choose to climb Mt. Everest all by yourself when you can have the world’s best Guide going with you, showing you the way and helping you to overcome even the worst kinds of obstacles? By giving something to God, you pray, ask Him to help, and that trust that He’ll pull through. BUT WAIT! Remember God’s plans are different to our own, He may decide to answer you in a far different length of time than you expected, or He may decide to blow your mind and answer you in a completely different way from what you expected, but trust me, He will always pull through, NO MATTER WHAT.
Now I love the last part of the verse: “But seek first His
kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about
itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.””
God should be our priority, our greatest concern. When you decide to seek Him first in everything you do, He will bless you accordingly. Now I know, that is really difficult to do, especially in the busy world we live in today. But the thing is, God is never too busy to help you, I mean He sent His own Son to die for you, so I’m sure we can at least find some time in our day to spend with Him. As soon as you spend time with Him, your relationship will grow stronger and His will for your life will become clearer and clearer. Furthermore, in every decision we make, we should first seek God in it. So if you’re called to make a decision, first think to yourself: ‘What does the Bible say about this? Would God be all right with me doing this?” (trust, you can honestly find answers to anything in the Bible if you just know where to look). God will bless you for considering Him in all you do, like that Bible verse says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:23).
God should be our priority, our greatest concern. When you decide to seek Him first in everything you do, He will bless you accordingly. Now I know, that is really difficult to do, especially in the busy world we live in today. But the thing is, God is never too busy to help you, I mean He sent His own Son to die for you, so I’m sure we can at least find some time in our day to spend with Him. As soon as you spend time with Him, your relationship will grow stronger and His will for your life will become clearer and clearer. Furthermore, in every decision we make, we should first seek God in it. So if you’re called to make a decision, first think to yourself: ‘What does the Bible say about this? Would God be all right with me doing this?” (trust, you can honestly find answers to anything in the Bible if you just know where to look). God will bless you for considering Him in all you do, like that Bible verse says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:23).
Then the last thing about that verse, God tells us not to
worry about tomorrow because each day has enough worries of its own. How true
is that! If we keep worrying about every single little thing, it will literally
cloud your vision and cause you to miss out on the fun things in life. Worrying about something isn’t going to
make a difference- it won’t ‘add a single hour to your life’ – actually doing something is what makes the
difference.
Then we come to Philippians 4:6-7:
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.
Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will
experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace
will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
Instead of worrying, we should be praying. Well I was in the process of writing this blog post, I saw
an Instagram picture that said “Worry less, pray more” and that simply puts the
Biblical philosophy of “Hakuna Matata”. Life is going to stress you out at
times, there’s no doubt about that. But in those moments where you feel worried
and vulnerable, pray about it. God isn’t one of those Dads who never shows up
for His kids: He’s that Dad with the huge foam finger and sign shouting “GO MY
CHILD!” at your sports game. He desires closeness with you, and the only way to
really be close with someone is to be completely honest with them. Sometimes we
need to think of God as a kind of ‘Dr. Phil’ and trust Him to hear our problems
and help us. 1 Peter 5:7 says “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares
for you.” By sharing your worries with God, you’re off-loading some of your
burden and allowing His incredible, incomparable peace to fill you.
So there we go, take a chill pill, sit down, relax and pray.
Live your life with Hakuna Matata in mind, remember, it means no worries for
the rest of your life.
“When I am worried it’s
usually because I am trying to do everything myself. When I am at peace, it’s
usually because I remember that God is in control.”
Dave Willis
Dave Willis
“Every evening I turn
my worries to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway.”
Mary C. Crowley
Mary C. Crowley
“Worrying is like a
rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.”
Van Wilder
Van Wilder
