new church life: september/october 2014
angels of heaven. When we obsess and excessively fret about the things of this
world, it robs us of any delight in the present, and of the eternal joy and peace
that the Lord created us for.
So the Lord tells us that He will always provide for us if we seek after
what is truly important, and instructs us not to “worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about its own things.”
In fact, for the children of Israel the “concern for the morrow was not only
forbidden, but also condemned.” (Arcana Coelestia 8478:2) This is why when
they gathered their manna in the wilderness every day, they were commanded
not to save any of it for the next morning, or it would breed worms and stink.
The lesson the Lord was teaching them was that He would provide for
them every day what they would need. Just like clockwork, manna would be
there in the morning and quails in the evening. When some did not trust or
have faith that the Lord would provide for them, they would try to gather more
than they needed for the present day.
This needless anxiety for the future resulted in the manna going rotten
until they learned from experience that the Lord’s words were true. For every
morning they would wake up and the manna from heaven would be there. So
the simple prayer that the Lord asks us to make is: “Give us this day our daily
bread.” (Matthew 6:11)
So is it possible to go anxiety-free in this world? Can we be in that celestial
state of peace and contentment all the time? Sadly the answer is no, but that is
not necessarily a bad thing. It depends on how you look at it.
In general, there are two types of temptations that produce anxiety –
natural and spiritual. (See Arcana Coelestia 8164) Natural temptations usually
cause us excessive anxiety and stress that for the most part are unhealthy and
unproductive. Often our concerns over worldly things, money matters, reliable
transportation and physical health are blown out of proportion and obscure
our vision of what is really important.
Now because we live in a physical time-and-sp ace world, these natural
concerns cannot be completely avoided. The Writings note that it is orderly
for us to make provision for our dependents, and to obtain resources for the
future. (Ibid. 8478:2) After all, we can’t let the kids go hungry or freeze in the
winter. We have to make mortgage payments and drive a safe vehicle. We have
to strive for a better working environment and make enough money to live on.
So there will inevitably be times when we suffer natural temptations which
involve misfortune and misery. But we must ask ourselves: Are these worldly
concerns consuming all our time and energy? Are they constantly diverting us
from the important things – spiritual things – like serving the Lord and our
neighbor, taking good care of our marriages and raising our children properly?
There is a story of a management professor who took a jar and filled it
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