What Lies Beneath

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

When someone comes at us with all guns blazing, our first reaction usually isn’t, ‘there, there, what’s the matter?’ It’s more likely to be, ‘excuse me? Who do you think you’re talking too?’ (maybe that’s just Northern Ireland). Most, if not all of us, have probably been on both sides of this scenario. Over a period of time we have experienced a build-up of stress and worry. Then, we have lashed out at someone who had nothing to do with any of it – they just happened to be present at the moment the camel’s back was broken.

Jesus was a guest at the home of sisters, Martha and Mary, and He was talking to the others that were there when, suddenly, Martha confronts him:

Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. Luke 10:40

There is anger in Martha’s tone and she comes to Jesus accusingly, and then she demands action from him. Jesus could have responded to her accusation, and said, ‘Don’t come to me with that attitude. If you want help, ask your sister yourself!’ Jesus, however, looks beyond the outburst to what lies beneath, and what He sees is worry and stress. When he responds, He does so with gentleness.

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. Luke 10:41

Martha was not simply upset about the lack of help from Mary that day; there were many things that were troubling her. To see Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet was just the straw that broke her. Jesus wasn’t offended by Martha’s complaint because He knew her – in the very same way he knows every one of us. Completely.

We are completely known. When we come to God with our anger and our complaints, He looks beyond, to the deep concerns of our heart, and with gentleness and love He says, ‘Give them all to Me and let me carry them for you.’

Don’t hold on to your worries to the point of distress; hand them over to the only One capable of handling them.