Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Don't worry, be happy! Seems kind of secular, but actually, both parts of that phrase are directly commanded by God to His people!
Don't worry- “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on." Matthew 6:25.
Be happy- "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" Philipians 4:4
Amazing, isn't it, how easy it is to forget those two commands? My husband and I are in uncertain times again. Through various situations, he is again without a job, which puts us in a very precarious position. It is so tempting to think of things in an entirely logical manner, to worry about how we're going to pay our bills, about where we are going to get money, how we are going to eat. It's easy to think that there is no way we are going to make ends meet, to sink into despair and depression. It's been a struggle for us this past week, learning to deal with uncertainty again.
But, yesterday evening at church, one of our dear mentors and church elders said something that really struck me. He said, "Don't worry about it. God knows your needs, and He knows them before you even ask for them. It's easy for Christians to think that worrying is the acceptable sin, that it's ok, but it's not! It's a sin to worry."
His words were wonderfully encouraging and convicting at the same time. What right have we to worry? God knows His children, He loves them, and He cares for them! Why should we ever worry, when He has promised to care for us?

²⁵ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
Matthew 6:25-34