When Worry Lines Meet a Faithful Father

Lightning strikes with devastating force. A house in a quiet neighborhood experiences $15,000 in damage—fried electronics, ruined appliances, and interior destruction. Yet the damage could have been catastrophically worse. What made the difference? A simple grounding system that channeled the destructive energy safely away.

Now picture Chicago's skyline. The Sears Tower (let's be honest, we all still call it that) and the Hancock Building stand tall, struck by lightning 50 to 100 times per year. Without their grounding spires, these architectural marvels would be repeatedly devastated. Instead, they stand secure, protected by systems designed to absorb the strikes that inevitably come.

This powerful image offers us a profound spiritual truth: just as buildings need grounding systems to withstand lightning strikes, our lives need spiritual grounding to withstand the inevitable storms that come our way.

But grounding alone doesn't capture the full picture of what we need. After all, the Christian life isn't meant to be static—we're not buildings simply waiting to be protected from harm. We're called to be active, purposeful, engaged in the work God has for us. We need more than protection; we need direction.

Think of a GPS system guiding you through unfamiliar territory. When you're lost, disoriented, or unsure of the next turn, that navigation system doesn't just protect you—it guides you forward. It gives you confidence to move ahead even when the road is unclear.

This is what authentic faith provides: both grounding when life's strikes hit us and guidance when we need direction forward. We need anchoring when the storms rage and orientation when the path ahead seems foggy.

The Apostles' Creed, an ancient statement of Christian faith dating back to the fourth century, serves as both our grounding system and our GPS. While not written by the apostles themselves, it captures the essential teachings they passed down—truths about God that have sustained believers through countless generations of uncertainty, persecution, and challenge.

The opening line of this creed makes a stunning claim: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth."

Unpacking this single sentence reveals layers of comfort and strength for our anxious hearts.

Hebrews 11:3 tells us, "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible." God created ex nihilo—out of nothing. Everything we see, touch, and experience came from His creative power.

But here's where it gets deeply personal: He didn't just create and walk away. He creates as a Father.

A true father doesn't simply help bring a child into existence and then disappear. A true father protects, provides, steps into the gap, and remains constantly available. He's engaged, interested, and takes personal responsibility for ensuring his family's needs are met.

This is the God we serve—not a distant clockmaker who wound up the universe and now watches impassively, but a Heavenly Father who cares intimately for all He has made.

In Matthew 6, Jesus addresses the crowd gathered on the mountainside with words that pierce through centuries to speak directly to our modern anxieties:


Jesus paints a picture we need to internalize: a hand reaching out to feed a bird. This is how the Father relates to us. If He feeds the birds, won't He certainly feed you—you who are infinitely more valuable?

Consider the contrast: our foreheads creased with worry versus faith that our Father feeds us.

We all carry concerns that etch lines across our brows—decisions we must make, situations we cannot control, uncertainties about the coming week. We lose sleep over circumstances that swirl around us, feeling the weight of responsibility for outcomes we cannot guarantee.

But Jesus introduces a radical alternative: trust in a Father who knows what we need and provides.

This teaching reveals two freeing realities:

First, God is not irrelevant to your needs. Some people believe in a distant deity who created the universe but remains removed from daily human concerns. They imagine a God who set everything in motion and now watches impassively, expecting us to figure things out on our own.

Jesus shatters this notion. Our worries matter to God. He is relevant, engaged, currently caring, protective, and actively helpful. He is not an impassive deist God but an involved Heavenly Father.

Second, God is not anti-work, but He is pro-faith. Scripture clearly calls us to work—to use our minds, bodies, and wills to plan, prepare, and engage with life's challenges. But while we do the work we're called to do, we simultaneously exercise trust in a God who fathers us through inevitable difficulties.

We have a Creator who cares, not just one who creates.

Worry reveals something about our view of God. As one writer observed, "Worry implies that we don't quite trust God is big enough or that He cares enough."

When we hold onto concerns, obsessing, and overthinking, we're essentially saying, "If I don't fix this, who will?" We limit God by our limited faith.

But the biblical concept of providence teaches that God sees, knows, cares, sustains, and provides on such a deep level that we need not clutch our worries so tightly.

Flip through Scripture, and you'll find story after story: Moses at the Red Sea, provision for the widow of Zarephath, manna in the wilderness, Ruth finding refuge with Boaz. Again and again, God provides in a fatherly way.

Jesus makes another crucial point: "Your heavenly Father knows that you need them."

God is not late to the game. He doesn't miss things. He's not asleep at the wheel, requiring our prayers to wake Him up. He's always ahead of us, knowing what we need before we need it.

Remember when the disciples had to wake Jesus during the storm? We sometimes act as if our prayers serve the same function—alerting God to problems He's somehow missed. But that's spiritual immaturity talking.

The truth is far more comforting: God is already ahead of every challenge you'll face this week. He knows what's coming on Monday afternoon, and He's already preparing the way.

So what does this mean practically?

We can be patient when things go against us. Before blood pressure skyrockets, we can remind ourselves that God is ahead of it all.

We can be thankful when things go well. Recognizing His provision cultivates gratitude.

We can be confident in our faithful God and Father. We can tell our souls: Trust in the good Lord your God. Do not doubt that He's got this.

The lightning strikes of life will still come. We'll still get hit. Hardship remains real. But the difference between those with faith and those without is the grounding system—the confidence that absorbs and mitigates the impact.

God doesn't promise to shield us from every storm, but He does promise to be there with us, providing what we need. And when we arrive at places of deep hardship, He's already there waiting, ready to guide us through.

The question each of us must answer is simply this: Do I believe?

Do I believe that the God who created everything cares personally for me? Do I believe He knows what I need before I need it? Do I believe He will provide and guide?

These aren't just theological questions for academic debate. They're the daily choice between anxiety and peace, between worry and trust, between feeling alone and knowing we're deeply, intimately fathered by the Creator of the universe.

In a world that strikes us repeatedly with uncertainty and challenge, we have access to both grounding and guidance—if we choose to believe.

This blog post is based on Pastor Fred’s message, “Our Father, and Our Foreheads.”

If this topic speaks to you, take the next step and watch the full message to go deeper into what it means to know God as our loving, providing Father.