God Will Take Care of You

The late J.C. Penny of the famous Department Store chain in the United States (pictured at left), once wrote about “a most trying experience” when he became “worried and desperate.” This desperation came out of the Stock Market crash of 1929 and the following Great Depression that affected so many throughout the world. As a result, he wrote “I was so harassed with worries that I couldn’t sleep, and developed an extremely painful ailment known as shingles.” Even though a rigid treatment was prescribed for his condition, Mr. Penny said, “nothing helped. I got weaker day by day. I was broken nervously and physically, filled with despair, unable to see even a ray of hope. I had nothing to live for. I felt I hadn’t a friend left in the world, that even my family had turned against me.”

Mr. Penny went on to say, “One night…I awoke with an overwhelming conviction that this was my last night of life. Getting out of bed, I wrote farewell letters to my wife and to my son, saying that I did not expect to live to see the dawn.” The next day he was surprised to find that he was still alive when he awoke. Hearing music coming from the little chapel in the place where he was staying, he went downstairs to sit in on the service. About this event, Mr. Penny wrote, “I can still remember the hymn they were signing: “God will take care of you.” He went onto say, “Suddenly – something happened. I can’t explain it. I can only call it a miracle. I felt as if I had been instantly lifted out of the darkness of a dungeon into warm brilliant sunlight. I felt as if I had been transported from hell to paradise. I felt the power of God as I had never felt it before.”

The phrase “God will take care of you” is most profound, and deeply encouraging, for it helps to lift us out of self-centeredness and anxiety into a new way of experiencing life. It means that no matter what we have faced – or are facing today – we can be assured that God not only loves us, but that He will also take care of us as well. He will take care of those pressing business concerns; He will take care of that family member who has gone astray; He will take care of that health concern you may have; and, He will most certainly take care of your future! There is nothing that falls outside the realm of His concern and involvement. Remember, “God will take care of you.”