Worry Is Like a Rat

Do you worry? One thing I’ve discovered about worrying, it doesn’t help the situation, and sometimes it makes it worse. One thing for sure, it’s a bad habit. A very bad habit.

You may have heard the story about the pilot and the rat. It’s been around a while and although no one seems to know who wrote it, it’s a great illustration that shows us how to deal with worry. It goes like this:

Years ago, in the pioneer days of aviation, a pilot took off from an airfield. After he was in the air about two hours, he heard a gnawing sound. He realized that a rat must have gotten inside while his plane was on the ground. The gnawing continued. It was a very serious situation, and he was worried.

At first he didn’t know what to do. It was either return to the airfield he had left two hours before, or continue on to the next airfield which was over two hours ahead.

Then he remembered, “The rat is a rodent and it’s not made for heights – it’s made to live on the ground and underground.” So the pilot began to climb. He went up a thousand feet, then another thousand, until he was more than twenty thousand feet above the earth.

The gnawing ceased. The rat was dead. It couldn’t survive the heights.

Worry is like a rat. It gnaws at us and can eventually cause serious damage, physically, mentally, and spiritually. But worry can’t stand the heights our prayers go when we take our worries to the Lord. Worry can’t stand the atmosphere when we praise Him, when we thank Him, when we mediate upon His Word and quote His promises.

In God’s presence, the gnawing ceases. Worry is dead. It can’t survive His lofty presence.