What If You Really Put God First?

In college, even though I majored in English literature, I needed to also take various non-major courses to graduate, including Biology. This particular course was dumbed down for people like me, who do not love science, but it was still very difficult.

One night, as I was studying for the next day’s Biology quiz, I felt God asking me to put my work aside and spend some time with him. I felt him inviting me to attend a late-night worship service, because he had something he wanted to speak to me.

“God, you know I need to study,” I said. “I am not doing very well in this class. I can’t just blow off this quiz.”

“Trust me,” he said. And that was it. He was inviting me to prioritize him in a way that felt scary and costly, but I knew I couldn’t say no. No quiz was that important.

So I set my notes aside and spent the next few hours in corporate prayer and worship. I don’t remember what he spoke to me during that worship service, but I do remember that I went to bed feeling peaceful, not anxious, even though I knew I was not prepared for my Biology quiz. 

In church circles, we like to talk about putting God first and seeking God first based on Jesus’ promise in Matthew 6:33—“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (NIV). Jesus made this promise in the context of the worries of life. For his original listeners, those worries sounded like, “What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?” He told them not to engage with those worries for several reasons:

1. Life is so much more than what we have (Matt. 6:25). True life is not found in avoiding material lack or problems, but in knowing God and pursuing his kingdom. When we live in his embrace, we receive the strength and wisdom to face whatever is before us.

2. We are extremely valuable to God, and we can trust him to provide for us (Matt. 6:26). God provides for the wildflowers and the birds—and all of creation—and we can trust him to care for us also. This doesn’t mean that we always get what we want, of course, or that things always go our way. But it does mean that he is actively helping us. 

3. Worry does not help (Matt. 6:27). We all know this. Worry does not actually change anything, except the state of our hearts. Worry doesn’t help us solve problems. It actually makes it harder for us to have the clarity of thought needed to solve problems. Worry has never helped anyone.

4. Unbelievers chase after possessions because they are afraid (Matt. 6:32). They believe they are alone. The burden of caring for their needs is entirely on their own shoulders. They do not know their Father. We shouldn’t be like them, because we are not alone. We know our Father, and he is good. He knows what we need, and he delights in caring for us.

Worry has no kingdom value. In fact, it directly opposes one of the foundations of life in Christ—trust. Yet many of us struggle not to give worry a voice in our hearts. Thankfully, Jesus gave us the remedy for overcoming worry—seeking first the kingdom of God. When we seek him first, two things happen. First, our minds our renewed (Rom. 12:2). We begin to think from a heavenly perspective, and worry doesn’t make sense in heaven’s perspective. Second, we build a history with God. Trust isn’t automatic; it’s built. We choose to trust God by faith, but then as we step out in faith, we get to see him acting on our behalf. That history with him increases our trust for him. We begin to truly believe, “He did it before, and he’ll do it again.”

For me, the night before my Bio quiz became a trust-building exercise with God. In response to his invitation to set aside my work and simply worship, my worry shouted, “What will happen if I don’t study?” This worry pointed to a related and deeper question in my heart: “Can I trust God to take care of me when he leads me into something that defies what makes sense?” 

The answer, of course, is yes. We all know the right answer in our heads. But the next day, I took a step forward in knowing the right answer in my heart, because the next day, a miracle happened.

I aced the Biology quiz.

Even though I had guessed on several answers, somehow I got them all right. It was the only time during that course that I got 100 percent on anything. It felt like a kiss from God, a reminder of his goodness, a proof that when I seek him first, truly “all these things will be added” to me.

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