As parents, we routinely lose sleep over worries about our children. About 90% of us parents are losing sleep over the well-being of our children, according to a 2023 poll by youth development organization First Tee and Harris Poll.

Pew Research reported that parents have high levels of anxiety over the welfare and safety of their children.

Among others things, researchers reported that parents are “extremely” or “very” worried their children will experience three events or struggles in particular.

More than a third of parents worry their children will struggle with anxiety or depression or be bullied.

What is more surprising is 28% of parents — more than one in four parents (or one parent in every two couples) — are extremely worried their children will be kidnapped or abducted. Over half of parents are at least somewhat concerned about this danger.

In 2021, there were about 74 million children in the U.S. According to the FBI and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the chance of a non-family abduction is roughly .0005%.

For many of us, the enemy seeks to rule us through fear, and as parents we’re often an easy target.

But a life of fear exhausts our resources—like energy, money, and mental faculties—to do God’s work. It also robs us of the peace God offers us and our families when we living according to his plans for us.

God does not impart a spirit of fear. In 2 Timothy 1:7, Jesus’ disciple Paul tells his mentee Timothy, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

God’s Word says we don’t need to worry. (See Matthew 6:27). He worries for us.

Even as our families face the reality of trials, God’s Word says we can rest from our anxieties. God has them on his mind and his heart.

He is invested in the wrongs your family suffers and the trials you face. Psalm 7:11 says, “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.”

God is invested in your worries. He is troubled by your pain. He understands the realities of your day-to-day.

In John 11, Jesus’ disciple John writes a moving account of Jesus raising his good friend Lazarus from the dead after he died four days earlier. Jesus arrives at Lazarus’ tomb with the express purpose of raising Lazarus back to life. (John 11:23). And yet, Jesus is moved to tears by his death and the mourning of his friends and family.

“When Jesus saw [Lazarus’ sister Mary] weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept. . . . Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb.”

(John 11:33-38) (emphases added).

In spite of the happy ending he knew was coming, he was troubled by the pain of Lazarus’ family and friends. The ESV Study Bible commentary says, Jesus showed “honest sorrow at the reality of suffering and death.”

God knows and feels your suffering, and he has made plans accordingly. He has orchestrated an extraordinary plan for your good. (Romans 8:28; Proverbs 3:5-6).

We can rest from worry because he worries for us.