Tag Archives: Anxiety

Some Thoughts on Anxiety and Fear – Part 5

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One more thought is that we are to enter into the peace of God. It is His peace that we are to take as our peace. His peace is completely restful. He is not stressed out about anything that is going on, and He asks us to join Him in that rest. It is not so much that we should try to create peace within ourselves or struggle to come to terms with things. It is a matter of entering into the peace that God already has. We need to accept His peace as our peace.  Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27, NKJV). All of these things fit together. Phil 4:6-7 tells us to be anxious for nothing. Rather than that we are to let our requests be made known unto God, and we are to be thankful. Then God’s peace will be a garrison around our heart. This thankfulness is not just a general thankfulness for all things, but a thankfulness for a faithful God who has promised to meet our needs and be with us. This kind of regular thankfulness for today’s providential care engenders trust which enables us to be less fearful, as God’s peace surrounds us.

Trust is probably the bottom line. When we are fearful, we are not trusting. We lack faith. As Jesus asked His disciples one time, “Why is it you have no faith?” And it’s OK to say, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” We can help ourselves immensely by keeping the truth before us and reviewing the promises of God on a regular basis. We need to learn to avoid the “what ifs.” As Jesus said, tomorrow has enough cares of its own. So we need to focus on what is before us today. Are we safe today? Do we have the food and clothing and shelter we need today? Do we have health and strength today? If so, we can be thankful and joyful. The key is trust. The Psalmist says, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You” (Psalm 56:3).

Some Thoughts on Anxiety and Fear – Part 4

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As we see things happening in the world, we wonder how governments can be so corrupt or abusive of their people. However, here is what God has to say about all of this:

“Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.” (Isaiah 40:15, NKJV)

“Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing?” (Psalm 2:1, NKJV)

“The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,” (Psalm 2:2, NKJV)

“He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.” (Psalm 2:4, NKJV)

Picture a bucket and a drop of water in that bucket. That is how God sees all of the nations together. Or think of the old fashioned chemical balance with a pan on each side. In chemistry there might be a small speck of dust on one side, and we would blow it off to make sure that speck wasn’t being weighed. That is how God sees all of the fuming of the nations. One little breath does away with them. When the kings of the earth array themselves against God and His plans, He laughs because it is a vain thing they are attempting. That is the way we need to picture it rather than as the big tumult it appears to us to be.

As I said earlier, we may believe these things, and we know God is accomplishing His purposes, but we are afraid of what those purposes might entail for all of us. There is no question that God may have difficult things planned for us, but His motive is always good, His presence is always there, and His purposes are always for our good and for His glory.

Some Thoughts on Worry and Fear – Part 3

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Here are some other passages that can be helpful:

God values us more than birds and we are so much on His mind that the hair on our head is counted. Think of that the next time you find a hair in the sink. God just took note and subtracted one!

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:7, NKJV)

John tells us that love casts out fear. As our love for God grows, our trust in Him grows. We begin to know His heart and fear diminishes. Perfect love and therefore absence of fear is the goal, but getting there often takes a lifetime.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18, NKJV)

Our confidence needs to be in God and nothing else. He promises His care and protection.

“Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; For the Lord will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.” (Proverbs 3:25–26, NKJV)

Here’s another verse that reminds us that our trust is to be in God. Notice that the Psalmist is repeating this to himself. This is a good practice—to say things like this to ourselves. Sometimes we have to say it repeatedly until our heart begins to believe the promise.

“In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?” (Psalm 56:4, NKJV)

And here is another that emphasizes trust in the Lord:

“Surely he will never be shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” (Psalm 112:6–7, NKJV)

So it seems to me the biggest cause of fear is the lack of trust in God. We tend to not trust His heart, His strength and often His motives. The Bible tells us that faith comes from hearing the word of God and so that is where our meditation and attention needs to be.

When it comes to what might happen politically, there are several passages that we need to keep in mind. Daniel 2:21, “And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.”

“For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another.” (Psalm 75:6–7, NKJV)

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” (Romans 13:1, NKJV)

“‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers, And the sentence by the word of the holy ones, in order that the living may know That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over it the lowest of men.’” (Daniel 4:17, NKJV)

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. Proverbs 21:1

From these passages I think we can see what we know to be true, but often forget. It is God who rules in the affairs of men. He promotes whoever He wishes to positions of authority. He is the one who places them and removes them for His own purpose. That purpose is always for the good of His people and the glory of His Name. Of course on the human side we are to pray and vote and perhaps even campaign for those we think would do the best job and rule in a way we believe would honor God. But in the end, we need to recognize that through all of the millions of votes cast by people who make decisions for a whole host of reasons, God is placing into power those of His choosing. We need to accept that and trust Him through it. I think we should respect God’s work, not in a resigned Eeyore way, but in faith, trusting that God is in fact working and accomplishing His great goals for history, and we get to be a part of it!

Some Thoughts on Worry and Fear – Part 2

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Another key verse to help us along is this one:  “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Temptation here should not be thought of as only a temptation to sin, but a testing or trial. The promise here is that God will not allow a testing or trial that you are not able to bear. So when you are going through something really difficult, don’t say things like, “I don’t think I can take this.” Or “This is way too much for me.” Those would be lies because God has said that He won’t test you at a level more than you can handle with the strength He provides.

Here are some other thoughts that might be of some help in taming fears. Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25). He goes on in this section to tell us that it is wrong to worry and He finishes the section talking about the fact that each day has enough worries of its own so don’t borrow from tomorrow. There needs to be a good level of thankfulness for what God has given us today. We’ll take care of tomorrow’s issues tomorrow. That doesn’t mean we don’t plan and prepare, we shouldn’t grab a hold of tomorrow’s cares. Most of the things we worry about never come to pass anyway.

Here are a couple of thoughts, then, about Matthew 6:25. First, He starts with “therefore.” That means He is relating it to something. Just before verse 25, He had said that we cannot serve two masters. We will be drawn to one but will despise the other. Then He says, “Therefore do not worry about your life…” As hard as it is to accept or to grow in this area, I think He is telling us that worry is related to trying to have another master besides the true God. Idols have been erected. You cannot serve two masters so stop worrying! That’s what He is saying. And I think if we really think about it, that is what is going on. The things we worry and fret about are things we are trying to hang on to regardless of whether God is trying to take them away or curb our desires or attraction for them. They don’t have to be bad things. They just have a priority higher than God and so we worry that we will lose them. We sing songs such as “Christ is all I need,” but in reality we think we need more than Him. How would we feel if He took everything away but himself? I think most of us would not be satisfied with that. So little by little we need to meditate on the glory of Christ so that He truly becomes all we need.

Some Thoughts on Worry and Fear – Part 1

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There are so many things happening these days that it all tends to increase our level of fear. We hear of shootings, we watch all of the political shenanigans and we begin to worry about the future, especially for our children. When we begin to fear, it is always good to go back and refresh our hearts concerning the truth given to us in God’s Word. Certainly we know these things. They’re not new, but we sometimes forget when we take our eyes off of what is true. So let’s review a few things.

The first thing we need to remind ourselves of is that “God has not given us a spirit of fear” (2 Timothy 1:7). If the spirit of fear is not from God, we surely know where it is from. It is from the one who Jesus called the father of lies. Not believing the lies but believing the truth is where we need to start. In order to believe the truth, we need to know what the truth is, and have it firmly planted in our minds and hearts. All the while we understand that “faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:6). That means our faith will seem to defy what things look like all around us. What we see and hear doesn’t give us peace. And it is not generic faith that dissipates fear. It is believing in the God of the Bible that keeps us secure.

One of the key truths we need to keep in mind is that God is with us. Jesus promised to be with us until the end of the age. In Isaiah 41:10 we read, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Through all of the perils of life, God has promised to be right there with us, to give us strength, to help and to uphold. Whether it appears that way or not, it is true and we should believe it. Now I realize that this is more easily said than done. So we need to not just glibly say that God is with us. But we need to reassure our hearts over and over with this truth until there is strong settled belief.

A couple of chapters later, Isaiah writes this to the people of God, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you” (Isaiah 43:1-2).                One of things I know we worry about is that although we know God is in control of all things, some of the things he controls actually do hurt. But His promise here is that when we go through the tough things, He is right there with us to help and sustain. God is working all things together for our good and His glory. Sometimes we begin to focus on what we think is our good, but I think that God’s opinion of what is our good, or the goal He is shooting, for is often different from what we think it should be. God is working in us to conform us to the image of Christ for the glory of Christ. We often forget that, or at least we minimize it because our focus is on health, safety and comfort. When these are threatened we feel like our “good” is being attacked when in fact it is being enhanced. That’s why James can tell us to count it all joy when we fall into various trials because these help produce other positive characteristics that God is looking for (James 1:2). Paul also writes the same thing in Romans 5 where he tells us that character, endurance and hope are the result of suffering. Somehow we are to learn to rejoice in these things because we become firmly convinced that the results will be good. And this is true for our children as well. So while it is difficult to see them go through hard things, if we work with them through it, these things will make them stronger.

One of the things I especially like about the Isaiah 43 passage is that God says that he has called us by our name, and we belong to Him. We are His treasured possession and He is not about to allow anything to happen that will thwart His ultimate goal of increasing our good for His glory. What God sets out to do He accomplishes. God says, “Do not fear little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). We are someday destined to rule and reign with Him and therefore, although the preparation period is sometimes difficult, it should not generate fear in us but rather faith and hope in what God is accomplishing.

Combating Worry and Anxiety

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Combating Worry and Anxiety

 

Why do we worry and become anxious? I’m sure we all know the feeling. We begin to struggle with the “What ifs?” of life. What if I lose my job? What will happen to me? What if I get cancer and someone else will raise my children? What if the terrorists bring down our country?

Sometimes our worries and cares stem from having taken on more than we can handle. We agree to do a project for our work or church and find that we are now overwhelmed with more to do than we are sure we are capable of figuring out, and so we worry about how it will all turn out. We worry whether others will be happy with the job we have done.

Most of us Christians know that God has told us not to worry or be anxious. If we have shared our anxieties with someone else we sometimes hear, “You just need to trust God more.” That might be a true admonition, but it sounds too simplistic and somewhat condescending because we are sure that our friend probably hasn’t successfully overcome his worries either.

So let us take a look at what the Bible says about worry to find out why it is an offense to God and what He provides as a means for overcoming this debilitating feeling. As we do this, I don’t mean to sound flippant or trite. I haven’t been able to successfully put all of this into practice either, but if there is a solution to be found, it will be found in the truth of what God has to say. Otherwise there is no answer and we are left to human techniques which may help us relax some, but don’t really solve the problem.

The first thing I believe we need to recognize is that we need to focus on what is true. Our feelings have a way of throwing us around like a rag doll. We need to be firmly connected to the ground of truth which is God Himself and His Word. So let’s look first at what Jesus has to say.

Turn in your Bible to Matthew 6:25. Jesus says, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life….” He begins His sentence with “therefore.” That means He is connecting it to what preceded. In verse 24 He had told us that we cannot serve two masters. We as human beings have trouble with idolatry. We try to serve things that are not God and we put other things in the place that only God should occupy. So Jesus has said that it’s not possible to serve two masters. Therefore, do not worry. I take this to mean that when we worry we are actually trying to serve something other than God. I believe this is one reason Jesus commands us not to worry. We are trusting something other than Him to satisfy our deepest needs. So one thing we can do is to look at what we worry about to see if there is some focus there that is too strong and is usurping God’s rightful place.

In this passage in Matthew Jesus is focusing primarily on food and clothing. As we read through the passage we see that God is faithful to provide for the needs of His creation and we are of more value to Him than anything else in creation and therefore He will supply our needs as well. We can trust Him. We can’t increase our stature or add one day to our life by worrying about it and so we should trust Him to meet our needs. So anxiety is a sign that we are not really trusting God for what He has promised to provide. As we think about our propensity to worry, we should examine the kinds of things we worry about and ask ourselves if we are really trusting God in these areas.

Many other examples of the down side of worry are mentioned in Scripture. Martha was worried about her serving whereas Jesus told her she should have been focusing on something more important (Luke 10:41). The worries of this world can actually choke out the gospel and prevent eternal life from taking hold (Mark 4:19). Worries can weigh us down just like many other “worse” sins and keep us from being alert to the coming of the Lord (Luke 21:34).

So without being too simplistic, how can we gain victory over this menacing sin? First, we need to train ourselves to think about things that are true, lovely, noble, etc. (Philippians 4:8). We are prone to thinking negatively. We are prone to thinking about past circumstances and possible future difficulties. Neither of these is true. What’s past is done and can’t be changed. All the going back and rehearsing how it would be different if I had only…, don’t work. So focus on what you know to be true about God, His promises and the circumstances. If you still have your health and job today, then that is what’s true. So focus on the truth.

Next, consider the truth that God is sovereign. He is working all things together for His glory and for your good if you are one of His children. He doesn’t simply know what you are going through, He has designed it to further His purposes in the world. What you are going through is not a surprise to Him. Consider for example Acts 4:27, 28; John 9:1-3; Isaiah 45:5-7.

Remember the fact that God is always good, loving, kind, wise and gracious. He is working all things together for your good (Romans 8:28). Remember, our definition of good and His are frequently different. His view of our good is that we be conformed to the image of Christ and that takes a life-time of experiences.

Another truth that we need to keep in mind is that God will not allow us to be tested above what we are able (1 Corinthians 10:13). So when we are in the midst of something difficult we should not tell ourselves, “This is too much; I can’t handle it.” That would be a lie and an insult to God’s faithfulness in keeping promises.

We need to remind ourselves of the truth that even though worry is a sin, all sins for believers have been forgiven in Christ. His perfect obedience and perfect trust and zero anxiety have all been credited to us. Whereas all of our worry and fretting have been credited to Him and He died because of those and all other sins.

Another necessary focus is the truth that worry never solves anything (Matthew 6:27,34). If we are facing a problem and some decision we make can put us on the path to solving it, then we should take those steps if they are wise and prayerfully considered. But if there is nothing that can be done, then worrying does not help.

God’s goal is our growth in Christ-likeness for His glory. This is almost always achieved through trials of various kinds. Paul wrote, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;” (Romans 5:3, NKJV). He goes on to show how perseverance leads to character and a whole list of other traits that God is working to build into our lives. James 1:2 and 1 Peter 1:6-7 say almost the same thing.

In addition, God uses others in the body of Christ to help encourage one another. In order to be of help to someone else going through some trial, God may permit a similar trial in your life so that you can be of help to others (2 Corinthians 1:3; 8:14). While this might not be a pleasant thought, we need to remember what God is doing in the world for His glory. God is gradually changing us so that we think like He does. And that kind of thinking may involve gladly and peacefully accepting a trial knowing that we can then encourage a brother or sister in their distress.

Finally, in all of this we need to practice thankfulness and contentment. Paul writes to the Philippians, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;” (Philippians 4:6, NKJV). Developing a thankful heart is an important key in defeating worry. No matter what we have to worry about, we should thank God for all of the other blessings we have in life. Focusing on those will make the problems seem smaller.

In Philippians 4, Paul also writes about the fact that he had learned to be content in all circumstances. If we are content, we are not worrying about our circumstances. It was because he had learned to be content that Paul would write, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). Contentment and thankfulness are closely intertwined with each other. If we are truly thankful for all that God has provided for us in our current circumstances, we will be content with those circumstances. When we are content, we are not anxious or worried about changes that may occur in our circumstances. Hebrews 13:5 tells us to be content with the things we have for He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The truth of God’s constant presence and care is the assurance that we are being cared for and thus contentment can be ours.

So even though worry and anxiety are not an easy foe to defeat, it is possible if we focus on the Truth – the truth about God’s character, the truth about God’s motives and design, God’s faithfulness to His promises and the truth of what we are becoming as He does His work in us for His glory.