Are you feeling stressed, worried, and anxious? I’m right here with you. Like the seed that fell among thorns (Luke 8:7), we are sometimes choked with the cares of this world (Luke 8:14). The feeling can range from having frequent, intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations to just experiencing occasional anxiety about particular issues. These affect our daily lives, relationships, and personal well-being and you’re burdened with the questions, ‘How can I be made well, will things be alright, and if sure God lives how can I be freed from all these fears and perplexities?’
Philippians 4:6-7 is often quoted when the term anxiety comes up. It says that “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
There are certain things that stand out from this verse;
- The Bible recognizes that we’ll often find ourselves anxious.
- The Bible recognizes that we need peace in our lives
- The Bible offers the solution in our Savior Jesus Christ. That we should cast all our burdens on Him and also remember to give thanks and He will guard hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
This calls on us to trust in God to take care of our needs. He asks us to believe in Him when He says that He’ll take care of us. “God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith” (S.C 80.2). Let us notice a few people who become anxious and how God came through for them.
The Israelites (Exodus 14)
The Israelites experienced the mighty hand of God in rescuing them from Egypt. He saw their oppression and heard their cries (Exodus 3:7-8) and through Moses and Aaron, He delivered them from Egypt. When they get to the Red Sea they noticed Pharaoh following them in hot pursuit. They become afraid and anxious, and they lament to Moses and complain about why he had to bring them out of Egypt so that they may die in the wilderness. They forgot the LORD’s leading up to this time. The Israelites forgot that it was by the hand of God that they managed to escape Egypt and should have held their confidence that God will surely come through for them despite the obstacle of the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s fast approaching.
And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today… The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14:13-14). In the end, we see how the LORD surely saved the Israelites, came through for them and they held their peace. “So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hands of the Egyptians… Thus, Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.
Like the Israelites, we can forget how God has been good to us and fail to trust Him to be there for us once more. We get caught up in the perplexities of life and become anxious. Friend, “we have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” (CET 204.1). When you see yourself surrounded by obstacles trust in God to take care of you and give thanks for His willingness to come through for you. He knows every anxiety of your mind and is acquainted with your every difficulty. He would have you lay aside your trouble and anxiety and put your trust in Him. “Be not faithless, but believing.” (John 20:27.)
Elijah (1 Kings 19)
Elijah was a mighty prophet of God. He prayed and fire come down from heaven and consumed his sacrifice in the mount Carmel contest (1 Kings 18:20-40). He also prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain in the land for three and a half years (1 Kings 17:1) and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit (1 Kings 18:41-46). However, the Bible records that Elijah was just a man with a nature like ours (James 5:17). This means that he was also subject to being anxious and forgetting to trust in the LORD even after seeing His mighty power.
After his victory on Mount Carmel and executing all the prophets of Baal with a sword, Elijah is met with a challenge. Jezebel sends word to him, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow morning about this time (1 Kings 19:2). Elijah then escapes to Beersheba, leaves his servant there, and proceeds on a day’s journey into the wilderness. And being so anxious about his current situation, he prayed that he might die. He tells God, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life for I am no better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4)
Have you gotten to the point Elijah got? When you are so anxious about the consequences of your actions that you don’t see the point of being alive anymore? Have you seen the victory of the LORD yet? Do you trust Him to see you through your worries and stress?
Elijah then falls asleep and he’s woken up by an Angel of the LORD. He’s given food by the angel and he sleeps again. This happens the second time and wakes up, eats, and drinks and went with the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights. We see how the LORD came through for Elijah at his lowest moment and strengthened him. I also see a simple lesson from this story; sometimes some of our anxieties can be finished by taking some time off, eating, and sleeping. But better yet, the spiritual food which is the word of God can strengthen us even more for the Bible records that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)
Read the word of God and be encouraged by it in your times of need. Here are some Bible promises that can encourage you when you are anxious.
Matthew 6:34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Isaiah 35:4 Say to those who are fearful-hearted,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
With the recompense of God;
He will come and save you.”
Matthew 6:27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
1 Peter 5:6-7 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Psalm 34:17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Matthew 6:25 “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?
Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
Martin Luther said, “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” We may not be able to prevent anxious thoughts from entering our minds, but we can practice the right response. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13)
Would you like to know how to rejoice in the LORD? Watch this:
Grow up into Christ
As with life, so it is with growth. It is God who brings the bud to bloom and the flower to fruit. It is by His power that the seed develops, “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” Mark 4:28. And the prophet Hosea says of Israel, that “he shall grow as the lily.” “They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine.” Hosea 14:5, 7. And Jesus bids us “consider the lilies how they grow.” Luke 12:27. The plants and flowers grow not by their own care or anxiety or effort, but by receiving that which God has furnished to minister to their life. The child cannot, by any anxiety or power of its own, add to its stature. No more can you, by anxiety or effort of yourself, secure spiritual growth. The plant, the child, grows by receiving from its surroundings that which ministers to its life—air, sunshine, and food. What these gifts of nature are to animal and plant, such is Christ to those who trust in Him. He is their “everlasting light,” “a sun and shield.” Isaiah 60:19; Psalm 84:11. He shall be as “the dew unto Israel.” “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass.” Hosea 14:5; Psalm 72:6. He is the living water, “the Bread of God … which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” John 6:33.
Steps to Christ 67.3
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