Tag: anxiety

Overcoming Anxiety by Delighting in God

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for LifeLeave a comment

Why do we get anxious? What’s the root cause? 

A recent report said in the United States, “anxiety disorders are the most common mental health concern.” Over 56 million adults are affected by them, which comes to 19.1 percent of the US population. But in the younger generations, it gets even worse. Researchers have noticed there has been an incredible uptick of anxiety-related issues among Gen Z (those born after 1997). They tend to report more stress and anxiety than previous generations. Many researchers have noticed the direct tie between young people using smartphones and social media and this rise of anxiety.

Because I’m a follower of Jesus, I believe He is not only the Son of God, but that He speaks with profound wisdom and insight into all aspects of human life. That means that while He was here on earth 2,000 years ago, Jesus’ message is always relevant and timely. Let me encourage you to take the time to read the entirety of His famous Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7 this week. In that sermon, Jesus tells us how to say “No” to anxiety.

Fear is the first negative emotion described in the Bible, and fear and anxiety are closely related.

The most frequent command in the Bible is “Fear not.” Some have said that we find it 366 times in the Bible. Now think about that. That’s a “Fear Not” for every day of the year, even on leap years! 

The key to overcoming anxiety is getting a bigger view of God. Anxiety is actually a symptom of small faith. That’s exactly what Jesus says in this passage. Anxiety stems from seeing your problems as bigger than your God.

There is a way to deal with problems productively without magnifying them or seeing them as bigger than God. And the key is to see your Heavenly Father’s direct care over every aspect of your life. Remember, God does not roll the dice when it comes to your life. He exercises His Fatherly control over everything that you are dealing with—no matter how big or how small it might be. As my pastor friend Steve McCracken has said, all of life is “Father-filtered.”

Essentially, Jesus taught that the secret to overcoming anxiety in your life is to choose to delight in the sovereign power and gracious provision of our Heavenly Father.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26, ESV)

Jesus reminds us to study nature, to look at the flowers and the birds and take a lesson from creation so that we better know our Creator. A few days ago, my family and I went to Washington Park here in Portland and checked out the International Rose Garden. At one point, a bold (and fat) squirrel ran right up to my kids (pictured above). The reason? My boys were eating from a bag of mixed nuts, and he wanted in on that. In other words, the squirrel decided he could trust us because he saw us as a source of provision.

That got me thinking about why we do or don’t come to God with our problems. Do we really see Him as our Heavenly Father who loves to provide for His children?

Elizabeth Cheney wrote this little poem called “Overheard in an Orchard” to help us understand what Jesus is saying here:

“Said the robin to the sparrow,
‘I should really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.’
Said the sparrow to the robin,
‘Friend I think that it must be,
That they have no Heavenly Father,
Such as cares for you and me.’”

Part of the reason for this passage is that Jesus is telling us we have every reason to be settled and secure, every reason to feel confident about the future, every reason to be happy, because we really do have a Heavenly Father who cares for us unceasingly and individually.

This is also a message about our witness to the world. The gospel is a joy-giving message (Luke 2:10). And it’s a message for everybody! So when we live as children of our Father, we adorn the message of the gospel and give people a reason to want what we have.

I want to point out something pretty basic here. We can choose not to be anxious about the things of life. How do I know that? Because Jesus tells us not to be anxious. Many times people say things like, “I just have an anxious personality” or “I’m just a worrier,” like it’s a permanent fixture of their identity. 

Let me say something that many need to hear. We are not merely driven by instincts and genes. Being human means God has given us agency. We can make choices that change the course of life. We don’t have to do what we’ve always done. When people say, “This is just how I am,” they aren’t recognizing that freedom from sin and fear is found in Jesus. That’s part of what it means to be redeemed. 

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can choose to live differently. And in this passage, Jesus is calling us to a new way of life. To look at life the way He does. To have the mind of Christ. He wants us to see that we can choose to delight in God, no matter what circumstance we face.

Here is something very practical to try: For every worry that enters your mind, choose to delight in God in that specific area.

Jesus asks that rhetorical question to put things in perspective: “Isn’t life more than what you put in your mouth and what you put on your body?” The obvious answer is….yes! You are not the sum total of your diet or your wardrobe. Life is not quantifiable like food or clothing.

Jesus is telling us that when we feel anxious and start worrying about the future, what we most need is to shift our perspective. We need to see things as He sees things, with God at the center of all reality. 

There’s a little parable that illustrates this principle of choosing to delight in God.

Once upon a time, there was a widow with two sons. One sold fans; the other sold umbrellas. Sunshine brought her misery, because she knew no umbrellas would sell. Rain brought her misery, because she knew no fans would sell. 

Finally a friend remarked, “If the sun is shining, people buy fans. If the rain is falling, people buy umbrellas. Change your attitude; be happy!” 

It’s a simple story, but this is actually a life-changing principle. If you look for reasons to be anxious, you will always find them. But if you look for reasons to be happy and grateful to God, you will always find far more. 

Everyone wants to be happy, but something that most people overlook is that happiness is a choice. Because true happiness comes from delighting in God.

Jesus isn’t just telling us to see the glass half full. He’s saying that with God, the glass is completely full. In other words, He’s calling us to see things as they really are. He’s not telling us to live in a dream-world. He’s telling us to see reality for what it is. There is a God who loves you more than you could possibly know, who knows your every need, and is already working out the details to make sure you have all things in Jesus. Through faith in Christ’s shed blood, you have been purchased, redeemed, adopted, made new, forgiven of everything that could be counted against you. And through faith in the empty tomb of Jesus, your eternal destiny is secure, and it’s not because you measured up. It’s all by sheer grace! That is gloriously GOOD NEWS.

A couple years ago, my friend Tim had an accident while helping his buddy. He fell off a ladder and broke his femur. For those who don’t know, the femur is the largest bone in the body. It was an extremely painful injury that set him back from doing some of the things he loves—like going for long walks and hiking to his favorite fishing spot. 

But when I visited Tim in the hospital, he was smiling from ear to ear. Ordinarily, this might surprise me. But this is who Tim is. Or I should say this is who Tim is in Christ. When I asked him how he’s doing, he just told me how thankful he is that God has a good purpose in this. He actually looked forward to how God might use this painful injury! That’s what it means to choose to delight in God in all circumstances.

Are you interested in learning more about Jesus Christ and what He’s done for you? I’d love to hear from you!

What to Do with that Anxiety

On By Jason SmithIn DevotionalLeave a comment

By Jason Smith

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7)

Not long ago, I was teaching a small group on the importance of seeing God as supremely glorious. I pulled out a “fun size” Snickers bar. I said, “This represents how many of us are tempted to view God. He’s handy when we are in a pinch, makes us feel good, and always strives to bless us — when he can. The problem with this ‘fun size’ view of God is that, because this god is small, he’s also incapable of handling all the problems of this world. You see, this ‘fun size’ god would like to do something about suffering and your personal struggles, but ultimately he can’t. He’s trying his best, but it’s a challenge to keep all the plates spinning.”

I then pulled out a “king size” Snickers bar. “This represents the true God,” I said, “who is King over all His creation. Nothing is too difficult for this God, because He truly is in control. This sovereign and unlimited God is on the throne, and He alone can be trusted with everything we are going through. This is the right view of God that we need to get.” After a few people nodded their heads, someone pointed at the king size bar. “You going to eat that?”

According to the Bible, much of our anxiety and other stress-related feelings are rooted in a small view of God. Only a great and awesome God can truly calm our fears. “Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; surely, I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). Such a statement is comforting, but only if spoken by a God who reigns.

Here is what Peter says: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7). Peter tells us what to do with our anxieties — throw them all on God! But he doesn’t just tell us what to do with our anxiety, but also both how and why.

This is too important to miss when we read this passage. God is bigger than your circumstances. He is bigger than your worries. He is bigger than all of your struggles in life, no matter how massive they may seem right now. God is more powerful, more glorious, and more fearsome than anything that could possibly scare you right now. Let that truth soak into your heart: God is immense.

All of heaven is flooded with the majesty of His greatness. That is why Peter tells us to submit to the “mighty hand of God” (1 Peter 5:6). The most massive, blazing hot star out there in the night sky does not even come close to approximating the awesome power of God’s hand. According to astronomers, the largest known star in the universe goes by the name “UY Scuti,” a hypergiant boasting a radius 1,700 times the size of our own sun.[1] It is hard for us to comprehend how much light and energy must emit from such a massive star like UY Scuti. Yet even the ginormous Scuti cannot hold a candle to the power of God’s little finger. Consider what God Himself says about His “mighty hand”: “It was My hand that laid the foundations of the earth, My right hand that spread out the heavens above. When I call out the stars, they all appear in order” (Isaiah 48:13). That is the first point Peter wants us to get.

Photo Courtesy of Our Planet

So much of our worries, anxieties, and stress-induced thoughts about what we are going through stems from having a diminished view of God. You might be thinking, Really? That tightness in my chest and high blood pressure I get can have something to do with the way I view God? Yes, it can. Here’s why.

When you have a “fun size” view of God, you will inevitably convince yourself that He cannot handle the biggest, most heart-pounding things in your life. You know the things I am referring to: financial concerns, family struggles, that long battle to find a good job, kids that won’t stop throwing fits, health issues, difficult people, and that lurking temptation that won’t leave you alone. These struggles are real.

We often adopt a “fun size” view of God, because on the surface a small God makes sense to us. Although we don’t verbalize it, we can think, Isn’t God just like me, only a little bigger, smarter and more powerful? That kind of God is manageable, understandable, and still available to help us out when we are in a pinch. So, we could say he is useful. But such a deity does not command our worship. As Evelyn Underhill wrote, “A god small enough to be understood is not big enough to be worshipped.” A god who is wringing his hands and constantly struggling to get a handle on a world spinning out of his control cannot calm our fears. Such a god is just as anxious as we are — if not, more so because there is more for him to worry about! More importantly, such a deity is not the God of Scripture.

It may be that you do not actively think about God as small and weak. But the question is: Do your responses to difficulties reflect a belief in a small god or God Almighty?

For the Israelites to catch a small glimpse of “the glory of the LORD” was like looking into “a devouring fire” on top of a great mountain (Exodus 24:17). This was no small brush fire. When this glorious God merely touched the mountain with the tip of His finger, smoke completely enveloped Mount Sinai. “The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently” (Exodus 19:18, NLT).

Knowing we are accountable to such a God deflates our arrogance and cuts us down to size. When you catch a vision of who God truly is in all His glory, you are less inclined to boast of your accomplishments. You are less likely to see yourself as a spiritual giant, but instead you will recognize how you have dishonored such a God in countless ways. In those moments, His grace and forgiveness will never taste so sweet. It is only when you see and confess the depths of your sin that you can see and experience the heights of His love. Only the humble can praise Him as the “God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10). Your heart will sing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20). In other words, if your sin and God’s grace were to go toe-to-toe, God’s grace would win with a triumphant knockout every time.

That is why Peter says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6). Humility is a big deal in this passage. Right before this statement, Peter writes, “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (v. 5).

All through Scripture, we see that God utterly hates the foolish, self-exalting pride of humanity. “And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day” (Isaiah 2:17). Those who refuse to acknowledge they owe everything to God — including their very lives — will one day be humbled.

J. D. Greear writes, “The real God is not a god who simply completes us and makes us feel sentimental during worship; he is a God who humbles us and transforms us from the inside out. When you really see him, you’ll either love him or hate him. The one thing you will not be is bored.”[2]

You may be thinking, What does all this have to do with anxiety? Wouldn’t a more immense view of God only give me more anxiety? No, and here is why: “God… gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). We need this glorious vision of God to humble us, because it is only from our knees that we will be able to give Him all our anxious thoughts. Peter makes this connection clear: “Humble yourselves… casting all your anxieties on Him” (v. 7).

Only when you fear God more than your circumstances are you able to look to Him as your only hope. It is in handing over all those anxious thoughts that plague your mind at night to this immense God of all grace that you experience relief. Hold nothing back. Cast “all your anxieties on Him.” Lastly, Peter says to throw all your anxieties into His hands, “because He cares for you” (v. 7b). Don’t miss the great importance of this little statement.

If you are a follower of the risen Lord, then you not only have a Savior but also a Father. This Father has laid claim to you. You are his beloved child. In the darkest hour, He will not let you go. Just as an earthly father longs to calm and comfort his children when they awake from a nightmare in the darkness of night, so our heavenly Father loves to relieve His children of anxious, worrisome, and fearful thoughts. All He asks is that you bring them to Him. All of them. Whatever is weighing heavily on your mind, tell Him about it and admit they are too big for you. Don’t give in to pride and tell yourself you can handle them on your own. Hurl them into your Father’s strong hands, because only He can bear them.

So, here’s a question I leave with you: What is something you are struggling to give over to God? And lastly: Knowing that God is a loving Father who can handle everything you could possibly throw at Him, what is keeping you from handing it over?

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 5:10-11).

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

[1] Nola Taylor Redd, “What is the Biggest Star?” https://www.space.com/41290-biggest-star.html

[2] J. D. Greear, Not God Enough (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018), 52.