I used to be someone rather accustomed to being anxious. I was anxious to get things right, anxious to be on time, anxious about things I had said, anxious to pass my exams. Just plain anxious. It took its toll on me and I had moments of being physically affected by it, even getting to a point of literally feeling sick to my stomach.
But thank God I was released from all that discomfort and worry when God taught me a vital lesson concerning anxiety. I pray that as you read this you may learn something vital too, and be set free from your own anxiety.
Do Not Be Anxious
In Philippians 4:6 Paul encourages the people of the Philippians church. He writes:
“Do not be anxious about anything, 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 in Christ Jesus.” English Standard Version (ESV)
Now I am sure many people, like myself have read this verse and thought “Ah, great. God has told me not to worry about anything and to simply ask him to provide me with all that I will need.” We look at this verse and think that Paul is referring to us being anxious for the things Jesus speaks about in Matthew – food, clothes etc. That isn’t a bad thing, because this verse is making reference to that anxiety as well. Worrying about food and clothing, about provision, is a kind of anxiety. But, that is not the only anxiety that it is speaking of. When Paul writes “do not be anxious about anything”, he means anything. But what other things can I be anxious for? What other kinds of anxiety are there? You might ask. To understand the other ways one can be anxious, we will first need to define what anxiety actually is.
What is Anxiety?
Have you ever worried about being late for class or a meeting? Have you ever over-analysed things you have said, wondering how they were perceived by others? Have you ever stressed about whether your crops will get enough rain or not? If you’ve said yes to at least one of these examples, then you have proof of other ways you have been anxious in your life that have had nothing to do with God providing things you. What all these scenarios have in common is that whilst you were doing them you were not at peace. When you are feeling worried, when you are wondering, when you are over analysing, your mind is not at peace and neither are you and an important thing to understand about anxiety is that it is the absence of peace.
Another important thing to understand about anxiety is that it does not allow you to rest. For example, do you find that when you are worrying about or for something, you tend to be agitated? You run through the various ways you can get something done or you even try doing different things. Anxiety forces your mind to constantly be thinking, reasoning and wondering and a mind in that state is not at rest, and it keeps you from being at rest as well.
So overall we can then say that anxiety is a lack of peace and rest. But we are not called to live restless, peace-less lives; we are supposed to be full of peace and be at rest.
Peace and Rest
When I speak about peace and rest, I am not referring to sleeping or lying on your bed but I am referring to a state of being when you are not striving and not worrying. When you are at rest you are relying completely upon God, to meet all your needs and to assist you in all that you need to do and get done. This resting will then lead to you being at peace, and not anxious, stressed or worried.
Now I believe that rest and peace coexist with each other; you cannot rest until you are at peace and you cannot be at peace and not rest. But how do we get to this place? First of all we would need to stop doing the things that steal our peace and keep us from resting in the first place.
Trusting In Our Own Understanding
Proverbs 3:5, says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”
I believe one of the reasons we lose our hold on peace and rest is because we rely far too much on our own understanding. I have always known this verse and looked at it in a particular light, but I have recently had a profound revelation about what else “leaning on your own understanding” means. For a long time I believed it meant that when God was leading us somewhere or asking us to do something, we were meant to not rely on what we thought was the better way or the more sensible way but trust in Him. I will use an example to explain.
In the first two chapters of Matthew we learn of how Joseph was told by the Lord to take Mary and Jesus and go to Egypt, a land that he had never been to and in which he most likely had no family or friends. If Joseph had been leaning on his own understanding he would have reasoned that it made no sense to move to Egypt. How were he and Mary and their newborn baby supposed to live? In fact baby Jesus was probably too young to travel anyway. But, he didn’t lean on his own understanding, or rely on what he thought made sense. Joseph trusted God and went to Egypt and as a result the whole family was kept from death, and Jesus was able to live to die and restore us to God. That is one way we can refuse to rely on our own understanding and rely on God.
But God led me to understand that it is not only in life changing scenarios when we are not to lean on our own understanding. It is in everyday life as well. Did you know that when you decide that you’ll eat cornflakes instead of bread for breakfast, when you decide how you will approach a particular work project, that you are leaning on your own understanding?
Leaning on your own understanding means relying on your own ability your own mind, your own methods and your own way. When you do that you are bound to be anxious about or for things because you aren’t certain that you are able to do or get what you need. But we are not called to live like that. In every area of our lives we are supposed to rely completely on the Lord and know what His will is. We are to eat when He says eat, do when He says do and move when He says move.
When we do that, not only will we be kept in good health, ha ha but we will also not be anxious for or about anything because God is in control.
Keep Your Mind On Him
Another reason that we become anxious and restless is because we do not keep our minds fixed on the Lord. In Isaiah 26:3 it says “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because He trusts in You.” English Standard Version (ESV) I highly doubt that if one is in “perfect peace” they would be worrying or anxious, which means if you are, your mind is not stayed on the Lord.
Having your mind stayed on the Lord literally means keeping your mind on the Lord. You can do this by meditating on scripture, which means thinking about and going over scripture you have read. Or by thinking about God Himself–thinking about who He is; His character and all that He has done; His wondrous works. By doing this you are keeping your mind on things of the spirit and hence the things of God and you will not be focusing on your problems and worries, but on something greater and far more important than them.
Keeping your mind fixed on God in these ways will allow you to put things in perspective. You will realise that what you were worried about or anxious for is nothing compared to God, and you will be filled with joy and peace instead.
Enter Into His Rest
The last thing that we can do to keep from being anxious is enter into God’s rest, Hebrews 4:10 and make our requests known to God as Paul calls us to do in Philippians.
When we enter into God’s rest we rest from our work, meaning we stop doing it. This verse refers to our efforts to make ourselves righteous through our actions (works) but it is also referring to working in life. No, I am not saying you must quit your job! ha ha You see, entering into God’s rest allows us to no longer rely on ourselves, our limited understanding, our limited ability or on our inadequate efforts, all of which are guaranteed to leave us feeling anxious. Instead, it allows for us to rely on God, whose ways are higher than ours and far more perfect, and which leave us at peace.
It is the same with making our requests known to the Lord, like Paul instructs us to do. When you lay your burden at God’s feet, and ask Him to take care of it – He will do so and you do not have to worry about it. But don’t forget to come with thanksgiving. Being thankful to the Lord is important because it shows the Lord that you are aware that He is fully capable of meeting your needs and that you trust He has already done so. Praise also affects you – it fills you with happiness and true joy, and when that happens you are no longer focusing on your situation but on the goodness and greatness of God.
If we practise these things; not trusting in ourselves, keeping our minds on God and entering into His rest, the peace of God will surely guard our hearts and minds and anxiety will be a thing of the past. Let this be so in your life, in Jesus name.
