Some people seem to be born worriers, worrying even when things are going well that this period won’t last! We often torment ourselves with tortured visions of what might go wrong in our lives and frequently find ourselves in an almost permanent state of anxiety and worry which robs us of peace.
Mark looked at some of the Biblical ways of dealing with anxiety and worry this morning. Phil 4:6-7 tells us not to be anxious about anything, showing that when we pray about our worries, thanking God for the fact that He is in control, He gives us overwhelming peace which is beyond our rational understanding. We need never despair, no matter how hard our circumstances, because we know we serve a God who is able to do something about our circumstances.
1 Pet 5:7 urges us to cast, or throw, all our troubles onto God. We are urged to discard worry, to throw it far away (as when a fisherman casts a net vigorously into the water.) We have to humble ourselves before God, handing our lives over to Him, and refusing to pick up our worries again once we’ve let go of them. We can do this because a) we know God cares about us as a loving Father and b) He will do the caring for us, in our place.
Deut 31:8 reminds us that God goes before and behind us and will never leave us or forsake us. This means we don’t have to be afraid or dismayed, because His presence makes all the difference.
Ps 23 shows us we can have confidence in God at all times and because of our confidence in His ability, we do not have to be afraid, even when we are at death’s door. Though we may have trouble in this life, God gives us a table of blessings from which to eat, and therefore we can be sure worry doesn’t have to have the last word!
