Did you know that over 40 million people a year struggle with some type of anxiety disorder? From Generalized Anxiety Disorder to PTSD, there are many types of anxiety disorders, and it is the most common mental illness. And for the most part, it is treatable.
While most of us probably don’t fit in to an anxiety disorder category, it can be said of all of us that we worry. And some of us worry too much. Worrying is both a symptom and a catalyst for anxiety and can absolutely overwhelm you to the point of paralysis. When we worry, our joy is stolen, our peace is non-existent, and our well-being suffers, along with those around us.
The root cause of much of our anxious worrying is fear. When we are afraid of something, we turn that fear into negative thoughts and run through multiple scenarios of what could go wrong. And there are so many things that we fear!
Rejection
Failure
Abandonment
Exposure
Being manipulated
Losing someone or something precious
Losing control
Accidents
Not getting things finished
Being hurt in a relationship
And on, and on, and on.
Did you know that God does not give us fear? Nope. Fear is not from God. We manage that all on our own.
2 Timothy 17 (Modern English Version)
7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and self-control.
I think a clue for how to battle worry is found in what God does give us. Instead of fear, he gives us power. His power is available to us to help us in our problem-solving. Instead of fear, he gives us love, the strongest emotion a human can give or receive. There is strength for the battle in love. And perhaps most importantly, he gives us self-control, so that when worrying begins to overtake us, we can clang shut that nonsense and focus on things that are going right and the many places we have been blessed.
Power, love, and self-control. Next time you find yourself starting to worry, remember that you have these weapons in your battle bag. God is your strength and your shield.
I had a conversation with a church member who is facing a lot of personal challenges right now. On multiple levels she is dealing with life changing events in her family and her stress level is high. As we talked about each one, trying to find possible solutions, I began to realize that we were both affected by another kind of pressure: Election angst. These last few months have taken a terrible toll on all of us. The vitriol, the false claims, the lying, the accusations, the intense fear of what is to come … whatever pressures you are going through in your work/life situation, there is an overwhelming dark cloud of “what ifs” that has affected us all. In some ways I can’t wait for it to be over but in other ways, I am terrified at what comes next.
This morning I was reflecting on all of this, and guess what God had to say about it? “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.”
Psalm 146(New International Version)
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
2 I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
Blessed are we when we put our hope for help squarely on God’s shoulders. God created the universes and told the stars and moons where to be! Even in the darkest moments of anguish over the future of our country, we must remember this. God remains faithful forever.
6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, 8 the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous.
We may feel like the bowed down right now as we await the results that will shape the course of our future together, but God still and always reigns forever. Yes, it is scary. Yes, it is unbelievable to be in such a place at this point in our lives. But even still, God watches over us.
9 The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
So lift up your head to the Lord today and give up all your fears and worries. In the end, it is the Lord who reigns forever.
10 The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Consider the Flowers of the Field by Kathy Schumacher
An old song from the musical “The King and I” kept floating through my mind during the recent hurricanes. As we were bombarded with images of charts and graphs showing the hurricanes increasing in intensity and coming closer and closer, this little song would replay itself. Sung by Anna as she is entering life as a teacher in the great palace of the fierce and intimidating King of Siam, the lyrics are a lighthearted reminder to try to project a brave countenance, even when you don’t feel it:
Whenever I feel afraid I hold my head erect And whistle a happy tune So no one will suspect I’m afraid
I whistle a happy tune And every single time The happiness in the tune Convinces me that I’m not afraid
Make believe you’re brave And the trick will take you far You may be as brave As you make believe you are
The last verse is the best. You may be as brave as you make believe you are. Possibly the success in this lies in the fact that working to project a fearlessness that you don’t feel will distract you from the spinning cycle of despair that would like to swirl you downward deeper into your situation.
Today’s reading is from a time when David definitely felt afraid. The Philistines had seized him in Gath. He was alone, desperate, and very, very frightened. David was in great and constant danger from many enemies, both the Philistines and Saul’s servants. He cried out to God, knowing that divine help could rescue him from any man-made threat. He appealed to the mercy of God, not relying on what he may or may not deserve.
This is such a good place to start, whenever we feel afraid. Appealing to God’s mercy is exactly the right thing to do. David dove right into his petition, and addressed the attacks of his enemies who were “trampling” him.
You may or may not have “enemies” per se, but can you list people who oppose or oppress you? Are there people in your life who attack you on social media, family members who ignore or dismiss you, or rebellious teenagers who are working your last nerve? Who or what tramples you?
Psalm 56 (New International Version)
56 God, have mercy on me because I’m being trampled. All day long the enemy oppresses me. 2 My attackers trample me all day long because I have so many enemies.
Having made his petition David turned to his God on High, calling him “Exalted one.” This is David’s way of reminding both God and David that he understood the high and powerful nature of the God to whom he cried out. If you were writing this psalm, what name would you use for God? Who is God to you? Exalted one, 3 whenever I’m afraid, I put my trust in you— 4 in God, whose word I praise. I trust in God; I won’t be afraid. What can mere flesh do to me?
David put his whole trust in God, and it made him feel less afraid. What would it mean to put your trust in God and leave all your fears there?
David now expressed his paranoia over his enemies ganging up against him. Have you ever felt that way? Can you recall a time when you felt ambushed or trapped by people or circumstances that you couldn’t overcome?
5 All day long they frustrate my pursuits; all their thoughts are evil against me. 6 They get together and set an ambush— they are watching my steps, hoping for my death. 7 Don’t rescue them for any reason! In wrath bring down the people, God!
But watch what comes next. David remembers and acknowledges where God has been all along. God has kept track of his misery. There is a tenderness in his statement “you put my tears into your bottle.” The tear bottle tradition dates back nearly 3,000 years, when mourners were said to collect their tears in a tear bottle, also called a lachrymatory. Tear bottles were buried with loved ones to express honor and devotion.
8 You yourself have kept track of my misery. Put my tears into your bottle— aren’t they on your scroll already?
What does it mean to you to know that God has numbered and kept every tear you have shed? For David, it gave him courage. It took his anxiety away and helped him see God’s activity in his situation. Then came this beautiful statement: “I know this because God is mine.” God is yours as well.
9 Then my enemies will retreat when I cry out. I know this because God is mine. 10 God: whose word I praise. The Lord: whose word I praise. 11 I trust in God; I won’t be afraid. What can anyone do to me?
When God is yours and you are God’s, what can anyone or any circumstance do to you, indeed?
12 I will fulfill my promises to you, God. I will present thanksgiving offerings to you 13 because you have saved my life from death, saved my feet from stumbling so that I can walk before God in the light of life.
God saves us from death and saves our feet from stumbling. We don’t have to be afraid! God enables us to walk in the light of life. Whenever you are afraid, God creates space for you. He counts, stores, and records everything about your fears and your tears.
And to know that the God of the universe cares about you makes everything all right.
Last week, my friend and I were walking our dogs on a beautiful day on my beautiful street bordered by beautiful canals when a bicyclist passed us from behind. Our chatter continued, mostly along the lines of the warmth of the sun, the promise of spring, and when the ospreys might return to their Colington nests. The bicyclist returned, facing us this time, and I noticed that his neon green teeshirt bore an important message:
Fear Not.
“Fear not” is a phrase found often in the Bible, spoken by God to the people of Israel in times of great distress, and by Jesus to his followers as they encountered opposition, storms, and confusion. “Fear not” are the words often spoken by angels and messengers to the people they startled and terrified when they appeared.
Fear not. What does that say to you today?
As the war in Europe enters a second week, it is a message I wish we could send to the bold people of Ukraine. The images coming out of that region are horrific. Over one million men, woman, and children are now war refugees. Countless lives have been lost, there is massive destruction of property, and Putin’s evil agenda seems to have no stopping point. When will it end? How will it end?
Into this moment, Psalm 27 appears. It is a long one. As you read it, offer God your fears. Offer God your worries. Offer God your troubles. And pray for the people in Ukraine and Russia who are caught in this madness.
Psalm 27 (Common English Bible)
The Lord is my light and my salvation. Should I fear anyone? The Lord is a fortress protecting my life. Should I be frightened of anything? 2 When evildoers come at me trying to eat me up— it’s they, my foes and my enemies, who stumble and fall! 3 If an army camps against me, my heart won’t be afraid. If war comes up against me, I will continue to trust in this: 4 I have asked one thing from the Lord— it’s all I seek: to live in the Lord’s house all the days of my life, seeing the Lord’s beauty and constantly adoring his temple. 5 Because he will shelter me in his own dwelling during troubling times; he will hide me in a secret place in his own tent; he will set me up high, safe on a rock.
6 Now my head is higher than the enemies surrounding me, and I will offer sacrifices in God’s tent— sacrifices with shouts of joy! I will sing and praise the Lord.
7 Lord, listen to my voice when I cry out— have mercy on me and answer me! 8 Come, my heart says, seek God’s face. Lord, I do seek your face! 9 Please don’t hide it from me! Don’t push your servant aside angrily— you have been my help! God who saves me, don’t neglect me! Don’t leave me all alone! 10 Even if my father and mother left me all alone, the Lord would take me in. 11 Lord, teach me your way; because of my opponents, lead me on a good path. 12 Don’t give me over to the desires of my enemies, because false witnesses and violent accusers have taken their stand against me. 13 But I have sure faith that I will experience the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living!
Our hope is in you, and you alone, Lord. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.
14Hope in the Lord! Be strong! Let your heart take courage! Hope in the Lord!
I HATE MICE. Mice scurrying across the floor absolutely WIGS ME THE WIG OUT. I was a young Navy wife when I first got married, and we moved across country to California for our first duty assignment. We bought a brand new town house that was built on a strawberry field. So you know who immediately moved in? Strawberry field mice. NINE of them. It was horrible!
It was fine when my young Navy pilot was home to deal with it, but that only lasted for the first week, and then I was on my own…with the mice. I can’t stand looking at them, dead or alive, so I invented an INGENIOUS way of trapping them. Like, I should patent this.
I bought a handful of mousetraps and a package of paper lunch bags at the Navy Exchange. I set the traps with peanut butter and then slipped them into the back of an open lunch bag that I laid on the floor. The mouse would walk into the bag, and SNAP! I just had to pick up the bag and throw the whole thing away. INGENIOUS, right?
I bragged about this to my mother-in-law, who was a veteran Navy wife and not afraid of anything. She was appalled. “Betsy, you can just open up the trap over a trash can, dump out the mouse, and re-use the trap!” You see, Mom was a master at re-using things. She washed foil and zip lock bags all the time. She bought a box of zip lock bags once in the ‘60’s and used them for the rest of her life.
“Mom, I can’t stand looking at them! I know we’re only at Ensign pay, but I think we can afford to throw away a mouse trap that only costs $.54 at the Exchange!”
Psalm 94 (New International Version)
When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. 19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.
Everybody has that one thing which provokes an almost irrational fear …sharks, airplanes, elevators, roller coasters, snakes, rush hour in Atlanta….and we also have rational fears. If you’ve been stalked, or abused, or threatened, it is rational to be afraid of that person. When we have to venture out into a big unknown, it is rational to experience anxiety. When your kid takes the car out for a solo drive for the first time, it is normal to worry.
But letting fear control your life is not rational. Jesus reminds us in the book of John that he came so that we might have “life abundant.” Abundance and fear cannot live in the same place.
Clearly there is a clinical aspect to anxiety that can be remedied with good therapy. But for the non-clinical situations that we face every day, it is good for us to take a deep breath and remember that anytime our foot slips, God’s unfailing love is there to support us. God’s consolation and presence can help us take our eyes off obsessing over our fears. God does not give us fear. He gives us love, power and SELF-CONTROL.
So whatever your “mouse” is, find a way around it. Remember scripture. Pray for calm. Take control. Center yourself in the knowledge that God is always with you: you shall not fear. His rod and his staff will comfort you. You’re never alone with God.
Did you know that over 40 million people a year struggle with some type of anxiety disorder? From Generalized Anxiety Disorder to PTSD, there are many types of anxiety disorders, and it is the most common mental illness. And for the most part, it is highly treatable.
While most of us probably don’t fit in to an Anxiety Disorder category, it can be said of all of us that we worry. And some of us worry too much. Worrying is both a symptom and a catalyst for anxiety, and can absolutely overwhelm you to the point of paralysis. When we worry, our joy is stolen, our peace is non-existent, and our well-being suffers, along with those around us.
The root cause of much of our anxious worrying is fear. When we are afraid of something, we turn that fear into negative thoughts and run through multiple scenarios of what could go wrong. And there are so many things that we fear!
Rejection
Failure
Abandonment
Exposure
Being manipulated
Losing someone or something precious
Losing control
Accidents
Not getting things finished
Being hurt in a realationship
And on, and on, and on.
Did you know that God does not give us fear? Nope. Fear is not from God. We manage that all on our own.
2 Timothy 17 (Modern English Version)
7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and self-control.
I think a clue for how to battle worry is found in what God DOES give us. Instead of fear, he gives us power. His power is available to us to help us in our problem-solving. Instead of fear, he gives us love, the strongest emotion a human can give or receive. There is strength for the battle in love. And perhaps most importantly, he gives us self-control, so that when worrying begins to overtake us, we can clang shut that nonsense and focus on things that are going right and the many places we have been blessed.
Power, love, and self-control. Next time you find yourself starting to worry, remember that you have these weapons in your battle bag. You are a worry warrior.
Fear Not, for God is With You. Photo by Michelle Robertson
Our church secretary walked into the office holding a large wooden angel. She had been helping pre-school parents park for our Christmas program when a women drove by and stopped to pull the angel out of her trunk. “I drive by your church every day and I noticed your nativity scene didn’t have an angel. I had this in my garage and I don’t need it, so I thought I would bring it here.”
First, who keeps random angels in their garage? And second, who doesn’t need an angel? But we are grateful for the much needed addition to our little corner nativity scene. I personally think she will fit right into the place.
The angel at the original nativity scene also came as a surprise to everyone.
Luke 2:8-20 New International Version (NIV)
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
You betcha they were terrified. Wouldn’t you be? Having an otherworldly being suddenly descend from the skies and blinding you with all of its blazing luminescence would be a frightening thing indeed. I can’t figure out how they just didn’t run for the hills.
And then, she spoke:
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Good news! Great joy! A savior is born! The long awaited Messiah has come! And he is the LORD. Her announcement introduced tremendous change, but it came with the assurance that this change would be good.
But did you catch the very first thing she said? “DO NOT BE AFRAID.”
As a matter of fact, angels offer the instruction “fear not” 58 times in the Old and New Testaments. It seems that every time they appeared, that was the first part of their message.
It was a message for then, and is a message for now. I believe there is a lot of fear and anxiety in our nation and in the world today. We fear many things: the effects of climate change on our planet, immigrants overrunning borders, guns, disease, gangs, our children’s futures, terrorism, vaccinations…one look around you and you will find something that has people terrified. And there are forces in the world that seem to exist only to perpetuate those fears.
Life involves a certain amount of fear because life involves a certain amount of change. And change is always a scary thing. A new job, a lost job, a pregnancy, a divorce, a biopsy, a diagnosis…change invokes fear. These things usually turn out to be alright in the end, but in the beginning, it is good to remember what the angels told us: do not be afraid.
The angels came to remind us that God is here. Whatever you are facing, whatever change is coming, whatever tragedy has befallen you, whatever disappointment you are experiencing, DO NOT BE AFRAID, for God is with you.
The shepherds learned that. They were the first to set aside their fears so that they could experience the incarnate God as he lay cooing in the manger. They heeded the command of the angel and thus experienced the presence of God in the flesh.
Where is God calling you to set aside your fears so that you can see his glory? Where are the angel’s words trying to take root in your heart so that you can move boldly into the change that God is preparing for you? How will you respond to his imminent presence?
In spite of all the anxiety and fear around us, let us worship this child as the Savior he was born to be. Let us resist those who would promote fear as a means of control, and realize that we are surrounded by a heavenly host that proclaims the power of God over all other powers on earth. Let us not resist change, but embrace it with the confidence of the children of God.
At Water’s Edge 