Do Not Be Anxious About Anything

I get anxious in traffic. Part of it is that for me, driving in heavy traffic becomes a battle. It’s a game, a competition. It involves not just a few comments to or about other drivers (What an idiot! Why is he doing that?) and a few honks of the horn when I think it’s necessary. My family says, “Just relax and enjoy the drive.” “I’m fine,” I say. “It’s just a game.” “Well, it may be just a game for you, but it makes it unpleasant for the rest of us.”

Worry and anxiety carry over into other areas of our lives–you know, coming home and kicking the cat because you had a bad day at work. Jesus had some great words about worry that apply to our anxiety, too:

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25–34 (NIV)

Causes of Worry

1. Basic needs going unmet. Jesus said in verse 31 not to worry about clothing and food.
2. The future. Anxiety and worry go together, but anxiety is often a state of mind, a way of looking at and relating to the world. Worry tends to be about the future. 
3. Anxiety is the spirit of the age. COVID accelerated the worries of an already-anxious culture. We borrow stress from each other! Sometimes, we just appropriate the fears of the world around us. We live in a society full of anxiety, and we just get caught up in that anxiety. We watch too much news; we are on information overload. It’s the spirit of the age. People will throw their anxiety on you and expect you to have the same level of anxiety that they do. If you’re not anxious about this political cause or that social cause, there’s something wrong with you. Anxiety can be contagious, even in the best surroundings.

What Does Not Work

“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Matthew 6:27 (NIV)

Worry itself does not bring us the peace we desire. It won’t make us an inch taller, and it won’t even add an hour to our lives!

Trying to put a patch on the anxiety of our souls by pursuing pleasure or more stuff won’t work either!

¹⁴ The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. Luke 8:14 (NIV)

It’s interesting that worries and pleasures are in the same category here: either one can choke out the word, prevent maturing, and keep us from putting the word into practice (v. 21). When we are overwhelmed by worries, we sometimes think having more money, or more riches, is the key. Sometimes we think more pleasures will take care of our worry and anxiety, so we indulge in things to make ourselves feel better. Some of us rely on retail therapy to make ourselves feel better, and we can judge our anxiety level by the number of Amazon packages on our front porch! Some of us go after pleasures we shouldn’t be going after. All these, along with worries, keep us from the fruitful lives God has for us.

³⁴ “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. Luke 21:34 (NIV)

Jesus warns us about the connection between inappropriate lifestyles and the anxieties of life: Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down. When we’re weighed down, we think we need a good pep talk, just a little encouragement. 

We all need encouragement, but a little pep talk doesn’t work to overcome our lack of peace. We can learn a lesson from Jeremiah 6. The prophets and priests were saying “peace, peace” when there is no peace. The problem in Jeremiah’s day was that the people of Israel wanted peace, but they didn’t really want peace with God. They wanted God to give them peace from their enemies, but they didn’t pursue being at peace with God.

What Does Work

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:26 (NIV)

1. Know the Father’s love and care.

Jesus centers his teaching on peace in place of worry on knowing the nature of our heavenly Father. Get to know God! We can too easily focus on our circumstances–some of which are really good reasons to be full of anxiety. Get to know God. Ask him to reveal his love and care for you. This is a daily quest for us–which is why Jesus said each day has enough trouble of its own. 

2. Pray for peace.

Here’s a passage we often look to when we are anxious. People quote it at us when we’re weighed down with anxiety:

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6–7 (NIV)

Just pray about it! That actually is pretty good advice, but we all know that there’s more to it than that. The goal is what? Peace. Peace that transcends all understanding. Seek peace. Your goal is not to control all your circumstances through prayer (Philippians 4:6). Your goal is the peace that surpasses understanding. 

3. Recognize peace as wholeness.

Peace in the Hebrew mindset–and Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews–means “shalom,” wholeness. Be wholly present to the Lord, wholly consecrated to the Lord. Seek holiness. The goal is consecration, to present yourself wholly to God, not impulse control. The goal is not just, “God, take away my anxiety,” or “God, take care of this problem or that problem.” When we think the key to peace is simply the resolution of a particular problem, we will usually miss peace. Your goal is “God, give me your peace.”

Practice prayer as a matter of consecration to God, a matter of presenting yourself holy to God, not just presenting problems. Yes, present your problems, every single one of them, large and small, but do more than that. Present yourself to God. 

4. Let God show you the areas of your life that are anxious.

We have hidden areas. Wrong thinking about God, wrong thinking about life, wrong thinking about ourselves. We don’t always know the source.

One time, we had these little moths in our kitchen. Lisa cleared out every possible source of food for them, but they came back rather quickly! What could be happening? Eventually, after thorough investigation, we found out that the open bag of birdseed in the attached garage was their source. Once we got rid of the bag, no more moths! We need to find the source of anxious thoughts, and we trust God will do this.

²³ Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. ²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23–24 (NIV)

Let God do this. Be wholly present! There’s nowhere you can go from his presence. Nothing can separate you. Make God’s thoughts more precious to you than your own anxious thoughts.

“How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!” Psalm 139:17 (NIV)

5. Develop a good prayer life.

Learn how to cast your cares on the Lord every single day.

Does lack of peace mean you are not right with God? It can mean that. It might mean some other things: It might mean that you are under some very real threats. For whatever reason, anxiety rises, and we have to just keep going back to God. Just praying and reading your Bible more doesn’t solve every crisis. We need to learn to trust God for his peace. That’s a process. You will get better; you already have. Things that would have stressed you out 5 years ago no longer grip your soul like they used to. 

I love this prayer that I’ve started using in my daily devotional time, and I hope it helps you to find peace. It’s from the Wake-Up Call by Seedbed, a ministry of Asbury Seminary. 

Prayer of Consecration

Lord Jesus, I am your witness. 
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness. 
I receive your love and release my selfishness. 
Come Holy Spirit transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary.
For the glory of God our Father, amen.

Wake-Up Call, seedbed.com