Tag Archives: Anxiety

The Anxiety of Spiritual Forgetfulness

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Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?
And do you not remember?
(Mark 8:18)

Why do we get so anxious about things?

Seriously, we stress, we panic, we fuss, we fret, over everything. We act as though the rising of the sun and the setting of the same depend upon our ability to get things done in a timely and orderly manner. When one thing starts to get out of our grasp, we freak out like the world is going to end. (And by “we,” I mean ME.) The Psalmist said it this way, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me” (Psalm 43:5).

I think the reason why we get this way, the reason I get this way, is forgetfulness.  It’s not that I forget that there is a God, I just forget that God’s promises, God’s power, God’s grace applies to every situation.  The rest of that verse from the Psalms says, “Why are you cast down… Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”  Being reminded of God’s salvation, of our hope in Him – there is no better cure for anxiety, stress, and panic.  “Be still and know that I am God” – that’s what God says to the panicky, the anxious, the worried.  Perhaps today we could write it:

Keep Calm
Carry On
God’s in Control

We need to be reminded of this. Frequently.

Let me illustrate this briefly.  As you all know I have accepted a new pastoral call, and will be moving to South Dakota soon.  Knowing that selling a house in a small town can sometimes take months, we put our house on the market in mid-February, hoping that we’d be able to sell it just before we needed to move.

We just sold our house in 1 week. We put a sign in the yard on a Monday, by Sunday we had a contract. We live in a small community in NW Iowa, so selling a house that quickly and for the price we wanted is pretty much unheard of, one might say, miraculous.  We were ecstatic.

But how did I respond?  I immediately began to worry that I wouldn’t be able to find a house to move into in our new community.  The market there doesn’t have too many listings, especially for a family of 6, within our price range.  I panicked.  What if we don’t find a house? How far will I have to commute? Will my family be homeless?

Wow!  Didn’t God just do something amazing? Did He not just show us His mighty hand? Won’t God, cannot God, do it again?

The Good News is, I’m not alone in this spiritual forgetfulness.

The Israelites, less than a week after walking through the Red Sea, complained that they couldn’t find water, and worried that God would let them die (Ex. 15:22-25).  Elijah, having just conquered 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, immediately ran into the wilderness and asked to die when Jezebel threatened to kill him (1 Kings 18-19). The disciples, having just witnessed Christ feeding 4000 people, started arguing amongst themselves because they forgot to bring along any bread (Mark 8:14-21).  They were in the boat with the One who had just fed 4,000 people; and yet they were worried because they forgot to bring along any bread!

I think that this is the fundamental reason why we stress, fret, and worry. We forget what God has done. We think that our problems are greater that God’s vision, our troubles are too much for Him to bear. We worry that God might just not be watching, might just not be able…

Oh weary heart, full of care, has God not shown His grace to be sufficient to meet your every need?  Has God not proven His faithfulness, time and again?  Has God not promised that “though weeping may tarry for the night, joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5)? Has God not promised to be your salvation, and that for those who love God all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28).

We need to remember, we need to be reminded, we need to keep this before us at all times.  Maybe that’s why Paul, in his encouragement to Timothy said, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead” (2 Tim 2:8). We need to constantly remember that He is risen, He is alive, He rules and reigns over us and for us, He holds all things in His hands.  All our anxious cares subside in the strength of His everlasting arms.

Why are you anxious, oh my soul? Why so disturbed? Hope in God, for He is your salvation.  He is your God!

Soli Deo Gloria

On the Wrong Side of the Line

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“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…”
(Romans 3:23–24)

Here’s my confession for the day: I am a Stresser.

Maybe you already knew that.  Maybe you’ve seen me in one of my “moments,” when I’m harried, distracted, a little brusque in my greeting.  That’s me – stressing.

I’ve noticed lately that I’ve been “stressing out” a lot more than I used to.  My fuse is shorter, my temper hotter; I found myself nodding in agreement with Bruce Banner, “That’s my secret, Captain, I’m always angry.”

My wife, and even the children, have noticed this too.  “What’s the matter with daddy?” they will ask.

What is the matter?  I could try to come up with some rationale to explain this: poor balance between work and life; unhealthy stress management; taking on too many obligations; it’s just the normal way of things with a job, a wife, and four kids…

Instead, I think I’ll just cut straight to the chase.  I don’t have the time, don’t need the extra stress, to try to explain away my Stressed Out behavior.  I just tell you – It’s Sin!

I know what they say, some stress is healthy – but my sinful stressing is destructive and deadly.  My stress is sin.  It is gratifying the desires of the flesh, reveling in the delight of the moment at the cost of the eternal.  Look – I’m stressed because my egotistic personality insists that if something going to be done, it’s got to be done right (and I will determine what’s right), and I’m probably the only one able to do it.  I’m stressed because I’m unwilling to ask for help, and cannot understand why no one will step up to help me out.  I stress out because, secretly, momentarily, it feels real good to blow a gasket and erupt with a Vesuvius-esque fury all over those closest to me, even though the damage is lasting and hard to undo.

I was reminded the other day of something an elder said to me, long ago, in the first church I was serving. We were discussing marriage, ordination, sexual immorality – you know all those things that Presbyterians have been debating since time immemorial.  The church was discussing taking a Biblical stand on the matters at hand, when the elder said, “I don’t like drawing a line in the sand, because eventually I’ll find myself on the wrong side of the line.”

Friends can we just learn to accept this one fact: we are all on the wrong side of the line.  We are all sinners, everyone of us.  “For ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3:23).  When you stand in the light of God’s righteous judgment, all of us are on the wrong side of the line.  We can try to dress up our sins, call them by a different name – to paraphrase the Bard – but a sin by any other name would smell just as bad.

We call it “an affair,” when the Bible calls it adultery.

We call it “anger issues” when the Bible calls it hating your brother – which is murder.

We call it “embezzlement” when the Bible calls it stealing.

We call it “misrepresenting the truth,” when the Bible says it is a lie.

We call it “keeping up with the Jones’” when the Bible says it is covetousness.

We say “there’s just not enough time in the week to get everything done,” when in reality we are breaking the Sabbath.

We compromise on Biblical truth, because we do not honor Scripture as the very word of God.

We are anxious because we do not believe God’s promises.

We are short tempered and angry because of our self-importance and cold, unmoving hearts.

We are slow to forgive one another because we downplay our own sinfulness and underestimate the magnitude of God’s grace towards us in Jesus Christ.

The call of Christ is the same for each of us.  Whether you are caught in immorality, or disobedient toward your parents – the call of Christ is “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  In His grace, trusting in that Gospel, turn from your sin – for sin is what it is – turn from your sin and know his gift of forgiveness, peace, and life.

Don’t hold on to your sin, thinking that it is a crutch that will support you, for it will only bring you down.  Instead, “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,  and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,  and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22–24).

They say confession is good for the soul.  These deeply ingrained “fits of rage” in my life will take some time to conquer, and only by the strength of the Holy Spirit working in me will they be ultimately defeated.  And yet, they will never be defeated as long as I deny their sinfulness and hold on to them.  I confess.  I repent.  And I believe the Good News, that by the grace of God I am forgiven and delivered.

In the words of John Newton, I will hold to these two truths: “I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior!”

Sola Deo Gloria!