B – Fear Not.

-B-

You know how people post random memes and pictures and quotes on their Facebook and you barely notice 95% of them? Well I recently stumbled across one that caught my attention.

I have two members in my immediate family who struggle with anxiety: my mom and my sister. Amber has been pretty vocal about her battles with anxiety and its effect on her life. Even though I’ve not personally struggled with anxiety on a daily basis, this unofficial “definition” of anxiety struck me sharply. I asked Amber if it would be insensitive of me to write about something of which I have very little experience, but after speaking with her, I felt that it was okay to write this post for two main reasons. First, it can be useful to look at something from an outside perspective. Yes, I may not be fighting down in the trenches, but because I’m not, maybe there’s a chance I can give you a clearer picture of the battle from above—a different angle. Second, despite having avoided chronic anxiety for the most part, I am not disqualified to speak truth and encouragement about a topic that is so relevant today. It seems lately that so many people are wracked with anxiety. I want to help.

1. The feeling where you stay up at night, stare at your ceiling, ask yourself an infinite number of questions, then sit there and debate on whether or not you actually want to know the answer.

I’ve had these kinds of nights. Staying awake, trying to wrestle your brain into shutting down, but being unable to stop the barrage of questions and worries and possibilities and scenarios. Sometimes it seems that if you’re not worried about something, then you must not really care that much about it or its outcome. Right?

Here’s what Jesus told His followers concerning countless questions in Matthew 6:25-27:

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to Him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?”

Verse 31 goes on to repeat this:

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.”

Food. Water. Clothing. Those are pretty major concerns. But Jesus tells us not to worry about even THOSE things. The Lord values us as precious children. So if He is able to faithfully take care of our physical needs, He is more than able to masterfully handle our mental, emotional and spiritual needs, eliminating the need to question and worry in an endless cycle.

2. The feeling where you wonder who truly cares about you and who is just using you; who is there for you and who is so desperately waiting for you to fail. 

Scripture truly is living and active. When I read this particular line, my mind immediately went to two particular verses, not realizing that they were one verse apart. They address this concern so poignantly, almost to the letter.

“Cast all your anxiety on Him (Jesus) because He cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” – 1 Peter 5:7-8

The Father cares for you. Tenderly. Earnestly. Intentionally. Fiercely. The Bible says that just like an earthly father has compassion on his little children, so our heavenly Father has compassion on those who follow Him. Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our safe place and our strength. He is always our help when we are in trouble.” He is always there for us. It describes a Father who gathers us up underneath Himself, like a mother bird gathering up and protecting her babies beneath her wings.

The Bible is also clear on how much the Enemy, Satan, hates God and hates His children. It describes him as a thief, a liar, a lion, a serpent. He makes it his chief mission to destroy, confound, ruin and cripple. He is the one who desperately waits for you to fail.

3. The feeling where you feel like you’re not good enough; that you need to be this, this and this to be successful and liked. You crave for the attention you know you can’t have.

This one breaks my heart. I have felt like this…oh, I have felt like this. When I was in the throes of adolescence, and puberty was hitting like a ton of bricks, I remember sitting with my Dad in my bedroom talking one night about God. I wondered aloud if there was a verse in the Bible where God explicitly said the words “I love you.” After we finished talking, I pulled out my Bible and casually started looking around to see if there was. Not by accident, I quickly came across Isaiah 43:4.

“Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.”

God loves His children. He loves you. And not because you’re “good enough.” You’re not good enough! No one is good enough to merit the kind of unconditional, selfless, perfect love the Father pours forth. That is the gorgeous picture of grace that Scripture tells us page after page. When we were still rotten, weak, with nothing to offer, Christ died for us. It’d be like us taking a bullet for a mangy sewer rat. It doesn’t make sense! But in His goodness, in His longing for us to be brought back to Himself…He did it. You have His ultimate, unending, undying attention. He literally knows the number of hairs on your head at this moment. The world will tell you lies about your identity and what you must look like, act like, think like to earn success and favor. But it is all a sham. The favor people give us is cheap and hollow. When you know that Jesus is calling out to you with open arms, you see that there is no favor you want more than His.

4. The feeling where you get frustrated because it’s physically impossible to be 100% happy. You want someone to vent to, but no one will understand you.

My friend…it’s true. It is impossible to be 100% happy. That’s the effect of sin on our broken little world. Happiness, while not wrong, is flawed. It’s either incomplete, or fleeting. Not enough or not for long enough. But even when we aren’t happy, or maybe even that joyful, we have Jesus. And He listens to us. Always.

“In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From His temple He heard my voice;
my cry came before Him, into His ears.” – Psalm 18:6

And not only does He listen, but He understands us intimately. He gets it when we aren’t happy. He realizes we’re struggling.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” – Hebrews 4:15-16

We don’t have a God who sits up on His high, holy mountain and scoffs at our heartaches. Jesus went through it ALL in His time here on earth. He gets it.

5. The feeling where you question your value, your worth, your pride, yourself, everything…and you think. Over think. All you’re left with, is you, yourself, and a very dark place.

What an attack Satan wages against us. There is so much pain in this portion.

It’s hard to try to tell someone who feels worthless that they are not worthless. “No, really, you are valuable! I promise!” Words are cheap. And words don’t convince broken people that there is hope. But actions do. Whether or not you choose to believe this, two thousand years ago, a man walked this earth and chose to die a horrible, painful death so that you wouldn’t have to. It really is true. Jesus valued you enough to die for you in the ultimate act of selfless love. He treasured you unto death.

Satan loves to muddle the message. Confuse us, trick us, and distract us. Make us over think. Isolate us until we are alone and afraid, and then keep us there forever.

“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God”

Psalm 46:10

Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us to the darkness. He will find us in the deep and walk with us through the fire. You are not alone in this.

“I don’t know where to go from here. I don’t even know who I am anymore,” said the anxiety.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” said Jesus. If you seek direction, if you seek truth, and if you seek life, you will find it all in Jesus Christ.

 

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7