The Answer to Anxiety

According to the New York Times, Americans are among the most anxious people on earth. One study found that Americans were significantly more anxious than residents of nations like Nigeria, Lebanon, and Ukraine. We spend billions of dollars every year on antianxiety medications and additional millions to fund research into the causes and cures for anxiety disorders.

Time magazine recently devoted its cover story to teenage anxiety, and the headline was: "The Kids Are Not All Right: American teens are anxious, depressed, and overwhelmed." The article claimed that today's adolescents "are the post-9/11 generation, raised in an era of economic and national insecurity. They've never known a time when terrorism and school shootings weren't the norm. They grew up watching their parents weather a severe recession, and, perhaps most importantly, they hit puberty at a time when technology and social media were transforming society."

One expert said, "If you wanted to create an environment to churn out angsty people, we've done it." One teenager explained, "We're the first generation that cannot escape our problems at all. We're all like little volcanoes. We're getting this constant pressure, from our phones, from our relationships, from the way things are today."

(https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/opinion/sunday/the-anxious-americans.html)

But Paul writes:

Philippians 4:6

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

“Yeah, right Paul” You try:

Working two jobs

Being a single mom

studying for that test

I’ve got:

all these health issues to deal with

bills to pay ends to make meet

mouths to feed

socks to wash

projects to complete

oil to change

taxes to finish

emails to return

and now a Bible reading plan to complete (Thanks, Pastor Jason!)

Busyness is a word that describes most if not all of us, and anxiety is its handmaiden.

Anxiety is nothing new, and I’m convinced that

I’m convinced t

The cure for anxiety is less about the removal of our external problems and more about our resting in the God who can actually change them.

Psalm of David

Acrostic

David must have found himself looking at someone who was not following God and seeing how easy their life seemed.

Can you relate? Did you ever see someone who doesn’t follow Jesus and wonder why they seem to struggle less? Wonder if you would worry less if you didn’t tithe? Wonder if you would have less anxiety if you could get that extra work done on Sunday rather than meet the rest of the church.

“For most of us, it isn’t heresy or rank apostasy that will derail our profession of faith. It’s all the worries of life.”

(Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy)

Of David.

[1] Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

be not envious of wrongdoers!

For they will soon fade like the grass

[2] For they will soon fade like the grass

and wither like the green herb.

[3] Trust in the LORD, and do good;

Trust in the LORD, and do good;

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

[4] Delight yourself in the LORD,

Delight yourself in the LORD,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD;

[5] Commit your way to the LORD;

trust in him, and he will act.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

[6] He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

[7] Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil devices!

[8] Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

For the evildoers shall be cut off,

[9] For the evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;

[10] In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;

though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

[11] But the meek shall inherit the land

But the meek shall inherit the land

and delight themselves in abundant peace. (ESV)

Three times David says to ‘fret not’ = to become hot, agitated, excited.

What is it that would make us hot? that would cause us to fret? It is that we see those who do not follow God who seem to have an easier life - less stress, less anxiety, less worries, more things going well for them.

It can cause us to become angry, even more stressed and anxious, perhaps even wonder if it is even worth following Jesus at all.

Even if you have more problems than someone who doesn’t follow Jesus, you can still have more peace.

Know Jesus, Know Peace. No Jesus, No Peace.

Four steps in finding the Answer to Anxiety:

1)Look past your problems and remember your future.

Look out

[1] Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

be not envious of wrongdoers!

[2] For they will soon fade like the grass

and wither like the green herb.

Fear is always an allusion. It is the anticipation of the thing and not the thing itself. It is the anticipation of the thing in relationship to other things and not reality

Worry happens when we are near sighted. Worry happens when we have a near sighted view of our situation

ILLUST - My extreme near-sightedness closes in my world and can raise my fears, but expanding my view corrects the perspective and brings peace.

anxiety is about our perspective how do we change our perspective?

What is projected on the screen of your mind? Pictures of fear or pictures of faith?

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Not talking about the power of positive thinking. I’m talking about thinking positively about Gods power. Power of positive thinking says to think in such a way that it creates a reality. I’m talking about thinking about reality in a way that changes your thinking!

2)Shift your focus to God and his goodness.

Look up

Opposite = ‘Trust in myself and do ‘whatever it takes.’’

[3] Trust in the LORD, and do good;

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

[4] Delight yourself in the LORD,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Trust in the LORD

Opposite = ‘Trust in myself and do ‘whatever it takes.’’

Notice David’s focus. Not trust in himself. Not even trust in “God,”

but trust in Yahweh - God’s personal name.

The bigger your view of God, the smaller your fears and anxieties become.

Fear is based on an illusion. It is not the thing itself, but an anticipation of what might be.

Because of this, fear can change with our perspective.

ILLUST - my bad daddy moment on the ride at Disney World - Caleigh was afraid not because of anything real, but because of what she perceived to be a problem. As soon as she shifted her focus onto her father, her fear vanished even though the situation stayed the same.

]You can be at peace and still have a problem. your problem doesn’t determine your peace, the object of your trust does.

Delight yourself in the LORD

Find goodness not in getting what you want, but in God getting what HE wants.

So many of our anxieties are self focused.

How many of us are really tore up about:

greenhouse gasses

national debt

the homeless

How much of our stress is really due to the fact that

the unreached

One who delights in the Lord will have desires that conform to God’s will for their lives. God will grant what they request

Tremper Longman III, Psalms: An Introduction and Commentary

Create some verse cards to help shift your focus onto God.`

Isaiah 6:23-24

Psalm 46:1

3)Release your problems to the One who can actually fix them.

Release

Commit to God what is out of your control.

[5] Commit your way to the LORD;

trust in him, and he will act.

[6] He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

and your justice as the noonday.

‘Commit’ = גלל

גָּלַל

literally means “To roll away”

has the idea of rolling an object from one person and onto another.

‘way’ = דֶּ֫רֶךְ

means your way of life

Let’s be real for a moment - How much of your anxiety, worry, and stress is from the fact that you truly believe God CANNOT take care of your needs and fears, and how much is from the fact that you really have never even asked him to.

We often get hung up in two areas that end up significantly increasing our anxiety:

Things we CAN’T control.

Things we SHOULDN’T control.

Things we CAN’T control.

What really CAN we control? There is very little in your control so why do you assume the responsibility?

ILLUST - assumed worry - I couldn’t control my daughter when she competed in gymnastics, but I sure felt the anxiety at each meet.

Things we SHOULDN’T control.

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. (NLT)

Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2013), .

Oftentimes the best way to release something to God is to pray.

trust in him, and he will act.

If you trust your life to God, he will act - ‘make’ something from your life.

4)Be still.

Sit

[7] Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil devices!

[8] Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

ILLUST -

In 1985, the Higher Education Research Institute at U.C.L.A. began asking incoming college freshmen if they "felt overwhelmed by all I had to do" during the previous year. In 1985, 18 percent said they did. By 2010, that number had increased to 29 percent. Last year, it surged to 41 percent.

For many of these young people, the biggest single stressor is that they "never get to the point where they can say, 'I've done enough, and now I can stop,'" [one expert] says. "There's always one more activity, one more A.P. class, one more thing to do in order to get into a top college. Kids have a sense that they're not measuring up. The pressure is relentless and getting worse."

(https://heri.ucla.edu/cirp-freshman-survey/)

It is very difficult to accomplish steps one through three on the run.

We are a people with spiritual ADHD.

For a husband to lose his wife because he is always busy at work ends up sacrificing the best thing on the altar of a good thing.

You will always accomplish more by waiting on the God who creates the universe with a word, than you will by exhausting all of your time, energy, and resources in a rush.

The real question is, What will it take for us to be still?

Here’s the truth: if we don’t wait patiently, we generally end up in trouble.

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

Worrying never leads anywhere good.

English Standard Version Psalm 37

though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

11 But the meek shall inherit the land

and delight themselves in abundant peace

“When our lives are frantic and frenzied, we are more prone to anxiety, resentment, impatience, and irritability.”

(Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy)

How many of you become nicer people when you are anxious?

[9] For the evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

[10] In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;

though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

[11] But the meek shall inherit the land

and delight themselves in abundant peace. (ESV)

Matthew 5:5

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Meek = “humble, bowed low.”

Meekness is NOT humility due to inability - rather, it is humility even when you have the ability to attempt something.

Jesus = ultimate meekness

Only way to have a relationship with God such that you can expect him to work is through the gospel - through Jesus.

Conclusion

Maybe you need to confess to God that you have been more focused on your problems than on the God who can actually fix them.

Maybe you need to release what you wrote on your paper.

Maybe you need to be still before you are made to be still.

Sit during the song. Find someone around you who is sitting and pray with them.

[3] You keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

because he trusts in you.

[4] Trust in the LORD forever,

for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. (ESV)