Dealing with Anxiety
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English Standard Version Chapter 4
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I found it a bit ironic and providential that I come to this passage this morning. Anxiety has been my middle name as of late. Many of you may already know about my Father-in-law’s health. He’s on hospice care as they try to find some relief from the pain caused by his cancer. All of my family members have driven or flown to see him this past week and Rhonda will be there for another week. My own father’s health has been leaking away as he grows more tired and confused each week. While I was helping my parents close the cabin my dad fell and, as it turns out, cracked 3 ribs in the process. We didn’t know his fall was that bad for several days. Both my mother and mother-in-law are physically and emotionally exhausted. I can do little for them other than pray and call from here. These weigh heavy on me and my family.
I found it a bit ironic and providential that I come to this passage this morning. Anxiety has been my middle name as of late. Many of you may already know about my Father-in-law’s health. He’s on hospice care as they try to find some relief from the pain caused by his cancer. All of my family members have driven or flown to see him this past week and Rhonda will be there for another week. My own father’s health has been leaking away as he grows more tired and confused each week. While I was helping my parents close the cabin my dad fell and, as it turns out, cracked 3 ribs in the process. We didn’t know his fall was that bad for several days. Both my mother and mother-in-law are physically and emotionally exhausted. I can do little for them other than pray and call from here. These weigh heavy on me and my family.
In addition, our AC went out this summer bringing with it a hefty price tag to replace, my wife’s car is showing signs of its age, Dunning faces graduation from Alabama and a job search, and my other kids are working to find their way. At every turn there is cause to be anxious. On top of that, I find myself tasked with preaching on how to deal with anxiety. I can’t say, “look at me” as a model of how to do it, though I can say, “listen with me” because I am eager to hear. I want to know how to let the peace of God guard my heart and mind from anxiety. So let’s jump in.
Pray. Present your requests to God.
Pray. Present your requests to God.
The first thing to do is pray. Do you pray? Do you have a regular practice of daily prayer? If prayer is the means by which God has chosen to guard your heart and mind it only makes sense that we would practice it.
Does prayer work for everyone?
Does prayer work for everyone?
Prayer is talking to God, plain and simple. Who can talk to God? You might be surprised to learn that not everyone can talk to God or at least not everyone will be heard by God. Access to God is only granted to some. Often in scripture we find God referencing himself as a King. He is the Great King, the one true king, the king of kings. The prophets speak of heaven as his throne and the earth his footstool. Jesus introduces his ministry by saying, “the kingdom of God is at hand.” Just like any king, access is not open to anyone. It’s open to his people, citizens of the Kingdom.
The Bible refers to citizens of the kingdom in a variety of ways. In John, they are referred to as children of God. In this letter, Paul writes to the “saints in Christ Jesus.” “Saint” means “holy one.” Saints have been set apart by God himself. This setting apart, a few verses earlier than our passage, happened when God wrote their names in the book of life. These people, citizens of God’s Kingdom, children of God, saints set apart by God whose names are written in the book of life have access to the King.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” Only through Jesus do you have access to God’s throne.
If we look a few verses earlier we find Paul referencing co-laborers, people whose names are in the book of life. This is who
God’s children, that is, those whose trust is rooted in Jesus Christ. When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me,” that included prayer. If you do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died in your place upon the cross, then your prayer will never reach God’s throne.
What does prayer look like?
What does prayer look like?
Prayer can take many forms. It can be filled with praise. It can be filled with lament or confession. This prayer, however, is made up of supplication and thanksgiving. Supplication is a form of request. When a citizen comes before the king he is called a supplicant. He bows humbly before the king to bring his request. I love the story of Esther and the scene in which she entered the presence of the Persian King. To do so was dangerous. To go before the king without an invitation was to risk your life. If he did not hold out the royal scepter, she would be killed. So why did Esther approach? While her need was great, she also understood that only the King could help. A supplicant goes to the King because he knows that the King is one who has the power to answer. When you pray before the living God, this is how you must approach.
The great difference between Esther and you, as you approach, however, is the removal of fear. The royal scepter has already been held forth. It was held forth when Jesus hung on the cross. Now when you approach, you have reason to go with confidence that God will give you an audience.
What do you bring?
Thanksgiving is also a component. It might seem presumptuous to come with thanksgiving. If God were just your king, perhaps it would be. But he is also your Father and eagerly desires to give good gifts to his children. It isn’t just your desire to receive answers, it is his desire also. Think of your own child approaching you with a request. It breaks your heart when he or she approaches with dampened expectations.
Yet the king imagery is also helpful here too when you think of the kind of requests you bring to him. Are they beneficial for the Kingdom? Do they seek its flourishing? Are they furthering the glory of the King? Are they advancing his will, bringing about a flourishing society that blesses the earth? This is what he is after. Jesus says, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.” When you bring requests that seek this, you must come with thanksgiving, because it is the means by which the Lord brings about his purposes.
As you seek first the kingdom, there is great comfort, for the Lord will provide all of the other things you need. That’s the rest of Christ’s teaching
English Standard Version Chapter 6
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Part of our struggle with prayer is that our requests tend to primarily focus on our present needs and we forget the kingdom. When our present needs take center stage it is no wonder that we shrink in confidence in prayer. We’ve forgotten our calling. We’ve forgotten who we are and whose we are. And the result is anxiety.
Peace of God
Peace of God
But God invites you into his peace. He desires it to be the guard over your heart and mind against anxious thoughts. Paul describes this peace as something that surpasses all understanding. It must be something so incredible that even Paul, who met Christ face to face in his glory, couldn’t fully grasp.
Why do we have this peace?
Why do we have this peace?
The sentence begins, “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything...” The Lord is at hand. This phrase has at least two implications that are vitally important to understand for this passage to make sense. The first is that the Lord is present. When Jesus announced his ministry he did so by saying, “the kingdom of God is at hand” implying that the kingdom of God is present in the person of Jesus. When Paul says “the Lord is at hand” he wants the church to take comfort in his closeness. His presence is the reason why we need not be anxious.
When a storm came upon the disciples as they crossed the Sea of Galilee in a boat, they grew anxious. Their anxiety reached fever pitch in fact. But Jesus was there and as they called to him, he awoke, commanded the storm to be still, and it grew suddenly calm. All of their anxieties were calmed too. It astounded them as they began to see more of who he was. Stay close to Jesus and the storms in life cannot hurt you was the lesson. And here Paul explains that the Lord is close to you. He is at hand. That is a reason for our anxieties to be calmed.
The other implication of these words are even more significant. When he writes, “the Lord is at hand” he’s referencing the same thing Jesus referenced when he said, “the kingdom of God is at hand.” The application in Jesus’ preaching was to repent. The presence of the Kingdom of God meant that Jesus had come to bring the long-desired justice for an oppressed people. This is what the prophets had been writing about for centuries. Jesus was bringing justice that would set the prisoner and the oppressed free.
English Standard Version Chapter 10
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
English Standard Version Chapter 10
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Jesus spoke of God’s wrath that would soon come upon Jerusalem. His parables pointed to it and his Olivet discourse spoke plainly about it. That wrath was a great source of anxiety, as you might imagine. Paul was very aware of this coming and spoke of it’s immediacy. The suffering that Paul experienced and that threatened them was heavy on their minds. When Paul explains “the Lord is at hand” there is a sense in which he’s reminding them about the justice of God that will set the prisoner and the oppressed free. The coming of God’s justice, however, is also a frightening prospect, more-so than any oppression that people could bring. This was why Jesus said in that same passage,
English Standard Version Chapter 10
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
This was the fear that disciples felt in the boat when they realized that Jesus had the power to stop the wind and the waves, the forces that represented chaos and death in the ancient world. But Jesus’ words to them in the midst of that storm were significant. “I am, no fear.” He used the name of God, “I am” and so revealed to them that he and the Father are one. But he also told then to have no fear, because he and the Father are one. He would provide peace in the midst of the storm of God’s wrath, of God’s judgment. This was why the judgment that would bring the end of oppression would not also sweep away the disciples of Jesus. And this is why the peace of God, something that we don’t deserve or can fully comprehend, belongs to those whose trust is fully in Jesus.
The peace of God guards your heart and mind because you have peace with God, the great judge over all the earth.
English Standard Version Chapter 8
If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here is the source of our confidence when we approach God’s throne. It is Jesus Christ. He is why our anxieties can be quieted as we practice prayer. And when you don’t know what to pray?
English Standard Version Chapter 8
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
And so practicing prayer in this way leads to the peace of God guarding your heart and mind against anxiety. But it is a practice. It is something to be cultivated. At the heart of this peace is a confidence in God, a trust in God. Like a child trusts his parents implicitly to take care of his needs, so you, through the practice of prayer, learn to trust that God will also take care of you. This isn’t something that happens overnight. You can’t read a verse like this and think, “okay, I brought my request to God and gave thanks” and expect to see your anxiety instantly disappear. This peace of God comes as you practice this kind of prayer and learn to see the answers and provision of God. It won’t always look you expect. This is why it takes time and patience and cultivation. This is how you learn to see that God is at work. This is how you foster your faith in this God who loves you.