Anxiety and the Bible- WWJD?

 Have compassion. Be merciful. If we are to expect these things from our LORD and Saviour, then we must also show long-suffering and patience towards those who may be different than us.. but trust me we all have sin and that’s the problem. We won’t be perfect and sinless in these bodies on this present earth. It helps to give myself grace and allow my heart to be established with grace. I survived an abusive marriage and relationship of almost 7 years, and it has taken some time for Jesus to heal. Anxiety has been the biggest hurdle to overcome. Some days are better than others, but when I think of things that are happening all at once, it gets overwhelming and I break down. Not all the time, but then the Holy Spirit reminds God is going to get me through just like last time…

A hundred other verses say essentially the same thing: We must have the fear of God in us. Nevertheless, many persist in believing that, in Christianity, the fear of God has been replaced by love for God.

There is no doubt that God wants us to fear Him. Notice that Psalm 34:11 says that the fear of God is a quality that we must learn, indicating that we do not have this characteristic in us by nature. The fear of God, then, is different from the fears we normally have in life. Thus, it must be learned.

Fear is a powerful motivator. Our normal understanding of fear spans from being a mild apprehension or awareness of anxiety all the way to outright, bowel-moving terror. As an extreme, it creates the "fight or flight" response. Why, then, does a loving God want us to fear Him? Would He not rather want us to snuggle up to Him with no thought of fear?

Many people have that conception, but it is a mistaken one. We must not forget that God is not a man; He is God. He reminds us in Isaiah 55:8-9 that He does not think like a man. Yes, He wants us to love Him, but even in that love the sense of fear should always be present.

Recall that Psalm 2:11 commands, "Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling." To a Christian, fearing and rejoicing seem to be an odd couple. Paul writes in Philippians 2:12to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Ordinarily, we associate "trembling" with fear, of being frightened. What is there to fear and tremble about in taking salvation to its conclusion?

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 says, "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." Within a Christian setting, we are much more comfortable with this command to love, yet notice verses 1-2:

Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the LORD your God to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

Immediately preceding and following His command in verse 5 to love Him, He also affirms that we are to fear Him (see verses 2, 13). The sense of verses 1-2 is that this fear is produced as we keep His commandments, not before! Clearly, fear of Him and love for Him cannot be separated from our relationship with Him.

Isaiah 8:13 adds another interesting aspect. "The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." Surely, we might think that someone as close to God as Isaiah did not need to fear Him, but here God commands Isaiah to fear him. Why? Because the fear gained within the relationship with Him always motivates movement in the right, godly direction, regardless of the intensity of life's circumstances.

What about I John 4:17-18? Does it not contradict the assertion that our relationship with God should contain godly fear?

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

This passage does not contradict in the least, once we understand the kind of fear the apostle John is writing about. The clue to this fear appears in verse 17 in the term "boldness." John is referring to being bold in spite of the circumstances we face from life in this world once we are converted. The love of God works in us to dispel the fear of disease, oppressions, persecution, and death, but it does not drive out the fear of God. If it did, John would be contradicting what the Bible says elsewhere about the necessity of continuing to fear God. Christianity has not replaced the fear of God with the love of God, as many wrongly believe. Instead, the two work hand in hand.

Let your longsuffering—your forbearance—be known to everyone, because the Lord is at hand.' Paul explains how an unquiet spirit, a grasping desire to have our own way so frequently robs us of our joy.

Here in these verses, he goes on to consider another factor that may be more problematic than any of the others that tend to rob us of the joy of the Lord, and that is what we may well describe as the tyranny of circumstances, or just the simple things that happen to us in our daily lives.

The early Christians lived in a very difficult world, and had to suffer and to endure a great deal; and these men, called of God, wrote letters in order to show them how to overcome these things.

It is a great theme of the New Testament; but we find it also in the Old Testament. Take Psalm 3 and 4, for example. How perfectly they put it all into perspective. The great problem of life is, in a sense, how to lay oneself down to rest and sleep. 'I laid down and slept,' said the psalmist. Anybody can lie down, but the question is—can you sleep? Today, because of additives in our food, and pollution, it can affect our sleep. Women have a particularly hard time sleeping when they reach menopause. They try all different kinds of supplements, techniques, and they try to clear their minds, but they still cannot have a long night's sleep very often.

The psalmist describes himself surrounded by enemies, and by difficulties and trials, and his powerful testimony is that in spite of that, because of his trust in the Lord, he both laid himself down and slept, and he woke up safe and sound in the morning.

Why? Because the Lord was with him and looking after him.

Psalm 92:1-2 is a song for the Sabbathday, "It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your loving kindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night.

That is a man who trusted in the Lord. That is the theme of so much of the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, so it is obviously essentially important. This is a matter that provides a thorough test of our faith and of our whole Christian position.

(I would just like to add to this point that I in no way want to accuse the women who cannot sleep during their menopause as having faithlessness. That is not the issue at all.)

God tested Jonah in his faithfulness and obedience and he failed miserably, initially. But eventually, through his ordeal, he came to realize several things, one of which was that salvation follows thankfulness. God does the saving exclusively, but we must be thankful. When Jonah was in the belly of the fish this is what he said:

Jonah 2:9-10 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord." So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Part of Jonah's sinful problem was that he was not thankful for what God had provided to him personally, and for what God was willing to do for Nineveh. So it was not until Jonah learned to be thankful that God saved him from the belly of the huge fish, and from certain death. Salvation from the Lord requires a thankful heart and mind. Salvation itself is always a gift from God, but our responsibility is thankfulness always.

It is one thing to say that we subscribe to God's way of life, which is the Christian faith. It is one thing having read our Bibles, to say: 'Yes, I believe all that, it is the faith by which I live.' But it is not always exactly the same thing to find that faith, triumphant and victorious and maintaining us in a state of joy, when everything seems to have gone against us, and has almost driven us to despair.

It is a subtle and delicate test of our position, because it is such an essentially practical test. It is far removed from the realm of mere theory. We are in the position—in the situation—that these things are happening to us, and the question is, "What is our faith worth at that point?" Does it differentiate us from people who have no faith?

That is obviously something of very great importance not only for our peace and comfort but also, and especially at a time anxiety, from the whole standpoint of our Christian witness.

People today tell us that they are realists and practical. They say that they are not interested in doctrine, and not interested to listen very much to what we have to say, but if they see a body of people who seem to have something that enables them to triumph over life, and have peace in their life they become interested immediately. Sadly though, as soon as they hear that God is the solution, they abandon it because of the enmity that they have against God.

They are unhappy, frustrated, uncertain, and fearful. If, when in that condition themselves, they see people who seem to have peace and calm and quiet, then they are ready to look at them and to listen to them, initially anyway.

So, from the standpoint of our own personal happiness and our maintenance of the joy of the Lord, and also from the standpoint of our witness and our testimony in these difficult days, it benefits us to consider very carefully what the apostle Paul has to say in his wise statements about the way to deal with the tyranny of circumstances and conditions.

Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

There seems to be a naturally simple way to divide up this matter. First of all Paul tells us what we have to avoid. There are certain things that we must avoid; Paul says—'Be anxious (KJV) careful for nothing.' That is a negative command, and something to avoid. 'Be anxious for nothing' or 'be anxious about nothing.' 'Careful,' in the King James, means 'full of care,' and it means anxiety, harassing care, nervous concern, tending to worry or to overly consider things. It indicates an imbalance in thinking.

It is the same word that Christ used in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, where He said, 'Take no thought. . .' It means do not be over-anxious, do not worry, or do not over-think about what might happen. Do not over-meditate on things; do not have this nervous concern about the thing that is bothering you.

It is important, in passing, that we understand that the Bible would not teach us to neglect making ordinary provision for life, or not to use common sense. It does not encourage laziness. You remember that Paul, in writing to the church at Thessalonica, said that 'if any would not work, neither should he eat.' So that is a direct put down of the transference of wealth, or the redistribution of wealth, that the present government administration is so intent on burdening this country with.

By using the word 'careful,' or more correctly 'anxious' in the New King James, he does not refer to wise forethought, but he refers to harassing, wearying worry. That is the thing that Paul tells us we must avoid at all costs.

But notice that he does not stop merely at that negative command. There is a very profound piece of biblical psychology here. By biblical psychology, I mean the study of the human mind and its characteristic mental makeup according to Scripture. Paul shows us how we tend to get into this state of nervous, gloomy anxiety.

You will notice that he tells us that it is the result of the activity of the heart and mind. 'The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.' So, the trouble is in the heart and mind. It is the heart and the mind that produces this state of anxiety.

This biblical psychology, so to speak, is vital in applying Paul's remedy to ourselves. We should understand his explanation of the condition. In other words, what Paul is saying is that we can control many things in our lives, but no human being, of and by himself, can completely control their heart and mind.

Paul says that this condition of anxiety is something that is, in a sense and to some extent, outside our own control. It happens apart from us and in spite of us. By experience, we know this to be true. Without God's Holy Spirit we would be continually sinning, like the rest of the world.

Remember how it could not be controlled. You were awake and you would have given almost anything if you could only sleep. But your heart and mind would not let you sleep. In a sense, the heart and mind are somewhat outside your control. Again, we would give almost anything if we could just stop the heart and the mind from going on working, from revolving and thinking, and so keeping us awake.

Paul is dealing with the psyche here. Once more, we come across the wonderful realism of the Scriptures, their utter absolute honesty, their recognition of man as he is. So Paul tells us that in this way the heart and the mind, or if you prefer, the depth of one's being, tends to produce this state of anxiety.

Here the 'heart' does not only mean the seat of emotions, it means the very central part of one's personality. The 'mind' translated, if you like, by the term thought. We have all experienced this condition and know exactly what Paul means.

The heart has feelings and emotions. If a close relative or friend is taken ill, 'oh!' how the heart begins to work! Your concern, your very love for the person, is the cause of the anxiety. If you thought nothing of the person you would not be anxious.

There we see where the heart and the affections come in. Not only that, the imagination! What a prolific cause of anxiety is the imagination. You are confronted with a situation, but if it were merely that, you would probably be able to lie down and go to sleep. But the imagination comes in, and you begin to think, 'What if this or that should happen? Everything is fairly under control tonight, but what if by tomorrow morning the temperature goes up, or what if this condition arises and leads to that?' You go on thinking for hours, agitated by these imaginations. The result is that your heart keeps you awake.

Or then, not so much in the realm of imagination, but more in the realm of the mind and of pure thought, you find yourself beginning to consider possibilities, and you put up positions and deal with them and analyze them and you say, 'If that takes place we will have to make this arrangement, or we will have to do that.' You see how it works. The heart and mind are in control at that time. We are victims of thoughts. In this condition of anxiety we are the victims. It is the heart and the mind; these powers are within us, and which are outside our control that are mastering us and tyrannizing over us.

The apostle Paul tells us that this is something that at all costs we must avoid. Of course, we know this from experience. In this state of anxiety we spend the whole time reasoning and arguing and chasing imaginations. And in that state we are useless. We do not want to speak to other people. We may appear to be listening to them as they speak in conversation, but our mind is chasing these possibilities. And so, our acknowledgment is useless. In this state we are of no value to others, and above all we lose the joy of the Lord.

There is a second principle in negative form that I want to cover.

What must we do to avoid that inner turmoil?

This is where we come to that which is specifically Christian. Let us try to see the eternal difference between the Christian way of dealing with anxiety, and the psychological, or common-sense, way. The use of the world's psychology is one of the most subtle dangers in connection with the Christian way of life.

People sometimes think that they are being sustained by the Christian faith when what they have is merely a psychological mechanism in operation; and it breaks down in a real crisis. God's ministers do not preach psychology; we preach God's way of life, and God's way of doing things.

Philippians 4:4-6 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

The phrase in the New King James Version: 'Be anxious,' or in the King James Version: 'Be careful,' is from the Greek word "merimnate." It means to be anxious about, have care, or take thought, as I mentioned earlier. Verses 4 and 5 point out that joy and gentleness, accompanied with an awareness of Christ's imminent return, drives out anxiety. Paul's appeal to the Philippians is: 'Don't be anxious about anything.'

But this was not a suggestion to pursue a carefree life. To care and be genuinely concerned is one thing. To worry is another. Paul and Timothy cared for the people they ministered to, and they retained trust in God. Paul exhorted the Philippians to prayer instead of allowing anxiety to cause them to distrust God. Praying with thanksgiving involves trusting God.

Jesus warned against worry, which obviously eliminates trust in God.

Matthew 6:25-34 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

You find the same account in Luke 12:22-31.

The Greek word translated "worried" means, "to be pulled in different directions."This is exactly how we feel when we have anxiety and worry. Our hopes pull us in one direction; our fears pull us in the opposite direction; and we are pulled apart figuratively!

The Old English root, from which we get our word 'worry,' means 'to strangle.' This also gives us another indication of how we feel when we are going through worry and anxiety, we feel like we are being suffocated or strangled with worry. In fact, worry has definite physical consequences: headaches, neck pains, ulcers, even back pains. Worry affects our thinking, our digestion, and even our coordination.

What is the difference between the Christian way of dealing with worry and anxiety, and the world's method of dealing with it? What should we do when we are threatened by worry and anxiety? Common sense and psychology says, 'Stop worrying, pull yourself together.' But there is no long-term improvement in the person who is told to bottle-up worrying and anxiety. Telling a person in that condition to stop worrying is useless.

Revelation 21:7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

None of us should be repressing these things, but we should be dealing with them.

If you happen to be a strong-willed person you can hold these things from the conscious mind, with the result that they then go on working in the unconscious mind.

That condition is even worse than anxiety itself. But not only that, it is useless to tell the average person to stop worrying. It is the very thing they cannot do. They would like to, but they cannot. It is like telling a hopeless drunkard to stop drinking. He cannot, because he is helplessly in the grip of this lust and passion, and he does not have God's Holy Spirit.

It is also somewhat fruitless to say: 'Don't worry, it may never happen.' But if anyone says that to you, when you are in this state, your reaction is: 'Okay, but it may happen!' That is the problem. What if it does happen? That is the essence of your problem, so it does not help us very much to say that it may never happen.

We are warned in Proverbs 22:3, "A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished."So it is important to be careful about planning for your future, but not to worry about it to the point of anxiety. Worry and anxiety can be very detrimental to your physical and mental health.

When you have a secure mind, the peace of God guards you and the God of peace guides you. With that kind of protection, why worry? Well, we all do.

Philippians 4:8-9 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned, received, heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

We have a list of things that we can do to meditate on to help us to rid ourselves of that worry.

If we are to conquer worry and experience a secure mind, we must meet the conditions that God has laid down. There are three: right praying, right thinking, and right living.

The third principle is also negative and it is this. People tend to say to people who are anxious and worried: 'Don't worry, it's wrong to worry, and all the worry in the world will not make any difference.' Now that is perfectly true, it is sound common sense.

The psychologists in their reply say: 'Don't waste your time and energy. The fact that you are worrying is not going to affect your position at all.' That is true, but it does not get at the source of your trouble—for this good reason. If you are concerned about what may happen: Worrying is not going to affect your position, but your position remains and it is the position that is causing you this anxiety. Although this may be true, it does not deal with your particular situation.

In other words, all these methods fail to deal with the situation because they never realize the power of what Paul calls 'the heart' and 'the mind,' and these things that grip us. That is why none of the psychology and common-sense methods are finally of any use. They may help temporarily, but they do not resolve anything.

Paul puts the remedy in the form of a positive command. Philippians 4:6 'let your requests be made known to God.' Of course there are qualifications to that. That is the answer though, and how do we deal with this?

Paul says, 'let your requests be made known to God.' But many a sufferer has said, 'I have tried, I have prayed; but I have not found the peace that Paul speaks of. I have not received an answer. It is no use telling me to pray.' Thankfully, for us, God saw fit to give us specific instructions for carrying out Paul's command.

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

Paul is speaking advisedly, as he shows us how to let our requests be made known to God.

How are we to do that? First, he tells us to pray. He differentiates between prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving. What does he mean by prayer? This is the most general term, and it means worship, adoration, and reverence.

If you have problems that seem unsolvable, if you are predisposed to become anxious and overburdened, and somebody tells you to pray, is there anything that should be done before you rush in to God with your petition for Him to solve your problem by intervening?

Before you make your problems and requests known to God, the beginning of your prayer should be worship, adoration, and reverence. Come into the presence of God, and for the time being forget your problems. Do not start with your problems. Just realize you are face to face with God. In this word 'prayer' the idea of being face to face is inherent in the word itself. You come into His presence, and you think of and consider His awesome presence, and that is generally the first step.

You remember Jesus' instruction of the sample prayer. What is the first thing we should do?

Matthew 6:9-10 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

It is praising, it is adoration, and it is glorifying of God. But, following prayer comes supplication. Now we are moving on. Having worshipped God because God is God, having offered this general worship, adoration ,and reverence, we come now to the particulars, and Paul encourages us to make our supplications.

Both Jesus Christ and Paul tell us that we can take specific things to God, that formal request is a legitimate part of prayer. So we bring our formal request, the specific things that are now concerning us.

Matthew 6:11-13 Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

It is after we have given adoration and reverence to God that we get into the specifics of our own needs, and He gives us some general ideas and categories of things to ask for.

Although Jesus does not mention thankfulness, the attitude of gratitude is clearly seen here. We are now coming nearer to letting our requests be made known. But wait, there is still one other thing, Paul says, 'by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving.'That is absolutely essential.

And it is just here that so many of us go astray when we are in this anxious and worried condition with which Paul is dealing. He is interested in worship, and thanksgiving is absolutely essential for this reason.

If, while we pray to God, we have a grudge against Him in our hearts, we have no right to expect that the peace of God will guard our heart and our mind. If we go down on our knees feeling that God is against us, we may as well get up and leave. No, we must approach Him 'with thanksgiving.' There must be no doubt as to the goodness of God in our mind. There must be no question; we must have positive reasons for thanking God.

We have to learn to thank God even for trials. People are often tempted to complain about their lot in life. We should never give in to such a temptation. We have to learn to count our blessings and to thank our Creator for everything—even for trials and tests, which many times turn out to be blessings in disguise. We learn a tremendous number of things that help us to improve our character. God wants us to learn through these trials, tests, and sufferings, to help develop us and complete us in the way that He wants.

God often permits trials and calamities to happen to us to teach us certain lessons, and to help us learn some of the true values of life. Remember the apostle Paul's words about his trials:

II Corinthians 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Knowing this, we should sincerely thank our merciful Creator, even for our suffering. The apostle James saw dealing with suffering the same way:

James 1:2-4 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

There is that perfection again, that God is moving us toward, and that perfection that He talked about in Hebrews 6, that what we are to move on to is a completeness of character that is sufficient for what God's purpose requires. It is very sad that most people do not understand this today. Few, even among Christians, seem to comprehend the greatness of the God whom they profess to know and serve.

Job's friend Eliphaz reminded him of God's blessings and loving chastisement.

Job 5:17-24 "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole. He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes, in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He shall redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes. You shall laugh at destruction and famine, and you shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For you shall have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. You shall know that your tent is in peace; you shall visit your dwelling and find nothing amiss.

Eliphaz said that Job's problems were disciplinary: God was correcting him, so Job should welcome His discipline, not despise it. If Job would have the right attitude, God would bless him.

Although God sometimes punishes using wounds and injures, He also restores, or binds up, and heals. In verse 19, He delivers from six calamities and even seven. You know that the number seven is a number that represents completion. Also, when one number follows another in Scripture, with the highest number it expresses thoroughness, or emphasizes the final item. So in verse 19, God is emphasizing that no evil shall touch you.

Eliphaz then mentioned famine, war, slander, destruction, and wild beasts. The man who God corrects would, following God's discipline, have good crops (prosperity). In verse 23, "a covenant with the stones" means the stones would not hinder his farming. The sense is that they will not harm you. The stones represent enemies that were made to be at peace, and that would not annoy or injure.

This was probably spoken in Arabia, where rocks and stones are innumerable and are impediments to production. Traveling over such terrain was difficult and dangerous. The sense here is that the man who God corrects would, following God's chastisement, be permitted to go on his way in ease and safety. God may correct us, He may chastise us, and we may be suffering through trials, but God does give us respite from those trials, and gives us smoothness for a while. Eventually that smoothness will be permanent in God's Kingdom.

The man who God corrects would, following God's reprimand, have security (represented by, 'your tent is in peace,' in verse 24). He is also promised numerous descendants, good health, and a long life.

The type of ingratitude in the world today is appropriately illustrated in Luke 17, in the incident where Christ healed ten lepers.

Luke 17:15-17 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"

This type of ingratitude is often repeated today. There is probably not one in ten who will so much as turn back and give God thanks. One of the worst sins you can commit is the terrible sin of ingratitude.

Most people have built up an entrenched habit of continually complaining about everything instead of being thankful. Whether you realize it or not, you have many, many things to be thankful for. Remember the old saying, "I once complained because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet." We must never forget that our Creator is the One from whom all blessings flow!

When God appeared to Abraham, intending to bless him and his descendants, God revealed to Abraham one of His many names—El Shaddai.

Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.

In the Hebrew, the name El Shaddai means, "the Almighty Blesser".

The apostle James was inspired to write in James 1:17, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."

David reveals throughout the book of Psalm the mercy, goodness, and boundless blessings of God—blessings God bestows on all mankind.

Psalm 103 expresses eloquently David's thanks and praise for the many blessings that he received from God.

Psalm 103:1-5 Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

All through these five verses, we see David's attitude of thankfulness, absolutely required in giving a prayer that God received.

Our Creator likes to see us overflow with genuine gratitude—just as we rejoice when someone we help shows appreciation. In Psalm 50:23, the almighty God declares, "Whoever offers praise glorifies Me."

We must be thankful for everything! God does not require us to offer animal and grain sacrifices as the ancient Israelites did, but He is very pleased when we 'offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,' that is, 'the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.'

In ancient Israel, a peace offering was offered for a thanksgiving.

Leviticus 7:11-12 'This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which he shall offer to the Lord: If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, or cakes of blended flour mixed with oil.

That was offered as a physical sacrifice to show thankfulness under the Old Covenant.

Psalm 107 shows us that we can offer thankfulness, as a spiritual sacrifice, by declaring God's works with joy.

Psalm 107:21-22 Oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.

The proper and acceptable thing to do when we have been sick and restored to good health is to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving, that is, praise God. The psalmist recognizes that most people do not fulfill this obligation, so he says, 'Oh, that men would give thanks to (or, praise) the Lord.' The word 'sacrifice' in verse 22, is used in a general sense to indicate worship, adoration, or reverence. Let them worship God with thanks or praises.

As a spiritual sacrifice, thanksgiving can be offered in the form of a prayer and/or praise.

Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Prayer, praise, and thanksgiving are almost inseparable, and, therefore, are most often offered together.

One reason why many find prayer so difficult is that they have not learned to mix praise and thanksgiving with their prayers. We have our problems and troubles, but there on our knees we must ask ourselves: 'What can I thank God for?' We have to do that deliberately, and it is something that we can do, and we have to remind ourselves of it.

We have to have the attitude that although we may be in trouble at the moment, we can thank God for our salvation, and that He sent His Son to die for us. We must thank God that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world.

We need to pay careful attention to this sequence of instructions because it contains much that can help us attain both good spiritual and physical health. In the past fifty years, men have come to understand how deteriorating and destructive stress is to life. Paul's counsel, written nearly two thousand years ago, tells us not to be driven by anxiety or fearfulness about life. Even earlier, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus admonishes us to "take no anxious thought." The stress of anxiety is wearying, setting us up for multiple afflictions. If we really "see" God, we should know that He is with us. Should we not feel great assurance in His promise never to allow us to be tempted above what we can bear? Faithis a prime solution for anxiety.

Paul continues, urging us to let God know our needs in every matter of life. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, He already knows our needs, but He wants us to recognize, evaluate, and communicate them to Him, accompanied by thoughtful expressions of thanksgiving for what He has already given, as well as His promises of blessings in the future. Do we see what this process achieves? It disciplines us to think within certain well-defined parameters that have Him and His way at the center of our life.

Paul then asserts that one benefit of this is tranquility of mind, respite from the restlessness so common to the carnal mind, which is constantly searching for new stimulation to satisfy its insatiable longings. This peace of God will stand guard over our minds like a sentinel, allowing us to meet and cope with the problems of life.

Verse 8 begins with the word "finally." While not technically wrong, it does not adequately convey Paul's intent. We can understand it better as "in this connection" or "in this regard as I close this letter." In relation to anxiety, the peace of God, and coping with the problems of life, our minds should be occupied with things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. Through this discipline, we program our minds with the right things; what goes into the mind determines what comes out in words, actions, and attitudes.

This is a biblical version of the "garbage in, garbage out; wholesome in, wholesome out" cliché. It specifically expands on Jesus' statement, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). We could take this further and say that out of the abundance of the heart the mind thinks and feels, and the body acts.

In verse 9, Paul defines what is wholesome specifically as what they had learned, received, heard, and seen in him. He is indirectly telling them to eat Jesus Christ because he, Paul, as His apostle to the Gentiles, was His agent to them and their teacher of His way of life.

Strong's #1674: d'agah (pronounced deh-aw-gaw')

from 1672; anxiety:--care(-fulness), fear, heaviness, sorrow.

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon:

ּ 

de'âgâh 

1) anxiety, anxious care, care

Part of Speech: noun feminine

Relation: from H1672

Usage:

This word is used 6 times:

Joshua 22:24: "rather done it for fear of this thing, saying,"
Proverbs 12:25: " Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good maketh it glad."
Jeremiah 49:23: "evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet."
Ezekiel 4:16: "and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:"
Ezekiel 12:18: "thy water with trembling and with carefulness;"
Ezekiel 12:19: "of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that"

Marketers have thoroughly studied human nature's desire to conform so that they will be considered to be at the same level as everyone else in a social status they admire. This desire is stimulated by constant urgings from marketers to buy what everybody else—obviously—already has, so that one does not seem "backward," unsophisticated, a nerd in their peers' eyes. In the face of this societal pressure, not to compete for the same material things the neighbor already has makes a person appear to be unambitious and odd.

Sometimes it seems to be a paradox, a contradiction, that God says He wishes above all things that we prosper and be in good health (III John 1:2), and that many of God's servants, especially in the Old Testament, have been wealthy; yet He also tells us that it is better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35) and that the accumulation of things is not to be a major goal (Matthew 6:19).

Overall, God teaches that the things prosperity makes it possible for a person to have are a means to an end and not the end in themselves. He instructs us that "one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" (Luke 12:15). Others may make it life's goal to have them, but we must not.

There are quite a number of interesting things to consider in Jesus' instructions here. First, this is not instruction given generally to the public, but rather it was directly to His disciples. Second, He says that we should know from the signs given that His return is near. Our predictions may not be specifically accurate, but at least in the ballpark—near. Third, He emphasizes the element of surprise, even terrifying surprise. The impression is that the world will be taken completely by surprise. Fourth, the overall point of this instruction is that by being alert to the signs and taking advantage of them, we should be ready. The fifth is a final warning in verse 44, because He feared that even the attention, the alertness of His disciples, would be threatened: "Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes."

Are we getting anxious about Christ's return? I do not mean anxious in a sense of being fearful, but anxious in terms of seeing it come to pass. First, because things are getting so bad one wonders at times whether it can get much worse, and yet we know that it can. Second, as a result of the pressures of enduring life, there is some measure of concerned anxiety because the end seems to be taking so long to come to pass. We are undoubtedly in "the time of the end," but at the same time we feel that we have been on the gun lap a very long time.

• “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad” (Prov. 12:25)
• “In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul” (Ps. 94:19)
• “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on” (Matt. 6:25-34)
• “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27)
• “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7)
• “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved [shaken]” (Ps. 55:22)
• “And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10:41-42)
• “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Ps. 34:4)
• “For what has man for all his labor, and for the anxious striving for which they labor under the sun?” (Eccl. 2:22; NIV)
• “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties” (Ps. 139:23, NIV)

And these don’t even count the 100 or so times that we are commanded to “be not afraid” or “fear not”.   God clearly sees these topics as relevant to His people and worth addressing.

Read next:  Fear & Love Can’t Coexist (Musings on Faith)

How does worry affect us?

The word typically translated as worry or anxious in the New Testament is merimnao (G3309), and it simply means “to be anxious about”.  It’s translated “worry” in the New King James mostly, while the King James tends to prefer “take no thought for” or “do not care for”.  This word is what’s used in some of the more well-known verses on this subject, such as Matthew 6 and Philippians 4.  Let’s dig into that (lengthy) passage in Matthew for starters:

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble [NIV: “each day has enough trouble of its own”].” (Matt. 6:25-34)

It’s interesting that Jesus spent such a focused passage on the subject of worrying (and God made sure it was recorded for us).  He clearly tells us three different times not to worry, and then lays out several reasons why.

First, God knows what you need, and takes care of each part of His creation.  Second, it does absolutely no good—worrying doesn’t solve anything.  And third, each day has enough challenges on its own and there’s no need to (in the words of George Washington) “borrow trouble” from tomorrow.  And He clearly states that worry is a faith issue.

If faith is the evidence of things not seen, but instead hoped for and believed, then worry is faith’s opposite, its dark twin.  Worry is the evidence of things not seen, but feared and believed.

That’s an important thing to remember—just like someone’s faith is their reality despite lack of visible evidence, so are their worries.  That’s why they can eat away at us even though rationally we know we shouldn’t let them have such an effect.

Worry is, at its heart, fear.  And if we let worry and anxiety take up residence in our minds, they become a trickle of water that, over time, erodes and cuts channels into our minds as it continually re-treads the same path.  I’m sure you’ve seen that happen yourself, where your mind somehow keeps visiting the same anxieties over and over.

There’s a verse in the book of Job that I came upon recently and found really interesting.  God had allowed Satan to take away all of Job’s astounding wealth, his children, even his health.  Job’s entire life had been devastated in a very short period of time.

And in a passage where Job is wishing he hadn’t even been born, he says something fascinating.  “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me,” he says, “and what I dreaded has happened to me,” (Job 3:25).

Now…prior to this, Job lived a charmed life.  He was prosperous and very powerful, had a big family, and by all account stayed in close relationship with God.  God had blessed him immensely.  And yet Job talks about this great fear and dread that he had of losing everything.  That seems crazy!

It also somehow feels very relatable and human.

Peter exhorts us on this subject and the need to keep God in the picture.  He says, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”  Now, initially I stopped here.  But upon further reflection I realized that the next part is directly connected.  He continues, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith” (I Pet. 5:6-9).

Satan takes major advantage when we’re weighed down by worry and doubt, and does everything he can to keep us in that state.  Another translation of this verse says, “Be alert and sober of mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour”.

Alert and sober of mind.  We need to be paying attention to our thoughts, examining them and understanding which ones are productive and which may be taking us down a wrong path.  Do we control our thoughts, or do our thoughts control us?  David prayed that God would search him and know his heart, test him and know his anxieties and thoughts (Ps. 139:23).  We should ask God to do the same with us, to highlight where we’re letting anxiety guide us, rather than relying on Him.  Jesus very plainly said that we should not have an anxious mind, which means that this isn’t just a personality trait—rather it’s something we can overcome (Luke 12:29).  Which raises the question, what can we do when facing this challenge?

You might also like:  Fear vs. Faith: Lessons from Esther

How can we help combat worry and anxiety?  

For some reading this, just the reminder of these scriptures and God’s words on the matter is enough to conquer these feelings when they occur.  But I know that some others are thinking, “Yeah, that all sounds good in theory, but how do I actually DO it?”

Fair point, and I personally feel the same.  Because worry and anxiety are rooted in fear, simply applying logic and reminding yourself of what the bible says won’t always work for some brains.  It certainly doesn’t for mine.  I have to find ways to physically override what’s happening in my mind.

So over the years I’ve developed a number of ways to try and break the cycle when I recognize that worry or anxiety is settling in.  Different tactics work at different times, so sometimes it takes a few tries to figure out what’s best.

1.  Thankfulness, which brings perspective. 

Paul wrote to the Philippians that they should “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6-7).  In other words, “Tell God what you need and thank him for what he’s already done”.  When we do this, Paul says that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds.

It’s about perspective, putting a situation or my thoughts into proper place and context.  I don’t know about you, but one of the first ways I realize that my worries and anxieties are spiraling is that I lose perspective.  When I focus, instead, on how blessed I am in so many areas of my life, it helps re-frame what I’m feeling.

It also helps to remind myself that I’m not actually in charge, and that all I can do is…all I can do.  Solomon stated, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows” (Ps. 127:1-2).  He wasn’t saying that hard work is useless or that we shouldn’t care about our tasks—just that our efforts apart from God don’t really matter.

You might also like:  Unthankful: Is Ingratitude the Root of Most Sins?

2.  Asking God to put a bubble around my mind. 

I realize this kind of sounds cheesy, but for me sometimes it truly works.  And the spiritual principle is sound.  Satan is the “prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), and as such he has a great ability to transmit thoughts and feelings.

Do you ever have something in your mind that all of the sudden you realize is crazy or illogical, or wonder where it came from?  We know God had put a spiritual hedge around Job so that Satan and his demons couldn’t affect parts of his life (Job 1:10) and I picture that same principle applying with our minds.

I sometimes tell Him that I’m struggling with an inability to keep negative thoughts out, which send my mind in circles, eventually continuing to spiral into negativity.  I know it isn’t healthy but I sometimes can’t help it, and so I ask God to put a bubble around my mind and keep the thoughts out.  I actually picture it.  Seriously.

3.  Conscious control over thoughts. 

Stop the cycle.  Say it out loud.  I often just say “stop” out loud, to make myself pay attention (to myself…).  I will often take a deep breath and whisper/mutter to myself, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matt. 6:34).  No idea why the old-timey King James version of the verse carved itself into my head, but it has a nice ring and is what works for me.

It’s the shorthand I’ve developed for myself that signals that I need to stop dwelling on this and forcibly move on for now—in other words, stop borrowing trouble from tomorrow.  Find a verse or phrase from a verse that works as a strong reminder for you.

You might also like:  Book Reco: “You’ll Get Through This: Hope & Help for Your Turbulent Times”

4.  Distraction, in some cases. Replacing with positive.

This goes hand-in-hand with the previous one, because it’s all about stopping the thought cycle and focusing on something else.  It’s easy to look at that passage above in Philippians where it says “the peace of God will guard your minds”, and have that feel nice, but not terribly real.  But Paul gives us the key to implementing it in the very next verse.

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Phil. 4:8).

In other words, you are what you think about.  So when your thoughts are full of worry and anxiety, go consciously read something positive and uplifting.  Go for a walk and listen to a sermon.  Catch up with a positive friend.  Do something for someone else.  Take some time in prayer and bible study (often these types of issues can indicate we’re not staying as close to God as we should be).  Force yourself to focus on something positive, and play defense by mentally “changing the channel” if the worries start to creep back in.

5.  Plan and prepare to the extent you can.

Worrying and planning ahead aren’t the same thing, and the latter can be a positive alternative to worry and anxiety.  For certain types of worries (particularly things related to work or school), the best thing you can do is prepare to the best of your ability.  Think through everything that might come up, consider how to be prepared for different outcomes, and what you might do if something goes wrong.

And then from there, pray about it—tell God that you’re worried about it and how it would impact you if you go wrong, that you’ve done everything in your power and need His help with the rest.  I definitely do this sometimes when preparing for a challenging work conversation or an important presentation or interview.

This principle throws back to that passage in Philippians that we already covered, where Paul basically says “Tell God what you need and thank Him for what He’s already done, and He will give your heart and mind peace” (Phil. 4:6-7).  Just because God knows what we need doesn’t mean that we aren’t supposed to ask Him for it.