anxiety

Through the Fog

/ Chris Courtney / Leave a comment

Ian Furst, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” – Luke 24:34 (KJV)

Curae quae meum animum divorse trahunt

That is the Latin definition of the word “cares” in Luke 24:34. The phrase translates to “cares that distract my mind”. Cares is just another word for anxiety. And anxious thoughts definitely distract our minds from focusing on God.

The problem is simple: when we worry, we’re saying we don’t trust God. We’re saying, “God, I realize you are sovereign over all. You created everything. You sustain everything. You set the stars and intricately designed all life.

Including mine.

But – and, yes, the big “but” often leads us to the problem – you don’t understand what I’m going through. You know everything, but my limited knowledge tells me to be afraid. You’re all powerful, but my issues are beyond your abilities. You’re everywhere all the time, and your Holy Spirit lives inside me, but I’m facing life all alone.

If you stop and think about it, anxiety is very irrational. We choose to believe in what we see and perceive because we don’t trust in God’s love, grace, wisdom, strength… We see life our way, not His. We believe what we see as rational.

We become “overcharged” with worry. When you were a kid, did you ever rub your feet on the carpet to build up static electricity, then touch someone else for the sheer joy of shocking someone else with your finger? Anxiety and worry are like that: a buildup of fear that needs to be discharged from our minds.

The collection of anxious thoughts creates brain fog. We have a difficult time seeing through the thick haze of fear. We can’t see the Truth for the troubles we perceive.

Luke warns us to “take heed” – to not allow the cares of this life to overtake our thoughts. We have to choose who we’re going to trust. Are we going to believe our limited understanding of our circumstances when those beliefs run counter to what God says? Or are we going to trust the Lord wholeheartedly and take him at His Word.

I find I frequently have to fall back on my old standby passage of Scripture when I’m facing anxiety: Philippians 4:4-9 (ESV)

4 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Always – ALWAYS – be filled with joy in The LORD. Not circumstances. Not the things of the world. But in God because He has us. He is sovereign over everything, including me and my life. If I can’t feel prescence, it dioesn’t meean He isn’t with me. If I perceive impending trouble, I need to embrace God and His Word and put my focus on our Father and His Word and His promises, not my limited understanding.

 5 “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; “Let the world see your gentleness – which is reasonable for Christians, for Our God is with us always. The Lord is near!

6 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Always rejoice. Never fear. Don’t worry about anything. Instead take everything to God in prayer, choosing to trust in Him and thanking Him for His care and concern, knowing your problems are now in God’s more-than-capable hands. Cast your cares on God, for He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). 

7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” We don’t have to understand what we fear. We shouldn’t be wasting time and energy twisting and turning in our doubts and fears. When we believe God and take Him at His Word, we can have His peace. We don’t need to react to our circumstances. We need to trust in God. Just trust in God.

8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” This is where our minds need to be. Not distracted and bothered and throttled by our fears, but focused on God in faith, knowing He will see us through any and every circumstance we face.

If that’s not good news, I don’t know what is.

Impossible? Never!

/ Chris Courtney / Leave a comment

“But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” – Matthew 19:29 [ESV].

100 years old.  A century.  Think about it… someone who is 100 years old today was born the same year Woodrow Wilson became president.  The average wage earner brought home just under $1300 per year.  Milk cost 32 cents a gallon, gas was 12 cents and the average car $490.  World War I was still a year away.  Cracker Jack started putting prizes in their boxes, and the IRS started collecting federal income tax.  Stainless steel was invented that year, Henry Ford introduced the assembly line, and Charlie Chaplin began his film career.

Let’s face it.  A lot happens over the course of a century.  If you live to be 100 and still live on your own, you are doing remarkably well.  If you’re really blessed, Willard Scott will show your picture on the “Today” show.  The last thing you expect is to hear is, “Next year, you two will have a baby!”   Especially of you and your spouse were never able to conceive a child.

Consider Abraham and Sarah.  Abraham is no Tony Randall.  His wife is a spry 90 years old.  And, when Sarah overheard the proclamation that she would give birth at her age, she laughed.  (Wouldn’t you?)  And God’s response: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:13, ESV).

Likewise, upon receiving the news from an archangel that she would conceive our Savior as a virgin, and that her cousin Elizabeth (who, coincidently, had never been able to conceive and had passed her childbearing years) was pregnant, Mary was astonished.  The angel’s response: “Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37, ESV). 

And then there is the account of the rich young ruler, where we see how difficult it is to put God above all else, including / especially earthly wealth.  Jesus explains that, in and of ourselves, salvation is impossible.  We simply do not possess the wherewithal to save ourselves.  “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:29, ESV).

The Bible is filled with examples of the impossible: bodies healed, impossible battles won, astounding rescues, dead raised, thousands fed on the lunch of one child, lives turned around and set right, amazing grace and eternal love. 

This morning, our pastor challenged us with this: when was the last time you considered what God is possible of doing?  When did we last step out in faith, knowing nothing with God is impossible?  When did you last trust the LORD to see you through a difficulty, a hardship?  Sometimes it is easier to give up, to find a cave to crawl in and hide. 

But know this: God can do anything.  Whatever you are facing is no surprise to God.  Never will He say, “Whoa!  I didn’t see that one coming!”  Bad stuff happens.  But know that, when are at our lowest, “God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, ESV).

There is a really good reason Jesus instructs us to seek the kingdom of God first, and do not worry (Matthew 6:33-34).  Worry binds us.  Anxiety torments us.  Fear freezes us solid.  But, realizing nothing is impossible with God… now that frees us! 

Tonight, I challenge us all with this: what are you afraid of?  What is holding you back?  What’s keeping you up at night?  Whatever it is, lay the worry aside.  Go to God.  Go to your quiet place, get down on your knees before the LORD and talk to Him.  Give Him your fears and doubts and anxious thoughts.  Trust Him to work in your life, in your circumstance, whatever it is.  Accept God’s will and realize that simply having God with you is greater than anything outcome you may fear, anything you dread facing, anything that causes you anxiety or fear or doubt. 

You are loved, more than you can comprehend.  Rest in the LORD.  Trust Him without exception, for that is what faith truly is.  And hang in there.  Our circumstances are rarely what they seem, and God can bring you an outcome of great blessing.  Just cling to Him and find your joy in the LORD through Jesus Christ.