Not Worry? You’re Kidding, Right?

No matter how much I toss and turn, I can’t fall asleep. My anxious thoughts attack my mind and keep me awake more effectively than coffee ever could. Fruitlessly, I try to rein in my out-of-control anxiety. Meanwhile, the alarm clock ticks the seconds at an agonizingly slow pace. The night inches forward.

Chances are, you’ve experienced something similar. Am I right?

Because our world is so uncertain and our future is veiled, it’s only natural to have all kinds of fears. Even in the best of times, they’re never far from the surface of our consciousness. So when Jesus tells us not to worry, can he be serious? Does he really expect us not to be anxious when there are so many good reasons to be?

Problems and dangers understandably make us concerned. The next step, unfortunately, is often anxiety. Consider the Biblical passage in which a storm engulfed the disciples’ boat. Jesus was asleep while Peter and the others fought furiously to stay afloat. When all hope seemed lost, they woke Jesus and accused him of not caring about their dire predicament. After calming the storm, he asked them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Jesus’ rebuke went to the heart of the matter. He wasn’t upset because the disciples were concerned or apprehensive, but because they didn’t trust him.

Whenever I struggle with worry, I turn to the apostle Paul’s words in Phil 4:5-6, which offer practical guidance on how to overcome anxiety. Let’s look at them more closely.

He begins with the command not to worry about anything. As if anticipating numerous objections, Paul goes on to explain how, and this is where we find the key to not letting our apprehensions consume us. We can defeat them only by replacing them with faith, expressed through prayer, petition, and thanksgiving.

I’ve sometimes been so worried about a matter that it weighs me down and drains my energy. But when I turn to God for help and thank him for his faithfulness, no matter what lies ahead, I hand the heavy burden over to him. Relieved, I feel as if I can breathe again. I don’t mean to imply that all the anxiety is gone, but it no longer controls me. God wants us to trust him and cast all our cares upon him. His shoulders are much broader and stronger than ours, and he can carry every load that troubles us.

Unfortunately, we often act as the disciples did in the storm – we try to handle the problem ourselves and easily get overwhelmed, forgetting who is with us. When our plight is so desperate, we finally ask for God’s help, even accusing him of not caring. Wouldn’t it have been so much easier to turn to God from the very beginning?

I realize it’s not easy – I struggle with this myself – but we always have the choice to feed our worry or feed our faith. If we choose the latter, Paul makes a surprising promise. God’s peace will fill our hearts, even when our situation hasn’t changed and we still have unanswered questions. Peace serves as a shield that keeps anxiety from overwhelming us.

When Jesus tells us not to worry, he is, in fact, calling us to trust him, to turn our lives over to him, and to come to him with all our troubles, because he is big enough to handle them.