This past Friday I was able to catch just one live-stream session of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation's conference on Anxiety. The speaker was Alasdair Groves and the topic was "We Are Anxious People." Great title that applies to most of us, don't you think?
Groves had something startling to say, which is that all anxiety is not sinful. I had been under the impression that it was always bad - evidence that we are not trusting God in all circumstances. He based his theory on something Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:28.
"And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches."
Wow. I guess I had never really noticed that verse before. Groves' point was not that 'since super-apostle Paul had anxiety, then it's okay for us to have anxiety,' but rather that there are real threats and real burdens in this world. The people we love and the world we live in present concerns and even dangers sometimes. Just as there is righteous anger that can rise up in the heart of a believer, there can be righteous anxiety as well.
The heart of the problem is what to do when anxiety begins to overwhelm us. Groves gave three red flags to look out for as we process worries and fears. The first is not to give in to painting God out of the picture by attempting to fix the problem ourselves. The second is when we start believing God won't be good - He won't protect us in the way we know how to protect ourselves. Finally, an alarm should be set off whenever we think or utter these two words: "What If..." As Christians we are already on the wrong path if we are focusing our fretfulness on scenarios that are not even on the horizon yet.
What is the Bible's antidote to keep righteous anxiety from spinning into sinful anxiety? Groves had three suggestions:
* Read the Psalms when anxious.
* "Wait on the Lord" and realize this is an active command, not a passive one.
* Meditate on the truth that Christ will hold us fast.
Read, wait, and meditate seems like a very good prescription from One who is the Great Physician of our souls. 💜
In pondering this I wondered , which comes first fear or anxiety tgey seem to be partners. 2 Kings 6:15-16, the king of Syria sends his army of many to find Elisha to kill him, Elisha's servant gets up before him and sees they are surrounded by a great army of horses and chariots, there to attack and kill the Lords prophet Elisha. The servant is overcome with fear/anxiety sets in and he tells Elisha "alas my master what shall we do?" Elisha calms his servants anxiety by saying "Do not be afraid for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Then Elisha prayed and said, 'O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.' So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."
ReplyDeleteThe moral of the story, when fear and anxiety sets in, pray that the Lord would open our eyes so we can what's really going on around us, and "do not be afraid". I love these verses they come to my mind often.
Beautiful image!!!
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