Is It Wrong For Christians To Worry?
Have you ever gone through a troubling season that seemed like it would never end? I’m talking about the threat-laden, fallout-heavy, perplexing kind of trouble that refuses to give your mind a minute’s rest.
During these times, despite your best efforts to keep a clear mind, you find yourself constantly preoccupied with what-ifs, why-me’s, and contingency plans for somehow picking up the pieces of what is going to be a huge, hot mess.
How do we find peace during times when those troubling thoughts just won’t go away?
I find a good anxiety bible study to be helpful.
Here goes.
Don’t Worry About Anything
First of all, Philippians 4:6 says:
This is very encouraging indeed. What a consolation to know that, in Christ, we literally have NOTHING to worry about. Instead, if we pray about EVERYTHING, an unimaginable peace is our reward.
It’s also important to note that Jesus delivered a very similar, and equally encouraging “don’t worry” message to the multitudes in Matthew 6:25-30.
It says:
“That is why I say to you, don’t worry about living—wondering what you are going to eat or drink, or what you are going to wear. Surely life is more important than food, and the body more important than the clothes you wear.
Look at the birds in the sky. They never sow nor reap nor store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you much more valuable to him than they are?
Can any of you, however much he worries, make himself an inch taller? And why do you worry about clothes?
Consider how the wildflowers grow. They neither work nor weave, but I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was never arrayed like one of these!
Now if God so clothes the flowers of the field, which are alive today and burnt in the stove tomorrow, is he not much more likely to clothe you, you ‘little-faiths’? (J.B. Phillips New Testament)
Wow!
Passages such as these show us how unfounded our worry as Christians really is. These verses can be invaluable sources of peace during times of trouble.
In fact, like me, perhaps you would do well to re-read them, recite them, or copy them in your journal as a way of fortifying your mind at the beginning of your day.
How To Deal With Relentless Negative Thoughts
One of the wonders of the Bible, however, is that God’s word layers our strength by addressing the issues of life from more than one angle. This is important because the complexities of life are often offset, and our understanding deepened, by having a universal truth explained in a slightly different way.
The Bible does this in Psalm 13 as David comes at the “don’t worry” issue from a completely different viewpoint.
This passage says:
Psalm 13:1-2
Gotta love David for his brutal honesty.
Not only is he asking God for a hard deadline to end his suffering, but he’s also confessing to losing the “don’t worry” battle on a daily basis. Even to the point of sorrow.
Is this David the giant slayer? The same guy?
Yep.
Even A Giant Slayer Deals With Worry
This song was written by David more than likely during the time that he was running for his life from King Saul. That would have been a pretty trying season, for sure.
But this was also written at a time in David’s life when he had a bounty of spectacular evidence of God’s miracle-working power.
After all, at this point, he had been anointed to be King, he had slain a lion and a bear with his bare hands and had toppled Goliath with a slingshot. (Just for starters)
Shouldn’t a guy with this many victories under his belt, know that God is fully capable of delivering him from ANYTHING?
Of course, but this guy is also a human being who gets frustrated and tired and angry when times of trouble just won’t go away.
And so do you.
But it’s not because you’ve lost your faith. It’s not because you’ve fallen out of favor with God. It’s not because you’re doomed to fail.
David didn’t and neither will you.
In fact, in this passage, David shows us it’s possible to be a man after God’s own heart, yet struggle in your thought life. Especially during drawn-out seasons of trouble.
And sometimes, on those days when we lose the “don’t worry” battle, it’s good to be reminded that people stronger than us have done the same.
But it’s also good to see the blueprint for how they ultimately won the war.
David does this for us in verses five and six.
The Difference Between Worry and Despair
It says:
Psalms 13:5-6
for he has been good to me.
What David is showing us here is the beautiful dichotomy of living in God’s peace.
On the one hand, it’s nearly impossible to escape this life with lapses of worry, anxiety, and fear. On the other hand, God’s children should not lapse into all-out despair.
For even during those times of enduring trouble, God can strengthen us to bounce back and believe that someway, somehow, He will save us from the threats that assail us.
And when you study his life, King David’s faith in God to deliver him in this way never went unrewarded.
Neither will yours. Don’t worry.
What About You?
Are you going through a season of extended trouble? Do you daily fight with negative thoughts, as David did? Has this produced sorrow in your life? What are you doing to NOT slip from WORRY into DESPAIR?
Drop me a reply in the “comments” section below. I would love to hear from you.
Just what I needed today! Thank you!
God knows!
What did you do?
“Be still and know that I am God.” So difficult to do, but so necessary. I read today that we are own nothing here on earth because we are transient. Therefore, I only add to my anxiety and frustration and anger when I squeeze to tightly to hold on to things or when I neurotically pursue gaining other things. But true freedom comes by loosely holding on to my ambitions and not-so-maniacally pursuing my goals. And embracing the mystery of what might enter and what might leave my life. And in the end, it will be good for me. Because God is good and I am His.
Jathan