Recognizing Anxiety in Your Life
I was nervous.
My palms were sweaty. I wasn’t sure things would turn out the way I wanted.
But I went for it. With encouragement from a couple buddies, I walked across the gym and asked Becky to dance with me.
More recently, anxiety threatened to raise its ugly head when I was signing a new mortgage. I was preparing to move my family more than 800 miles to a different part of the country. Negative thoughts began to swirl: “Will the Lord provide my wife a job in our new city?” “Will the economy hold up and the sale go through, or will I end up owning two houses?”
Isn’t it funny how different things cause us to feel nervous or anxious at various points in our life? As we grow and mature, situations that once stressed us out get rightsized and no longer trigger us as they did in the past.
The Lord is crystal clear in what He tells us to do when we feel anxious, no matter the situation.
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7, NIV)
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6, NIV)
A key question is, do you know when you are feeling anxious?
I ask because anxiety loves to hide itself and then ambush us.
When I’m feeling anxious, I tend to get ‘snippy’ or critical. Thankfully, my wife Jen (yeah… it didn’t work out with Becky!) is great at recognizing this and asking me if I’m feeling anxious. But if my anxiety goes unrecognized, it reveals itself when I start blaming others, even if it’s only in my mind. One time, my anxiety became so bad that it weakened my immune system, and I got sick!
People resort to many different behaviors, attitudes and defense mechanisms to assuage their feelings of anxiety.
We use a lot of words to describe anxious feelings. We might be nervous or uptight. Sometimes we’re just antsy or uneasy. We can be apprehensive, fearful, worried, or a real hot mess!
Definitions of anxiety include “the concept of excessive or inordinate focus on an unknown outcome involving factors beyond our control.” This is different from taking an appropriate concern about one’s responsibilities.
Anxiety results when we can’t see ahead to know the outcome. It stems from uncertainty and shows up in our emotions and behaviors.
Ultimately, anxiety is a temptation to rely on self rather than trusting in the Lord and His plan, provision, and providence.
Steve Cuss puts it this way: “Anxiety shrinks the power of the gospel because it presents a false gospel—one of self-reliance rather than reliance on God… Anxiety is a sign that the false self is demanding we nourish it instead of dying to it.” (Managing Leadership Anxiety, p. 18-19 in Kindle)
Again, this is not to deny that we have significant responsibility to fulfill, but we’ll address that next week.
The Lord Jesus himself told us that things won’t always work out the way we want them to. In John 16:33 he said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” In those moments when things are not going according to our plan, we must deny ourselves and trust God’s leading and guiding (see Luke 9:23-25).
In Luke 12, Jesus gives a specific example of how to trust Him in a potentially anxious situation. He described how this world will persecute his followers. But He went on to assure us that even in those situations, we don’t need to rely on ourselves, but on Him. “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” (Luke 12:11-12, NIV)
Dear Saints, in order to grow in health and maturity, we must come to recognize when we are feeling anxious, so that we can stop relying on our own flesh habits and patterns. Then, we can intentionally choose to trust God with our uncertainty while we fulfill our area of responsibility.
Next week, we’ll take a more detailed look at how to deal with anxiety. In the meantime, ask the Lord and those close to you how they know when you are feeling anxious. Begin to recognize how your anxiety likes to hide in your life.
Trust me—it’s a joy to replace anxiety with trust in Jesus! As Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”