I know that no other passages in scripture reveal my depravity and ongoing challenge more than the four passages listed below.
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Luke 12:22-31
And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.”
Phillipians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
I Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
When I read these again and search my heart, I stand defenseless and in beneficial pain. I search my heart and ask what is wrong with me. The answer is simple. I am proud, and I am a sinner. To me it is interesting to note that the passage in Luke 12 immediately follows The Parable of the Rich Fool. This parable is important to me because I have been blessed with much on this earth, and I know I run the same risks as the rich fool. I got the bright idea to put the parable up at the entrance to my home. It does serve as a warning to me and others, but I suspect I wouldn’t have put it up if I didn’t feel like I had that challenge somewhat under control. In other words, I certainly didn’t have the guts to put up Luke 12:22-31. That would be either so painful to me or such outright hypocrisy that I just couldn’t do it.
I once wrote a poem for a girl who was crying while riding the Metra in Chicago and handed it to her with I Peter 5:7 written at the bottom of it. I hope that it was a comfort and encouragement to her, but I look back now and see how little I even understood the passage and how terribly poor I am at following its simple admonition.
Let me share with you some of my recent life experiences so that you can understand that I truly have a deeper than normal understanding of anxiety. One of the first real challenges of my life happened about 4 years ago. It involved a physical ailment but revealed much deeper spiritual issues, which I now realize that God in His graciousness was seeking to force me to address. In the months that followed, I couldn’t sleep right, had regular panic attacks (They tended to come at noon each day. Do you know why? Because it was noon!), was generally anxious and more uncomfortable based upon how far I was from my bed. I look back on that period of my life and feel that it really was a living hell. (I believe that my wife would agree.)
So what changed that would cause so many problems for me?
I went from having some level of trust and belief that I was in control of my small part of the world to clearly no longer being in control. I am a long term planner. In college I had a spreadsheet for my entire life. (Sadly, that is not a joke; although, it is funny.) I had always been told that planning was a good thing, and I began to believe that I was good at it. My trust in my planning abilities had grown to the point where I had developed a diminished understanding of all the things outside of my scope. In short, I had discounted God’s role in my life and His plan for my life. I would check with Him via prayer after completing my planning and change something if I felt convicted. That didn’t happen often, because I don’t like to change my plans.
So there I was shattered to the core. At times I was nothing more than a scared, debilitated, irrational child. In my pride I could not accept my new reality despite a life supposedly lived under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, an above average understanding of the exhortations and commands of the Bible, and a wife who lovingly, patiently brought to my attention the Biblical prescription for my malaise.
It seems that the passage from I Peter that I knew well enough to write down from memory was incomplete without the preceding verse. Verse 7 is quoted frequently, but verse 6 strikes to the heart issue that drives the anxiety. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” I was working my plan so that I might be exalted. God was pursuing His plan. Step one was humbling me. Step two is me really trusting in Him and really casting my anxieties on Him. Step three is the mighty hand of God exalting me at the time of His choosing. Step one hurts really bad. Step two is likely to be the challenge of a lifetime for me. Step three takes a substantial amount of faith.
