Feb
04
2010
Arguments Against Anxiety
1. God is near me to help me.
Philippians 4:5-6: “The Lord is at hand; [therefore] do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
2. God cares for me.
1 Peter 5:7: “. . . casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
3. My Father in heaven knows all my needs and will supply all my needs.
Matthew 6:31-33: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 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.”
4. God values me more than birds and grass, which he richly provides for and adorns; how much more will he provide for all my needs!
Matthew 6:26-30: “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?”
5. What can man do to me?
Matthew 6:25: “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?” [I.e., you still have eternal life even if you have no food; you will still have a resurrection body even if you are physically deprived.]
Luke 12:4: “Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.”
Luke 21:16, 18: “Some of you they will put to death. . . . But not a hair of your head will perish.”
Romans 8:31-32, 35, 38-39: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? . . . Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? . . . For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
6. Anxiety is pointless.
Matthew 6:27: “Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” [Answer: no one.]
7. Anxiety is worldly.
Matthew 6:31-32: “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. . . .”
James 4:4: “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
8. Tomorrow doesn’t need my anxiety.
Matthew 6:34: “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Lamentations 3:23: “[God's mercies] are new every morning.”
13 Comments
Thanks. I may print this out and place it on my office wall for me, and my fellow business partners. We are very anxious in this economic darkness and so are our families.
The other thing that helps me is to see things like Haiti. But I find myself even then having this cringe in my gut when all the bills lay before me, and my cash flow is just a trickle in a dry riverbed.
Justin,
Thanks for providing so much helpful and stimulating info.
This is a wonderful list, but I would encourage everyone to look more carefully at the context of these verses. Some address a more “generic” anxiety, some a more specific type. For the latter, I Pe. 5:7 provides a good example. There the anxiety issues forth from a young man not getting his way with the church leaders. It is a powerful antidote to the anxiety that can come from pride.
I am anxious today. Not enough sleep. Too many cares of the world press in. Thank you
David
http://www.redletterbelievers.com
“Salt and Light”
What about “I am elect”? Doesn’t that help too?
[...] Part 2 – Arguments Against Anxiety 5 February 2010 No Comment http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/02/04/arguments-against-anxiety/ [...]
Is anxiety referring to a general feeling of unrest? Where does the true chemical imbalance in the brain which causes anxiety disorders and panic attacks fall in this argument? Is it still just a lack of confidence in God?
“Is it still just a lack of confidence in God?”
I would say yes. It’s worrying about things in this life, and on this earth. I do it a lot lately. I at the same time confess my worry as sin. I also know the Father has already dealt with all my sin when he took His Son to Calvary, and sacaficed His Beloved for my sins, and I was there crucufied with my Savior and so I sin, but my sin is already washed in the precious blood of Christ.
This helps me to deal with my worry, and even overcome my worry, because God first loved me, and so I now love Him. Loving the Lord is the heart of Christianity, when it comes to not worrying. Of course trusting God’s word and promises, becasue we now love Him.
If someone has an inbalance in their brain, and it causes depression, then I believe God has extra grace for that. Like William Cowper, who was an incredible hymn writer, and man of the Lord, but tried to kill himself several times.
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