Care – Worry – Anxiety
The Lord knows there is plenty to be worried and anxious about, whether it is circumstances in your own life, or anxiousness about the crazy things that are happening in our country and the world right now.
Care: merimna; lit. to draw in different directions. A state of mental pain or anguish over circumstances or people.
Phillipians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
It’s God’s will that we don’t have anxiety about anything. We are commanded not to worry.
John 14:1 1 Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
John 14:27 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Do not let – do not allow – your heart to be troubled. Jesus says this twice. This should be freeing; because anything that God commands us to do, He will also give us the ability to do. It means that it is something that can be under our control.
When we are talking about care, we are talking about stress. Stress can have a direct effect on your physical body, as well as your mental state. Medical studies have shown that continual stress can kill brain cells in the same way that binge drinking does. It can ruin your health, and age you before your time.
Proverbs 14:30 AMP 30 A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones.
Proverbs 14:30 NLT A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.
Mark 4:18-19 18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,
19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
It’s an interesting fact that the origins of the English word worry come from a word that means to choke or strangle. Have you ever felt choked by worry? In its extreme form it can lead to panic attacks, which literally affects your ability to breathe. And in the parable of the sower, the cares and worries of this world can choke out the Word.
- Problems and circumstances; physical, financial, work related, relationships.
- Just the business of everyday life. Martha (Luke 10:41).
- Here is a key point: It’s not the actual circumstances which choke the Word, but the cares “entering in”.
- It is a fact that worrying about something never makes that thing “better”. But it can definitely make things worse. It can affect your health, it can make you do stupid things.
Take no thought
Matthew 6:25-34 KJV 25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
I used the KJV so we could see this phrase, “take no thought”. “Take no thought” does not mean “never think about it”. “Taking thought” is the equivalent of letting the cares “enter in”.
Thoughts can enter your head, but you have not made them your own until you take them. You have to receive and acknowledge them. Verse 31 says, “Take no thought, saying…” When you start repeating and vocalizing what the thought says, you are taking it and making it your own.
Worry is actually very similar to the process of meditation, except it is focusing on negative things. Look at Joshua 1:8:
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
So in meditation, the object is the Word of God, we go over and over it day and night in our minds, we speak it (let it not depart from your mouth), then we start acting on it, and we will have good success. The goal is to get that word down into your heart, to get it to enter in.
Worry thinks about your circumstances day and night, going over and over it in your mind. It uses your imagination in a negative way. You start vocalizing your worries: “What am I going to do?” It causes you to act in a certain way. And the result will be stress and failure. You’ve let that anxiety enter in.
Priorities
This passage is about worrying about material needs.
(vs 32) “These things the Gentiles eagerly seek”. It’s a main priority for them.
We are to make God our main priority, and He will deal with the material (vs. 33).
Casting Your Cares
What do we do about worry?
1 Peter 5:6-8 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Humble: lit low lying. Remaining teachable. Not thinking of yourself as better than others.
Cast: to throw out, down, or away. Hurl. Chuck it!
The problem is we thought He was talking about fly fishing and we keep reeling it back in. As long as you are worrying about your problem, you have it, the Lord doesn’t, and He can’t work on it.
There are many testimonies about people who worried about a problem. Finally they give it up: “God, I don’t care what happens any more”. Next thing you know, God turns their situation around!
Why can we cast our cares on the Lord?
Because He cares for us.
Not “cast your worries, anxieties, your state of mental anguish on the Lord because He will be worried, anxious, and in a state of mental anguish over you!”.
The second word for care in the Greek is a completely different word. It means: “for it matters to Him concerning you”. God doesn’t have a care, but He does care.
Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
Worry is a lack of trust
When worrying, we are not really sure that God is going to come through for us.
How do you develop trust in the Lord?
Proverbs 22:17-19 17 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your heart to my knowledge;
18 For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; Let them all be fixed upon your lips,
19 So that your trust may be in the LORD; I have instructed you today, even you.
AMP: “…that your lips may be accustomed to confessing them”.
Have you noticed a common thread in many of these verses? They talk about how to get the word of God inside of you, and it involves speaking it. Speaking the Word will help develop trust.
How do you develop trust in a person? When you get to know them and their character. They show themselves trustworthy and faithful.
Hebrews 11:11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
(for more on this, see Judging Him Faithful)
Handling Worry
Bring Every Thought Captive
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Worry comes through thoughts and mental pictures: “imaginations”. We need to judge the source of the thought. Thoughts can come from three places:
1. You, 2. God, 3. Satanic, or just worldly
Judge the picture the thought is painting against the Word. If it doesn’t line up, REJECT.
We can bring thoughts captive and control them. A key to this is to externalize the thought – realize that not every thought in your head is from you.
Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he…” You are not what you think until you internalize the thought and take it for your own.
How do you take a thought for your own?
Matthew 6:31 KJV Therefore take no thought for your life, saying….
One way we internalize a thought is by speaking it. When you accept it and believe it you will begin to act on it, and then you’ve made it your own.
Make Your Requests Known to God
Philippians 4:6-8 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.
- Don’t be anxious about anything. This is God’s will for you.
- Pray. Supplication is prayer where you ask for something (not just complain about something)
- Make you requests known to God. What do you want done? Don’t spend a long time in prayer focusing on the problem. God already knows what’s going on.
- With thanksgiving. For the solution, not the problem.
- Results: the peace that passes understanding. You don’t have any reason in the natural to be at peace, and yet you are. This will guard/protect your heart and mind from further anxiety.
- It’s not good enough to just empty your mind of anxious thoughts. They must be replaced with positive things. “Whatever is of good report”. Doesn’t even necessarily have to be something “spiritual”, just wholesome. Sometimes we just need to get our minds off the problem.
In Practice
The bottom line is that God knows what you are going through, He understands it, and He wants to help you. First of all, He wants to help your mental and emotional well being, and worry is a direct attack against these.
We can often get worried over a situation where there is really nothing to worry about. Ask yourself this: how many times have the things you have worried about never come to pass? I.e., you were worried over nothing? Probably more than the times there was actually something to worry about.
Other times, there may be a real circumstance you are going through, but God, who sees ahead, already knows that everything will work out.
In these cases, just dealing with the worry is the solution to the problem.
Secondly, He wants to deal with the situation you are worried about, when there is a real problem and it’s not just your imagination working overtime. A negative doctor’s report for you or a loved one. A toxic work environment, or being unemployed. Problems in relationships.
Dealing with the situation can take many forms, from an instantaneous miracle, to going through a process that seems natural rather than supernatural. It may take the form of wisdom and direction to change something. And it might not be pleasant to go through the process, but in the end the situation is solved.
My Testimony
I am a computer programmer by profession and have been in the business since the 80’s. I was hired at a prestigious stock brokerage in San Francisco during the dot comb boom when things were great. And then I survived the round of layoffs during the dot com bust.
Then there was the real estate bubble, and when that started to turn, there were more layoffs. I was told my job was going to be transferred to Denver, and I didn’t want to move to Denver, so I knew that I would need to find another job.
The day came when they told me it was my last day and to pack up my stuff. I was quite shocked, I thought they would give me a couple weeks’ notice so I could wrap up what I was doing instead of walking me out the door.
But, they did give me a generous severance package, and I was able to get a consulting job with a couple weeks that paid more than I ever made before. This was in July of 2008. So things were looking pretty good.
The consulting job ended at the end of the year, and when 2009 came, everything dried up. I was unemployed, I had two mortgages (one a rental, and the tenant stopped paying rent because their income also dried up). We started pulling money from my 401k.
My routine was to get up in the morning, get on the job boards to submit resumes, and then spend from 3 to 6 hours every day in the Word.
In August of 2009, our money ran out. Now my wife was working a little, and I had had a couple of small contract jobs over the time, so we had just enough money to buy groceries (although our grown son helped us out more than once with that) and keep the lights on. But we stopped paying our bills.
At that time though, I had spent and was still spending so much time in the Word that my faith was high, and I knew God would take care of us. I was not worried, even though I had plenty to worry about.
In October of 2009 I finally got a new job – at $20k less than I had been making at the stock brokerage. But I was glad of it. But our income was not enough to support the bills we had (we had quite a bit of credit card debt also).
Over a period of three years, we did a short sale on our rental (by this time the real estate bubble had burst), then the house we were living in and moved into a rental (it was a very nice one). And eventually we had to declare bankruptcy, which was discharged the end of 2012.
So after this point, we were living within our means, and quite happy. Then God did something for us out of the blue that we did not expect.
My Dad had developed dementia, and had made a comment to my step mom that he was sorry that we were the only one of his kids that didn’t own a house (this is what she told us). As he continued to deteriorate, she had to handle the finances which he had always done (he was a CPA, she was a nurse). She was under a huge amount of stress, and we helped her out. One day she called and said she found a CD account with money in it, and she literally begged us to take some as an advance on our inheritance to buy a house.
We took $80,000 and were able to put 20% down on a 3600 sq ft house (we had four of our five boys living with us) and pay off our car.
Over a few more years I continued to get raises and a promotion and passed up what I had been make at the stock brokerage, and have more in my 401k than what we had pulled out to live on.
So the process took a while, but God erased the negative situation we had gone through so we were better off financially that we had ever been.
And he can do the same for you!
