Low-Level Anxiety in the Christian Life

Ed Welch once wrote that anxious and fearful people can easily slip into taking Scripture as a pill. This is true and quite problematic on numerous levels. When the life verse does not provide the comfort needed, suddenly the Scriptures become emotionally insufficient. I have seen the effects of such disenchantment among evangelical men and women. This is not to say that the Scriptures do not offer help for fear and anxiety; in fact, my argument is that the Bible is ultimately the true comfort for those vices. But the exhortation is to view the Scriptures in its total counsel and the sufferer in his total humanity, not as isolated mantras.

Now, at another opportunity, I hope to deal with various distinctions; among them, the differences between low-level and high-level anxieties and other important exceptions that need to come into the conversation. But for now, I want to focus just briefly on low-level anxiety; the kind that shows up too often and which some people are especially vulnerable to. Among the many glorious encouragements in the Scriptures, St. Peter’s words are needful, not as an isolated verse, but as a textual argument for a full-orbed understanding of counseling. The Apostle encourages us to cast our anxieties on him because he cares for us (I Pet. 5:6-7). Implicit in this joyful declaration is the idea that God is interested in engaging his people in a focused anxiety detox program. The words themselves present us with an ongoing communion with God in the midst of our fears.

Perhaps our first acknowledgment from this text is the profound care of the Father for all our low-level anxieties from our intense fears for the well-being of our children to whether someone perceived me to be stand-offish in a church setting. God knows your frame and he knows when you are most prone to break apart emotionally. Anxieties and fears are real things, otherwise, God would not have demanded to enter into a counseling session with us in such times. He understands the demeanor and disposition of our hearts infinitely more than our complex sentiments about our lives.

Low-level anxiety can be fixed by a verse or two, but we run the risk of viewing the human war against such vices as something that can be cured as quickly as a Chick-Fil-a waiting line. As a pastor, I have counseled hundreds of people with low-level anxieties ranging from the 65-year-old widow to the distressed 17-year-old utterly confused about what to do with life when he graduates, and even to the young child whose life seems to be constantly in turmoil. These anxieties can disappear with a few short sessions, but often they demand the introduction of rituals to sustain the bombardment of life’s unexpected chess moves.

The most common way in which people return to their cycle of fears after finding some security in God’s care is by assuming that we can ease our guards. But anxieties and fears are not things we turn off; they re-appear at the most unsuspecting moments, which is another reason for the Christian to engage in rituals of grace and at times even double down on them to ensure greater security.

The Scriptures, totus scripture, gives us a house to dwell in (textual security), not a room to hide in (verse security). The textual nature of the Bible gives us a much more holistic picture of our anxieties and woes. We commune with God in the context of his means of grace and his church. There is no security outside these mercies. And inevitably those who seek refuge in solitude find themselves even more trapped in endless scenarios of fears that entrench them in a vicious cycle.

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I come from a culture in South America deeply steeped in anxiety. COVID brought the worse of my culture and coupled with the tyrannical practices of governments to shut down face-to-face gatherings, anxieties and fears are most likely the greatest pandemic both in my American and Latin culture. For a host of reasons, some cultures produce a higher degree of anxiety. This stems from parental practices and most often perception practices in societies.

As I have wrestled with my own anxieties and fears, I have found solace and the care of God in many things, including the singing of Psalms, the companion of friends, the reading of good books and in writing, and most especially in the worship of God’s people. These rituals secure us in a fuller image of the Christian life. They do not remove even low-level anxieties from us, but they allow us to embrace life with richer zeal amid them.

Lenten Devotional, Day 14: Anxiety in Lent

There are many difficult imperatives in the Bible. I would place anxiety on the top-five list. Yes, God provides strength and wisdom to fight anxiety. The reality, however, is that we often live with its presence daily. After all, it is easy to be anxious about thinking about an anxious-free life. Children, family, relationships, finances, education all add to the notorious list.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

It’s important to add that anxiety in biblical categories is not avoiding all concerns. The anxiety the Bible addresses is not a concern for the well-being of a loved one who is traveling or the natural concerns for the health of a friend. Anxiety in the Bible is the all-consuming and imprisoned sensation of driving your life through the lens of our troubles and cares.

To live concerned with big or little things is not the problem. The problem stems from allowing these big and small concerns to drive your day-to-day. In fact, according to Paul, anxiety stems from a lack of gratitude and proper devotion to God. It is rare to find a grateful person who is driven by his/her anxiety.

Anxious people draw others into their anxiety. Are you that way? Do you use your anxiety to manipulate people? Or, does your anxiety lead to petition and piety and praise to God? Our Lenten journey drives us to the crucified Jesus. He offered his petitions to his Father in heaven. Even in the midst of difficult circumstances, he directed his deepest yearnings and questions to the Divine Father who does all things well.

Prayer: Gracious and Holy Father, in love you created us; you made us reflect your glory and to expect your future glory to be manifested in our lives. Forgive us when we blind ourselves to your blessings by anxieties that darken our minds. We wish to see clearly your future, and so, we pray, take away our anxious hearts and replace them with comforted hearts who know and trust in your tender care through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

Hymn of the Day: Psalm 22, Be Not Far Off

UB Podcast, episode 9, Are we wrong to criticize Chick-Fil-a’s decision? / The rise of Fundamentalist Catholics / and a Letter for the Anxious Soul

Spread the wealth. We would be grateful if you shared this episode with friends and enemies.

Resources:

The Rise of Fundamentalist Catholics

Conservative Boycotting of Chick-Fil-a is Silly

A Letter to an Anxious Soul

Worry: Imagination Used in Futility

“Anxiety was a way of life in the ancient pagan world. With so many gods and goddesses, all of them potentially out to get you for some offense you might not even know about, you never knew whether something bad was waiting for you just around the corner.”[1] But Paul makes clear that the God revealed in Jesus Christ will hear you when you call. Anxiety becomes sinful when it is not delivered into the hands of the God who answers us.  The way you stop worrying sinfully is by handing over your concerns to God. When worry is not followed by petition, it becomes chaotic and generally sinful. Paul is bringing these two similar mental activities to mind: worry and prayer. Worry uses the same faculties that prayer uses. In both our thoughts and words are present, as well as our emotions and imaginations. Ungodly worry is imagination used in futility. a Prayer turns our cares and concerns into fruitful reasons to trust in God. Worry without God’s intervention becomes a pagan habit. We become so consumed with anxiety that we lose our appetite or we make our appetite a god; or we become manically depressed; we make ourselves vulnerable to whatever items or false solutions take away our pain. We hide ourselves, whereas Paul says “reveal all your anxieties to God for he will hear you.”

Since worry and anxiety are such daily exercises of the human mind, Christians are then to react to worry as God would have us.

How Shall We Then Live?

We live by transforming and renewing our minds, according to the Holy Scriptures.

It’s all right to be concerned about a loved one’s health, a difficult financial situation, a conflict with your closest friend in the Church, but Paul’s answer to Euodia and Syntyche’s in Philippians 4 is to find a common mind by asking the Lord for one.

A few simple, perhaps obvious, but hopefully helpful applications to deal with our daily worries biblically:

First, we need to address our anxieties to God. Instead of a vague nervousness, name the worry and concern. “Our Father in heaven, I am worried about my son, daughter, and my relationship with this or that person. Name your worry in prayer. Leave the vague generalizations to those who worship false gods. Our God is deeply interested in hearing specifically about your concern.

Second, turn your worry into a specific request. Once you have identified your worry, then make it known to God. “My God, I am concerned for my son’s relationships. His friends are not leading him to godliness. Help me to communicate that gracefully to him, so that he would seek godly friends instead.”

Specific petitions refine us and cause us to think deeply about the things we pray for as we pray daily.

Third, Paul says pray with gratitude, with thankfulness that our God hears us and that unlike the pagan gods of the ancient world, He is not out to get us; rather He is near us to help us.

Celebrate the kingship of Jesus over our affairs in the body.  Let the world know that the way we go about solving conflict in the Church is with grace and gentleness, not with anger and bitterness, and then turn those concerns about relational or other problems into opportunities to ask for intervention from God himself.

Here is the bad news: You may be faithful in all these things, and still the one with who you are in conflict may continue to dislike you and act as if you do not exist. After all the pastoral intervention, that relationship may never be the same again. That’s the bad news! The good news is that by faithfully dealing with conflict as Paul instructs, God will be pleased with you. You will have learned to live through difficult circumstances by honoring God.

Is worry consuming you to the point where you can no longer see the end of the story? If so, refine your prayers, people of God, and make it known to God even now for He hears us.

[1] N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone. Prison Letters.

  1. Some of these thoughts come from Gregg Strawbridge’s sermon notes on Philippians  (back)