Isaiah 40:28-31, Philippians 4:6-7, Proverbs 3:5-6
I’m going to open this message with a confession. I’m a worrier. I’m not fretting over everything all the time, but once my brain latches onto something that I see as worthy of worry, I’m off to the races. And that happens in spite of the fact that my Bible is filled with commands and exhortations – some coming from Jesus Himself – to be anxious for nothing. I read those words and pray over them and meditate over them and…
I get anxious anyway. We all do, right?
Here’s some sobering information. Over the course of this past year, the need for medical treatment of anxiety disorders and depression in the US has skyrocketed. From January to June of 2019 roughly 11% of adults in the US reported experiencing extreme anxiety or depression. In the single month of January 2021 that percentage shot up to 41%.
Overdose rates. This is staggering. From May 2019 (pre-pandemic) till May of 2020 (approx. 3 months into the pandemic) 81,000 Americans died of drug overdoses. That’s the highest recorded number of drug deaths in a one-year period ever. Nearly 40% of those deaths can be attributed to fentanyl misuse.
The statistics are brutal, and I don’t share them for any reason other than this. For me, what really brings these numbers home is that each of those 81,000 deaths in particular represents a soul who failed to see the grace of Jesus Christ as the way to help them deal with their anxiety. And that’s not to say that all these deaths by overdose are COVID related, or anxiety related but there are correlations between the deaths and the restrictions created by the pandemic that are clear. And for those of you who have struggled in addiction, few things create more anxiety than the inability to use. If there’s one thing people struggling in addiction don’t need, it’s forced isolation and I believe that these numbers are probably driven significantly by the pandemic lockdowns.
We know anxiety to be one of Satan’s handiest weapons. It’s easy for him to get us all stirred up, and it’s pretty difficult for us to let it go once that anxious feeling gets us in its grip. And look what happens as a result. Anxiety causes us to question our faith. If I’m feeling this anxious, the I want to know. Where the heck is Jesus? If I’m constantly worried about the events of the world, and the craziness going on in my life, why isn’t He protecting me from that?
And as your anxiety grows, the enemy will let you know that your biggest problem comes from the fact that Jesus simply doesn’t care about you. And because He doesn’t care, you ought to just go out and do the things and ingest the things that will make your anxiety go away. And that’s one of the rare times when the enemy is actually telling us the truth.
Because if we choose to listen to him and give into the things that he offers us to deal with our anxiety, the anxiety will go away. Because it’s hard to be anxious when you’re dead. And that’s Satan’s endgame, to bring death to someone in the moment when, thanks to his lies, they can’t see Jesus as a better option.
As I struggled with a bout of anxiety last week prior to an outpatient surgical procedure I was getting ready for, God was good to lead me to these Old Testament verses from the Book of Isaiah. This is chapter 40, verses 28-13.
“Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of His understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”
So many times, especially during such trying times, we tend to forget that God is in charge. He wasn’t caught off guard by the pandemic, the elections, or all the social unrest we’ve experienced. Instead, He is constantly beckoning us to Him so that we can endure the earthly anxieties all these things cause. When you receive Jesus into your heart, He doesn’t wave a magic wand over you that protects you from all the bad stuff in the world. The reason why is because one, we live in a fallen world. This earth is what it is until Jesus comes back. Two, because we live in a fallen world, we need a constant refreshing and ongoing commitment to Jesus taking place in our lives. He doesn’t grow weak or weary because He understands that we, as sinners living is a fallen world, need Him all the time!
Those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. Let the church say AMEN! Our trust in the Lord, our faith in Jesus Christ makes available to us new strength each and every time we need it. Every time anxiety has me in its grip and the temptation to do something quick and easy to get out from under it comes along, my faith in my Savior gives me the strength I need to turn that junk away and allow for His grace to be sufficient.
I want to close with these beautiful memory verses that come to us from Paul’s letter to the Philippian church, chapter 4, verses 6-7. I’m sure many of you are familiar with these words.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
For those of you who instantly turn your nose up and say that you have nothing to be thankful for just remember that you’re alive with the ability to complain thanks to Jesus. But if we set our cynicism aside and drink in what God’s peace can bring once we surrender our worry, our anxiety to Him, look.
It goes beyond anything you’ve ever experienced. And it’s a peace that lasts a lifetime. And it’s a peace that’s always available to you. You never have to lie, cheat or steal to experience the love, the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ. He’s waiting at all times. Listening for the sound of your cry. And once we give it all to Him, once we confess all our ongoing weakness to Him, He is faithful to guard our hearts and minds.
No drug, no drink, no computer image, no promiscuous relationship can offer you that.
The perfect cure to addressing your anxiety – understanding of course that there are times when medical interventions are needed – is ongoing prayer, abiding faith, trusted fellowship and a never-ending hunger to gain knowledge of God’s Word. When you can build your life around those things, then you will for sure experience God’s peace.