Originally published on The Electric Gospel on September 19, 2017.
God has it handled
by Holly Bahr
Anxiety is a feeling of worry or uncontrollable nervousness when thinking or obsessing about an event or a situation where the outcome is uncertain. Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental illness in the United States. According to Scott Stossel, author of My Age of Anxiety, “Forty million Americans have an anxiety disorder.” He goes on to report, “One in six people in the world will have an anxiety disorder for a minimum of a year within their lifetime, and one in four people will experience crippling anxiety some time in their life.” With these staggering statistics, one has to ask: Is the person sitting next to you in church suffering from anxiety? Have you felt the worry or fear of the unknown in your life? If you haven’t experienced the life-changing panic associated with anxiety, odds are someone worshiping with you suffers in this way. So, in the life of a Christian where trust in our Savior is first and foremost, what do we do with anxiety? We understand pain and suffering are part of our lives. We dive into God’s promises for strength—his gospel means of grace. Knowledge of life-giving rebirth we experienced through baptism and the forgiveness of sins received through the Lord’s Supper can ease the hurt of anxiety.
Even with God’s grace coming to us through the gospel in his Word, in baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, our human weakness gets in the way. The devil uses anxiety as a weapon causing us to doubt ourselves, our faith in God, and God’s power. We need the gospel to speak to our worries and strengthen our innermost being. God’s assurances to Joshua put down the devil and point us to the strength we develop through trust in God. “Have I not commanded you?” God said. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). When the panic of anxiety stubbornly takes hold of us, we look to the Lord for strength to overcome our worldly doubts.