What Does God Tell Us About Anxiety?

Anxiety is common to all of us at one time or another. It can affect our mental and/or spiritual environment on rare occasions, or it can be a generalized weight that we carry with us for long periods of time. In any case, it is represented by an intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear. When anxiety becomes dominant in ourselves or our society, and is not dealt with properly, it can often result in outbursts of anger or striking out verbally, even physically. When this happens, it is usually a defense mechanism against the fear of feeling vulnerable in some way. Do we not see this all around us today? This is not good for our well-being or for that of our families or for that of our nation. What does Scripture tell us about anxiety, then?

God knows our weaknesses and our fears. He has encountered them in us from the beginning. Throughout both Testaments of Scripture, God teaches us about anxiety’s negative effects and what we can do when we are caught up in its throes. For example, in Psalm 55: 23 we read: “Cast your care upon the Lord, who will give you support.” The Spirit is revealing to us here that when we find ourselves in the throes of anxious times, either unwanted or undeserved, we can put our trust in God’s love and care for us. The psalmist goes on to tell us of the effectiveness of his own experiences of putting his trust in God during his stressful times. “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul” (Ps. 94:19). This is the psalmist revealing his own experience of what he gained from giving his worries, fears, and anxieties over to God, and trusting in God’s love for him. What did he gain? Joy! And the same can be true for us.

In Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 6, Jesus challenges us, saying, “Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your lifetime? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not provide much more for you, O you of little faith…Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself” (vs. 27-30, 34). In other words, we are not alone. God knows our needs and he will provide the grace that we need to face our anxieties with courage and patient endurance…even in our “little faith.” When we are anxious, we need to learn to bring our anxieties to God. We need to practice our trust in his love and faithfulness. We do this by taking ourselves out of the environments of stress that we find ourselves in. We need to carve out time and space to separate ourselves from the noise and chaos. We need solitude and silence in order to be able to hear and to reflect upon the Word of God. And we need this daily. This is otherwise known as the practice, or the habit of prayer.

The great St. Augustine knew the depths of anxiety in the same ways that we do. He struggled with the inner anxieties and tensions of his conscience for much of his early life, as revealed in his “Confessions.” It was not until he took his eyes and attention off of himself and his desires, and began his life-long, ever-deepening relationship with God, that he finally found the peace of heart and the solace of soul that he had longed for all along. He reveals this in his famous words, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Just as with Augustine, our anxieties are the result of being too inwardly focused. It is when we turn our gaze outward toward God, when we give our fears and anxieties to him, and when we go out in service to others, that our anxieties either take on a more proper, a more manageable proportion, or they go away altogether.

When we find our rest in God, we can say along with St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans: “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell, can separate us from God’s love” (Rm. 8: 38-39). Believing this, then, when we are burdened with fears and anxieties, we can trust that we have a Father, a patient Counselor, who will never abandon us. Indeed, God promises to be with us in all things until the end of days (Mt. 28: 20). When in anxious times, pray! Trust! Believe! And do! In this, all that you need will be given to you. Amen.