Don’t Let Anxiety Ru(i)n Your Life, Part 1

Lee Harvener • September 22, 2022

Part 1: Confronting Fears and Anxieties

Most people don’t live for the things that they value the most. We all would say we do, but most of us don’t. 


You don’t need me to tell you this. 


When people run their marriages into the ground because they give all of their time and energy to their work instead of their family, those people aren’t happy about that decision. When individuals stay in toxic relationships and consistently experience abuse, it’s not because they think verbal, physical, or sexual abuse is appropriate. When we skip school because of how we expect others to treat us, it’s not because we think that education isn’t worth our time. 


The reason is fear.

  • Fear of what our employer will do
  • Fear of whether or not I will have value/love outside of this relationship.
  • Fear that I will be humiliated and rejected at school. 


Fear and anxiety can run our lives


But that is nothing new. Whether it’s you reading this right now on your laptop or living life 2000 years ago, people have always experienced fear and anxiety. Even Jesus experienced fear and anxiety. Actually, his life is full of it!


So the question is how did he overcome it? What is his secret?


The answer actually seems pretty straight forward when you look at passages like Philippians 4:6-7:


“6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

That’s it. Prayer. I bet no one has ever told you that.


The truth is that we hear this on repeat. We put it on our bumper stickers. On our mugs. My step-dad wears it on his shirts. You didn’t need another blog to tell you that. The truth is that we know the quick answer, but for a lot of us, (especially me), that’s not enough. 


The question I found myself asking was, “What does it look like to pray through my fears and anxieties? Where did Paul learn it from? What did Jesus turn to?” 


The answer is a book in the Bible that has taught God’s people to walk with him in the highs and lows for over 2500 years. It’s a book that is real about the fear, doubt, celebration, pain, loss, victory, and every other emotion that everyone feels and every circumstance people go through. 


That book is the Psalms. 


But if you’re like most people, difficult emotions are tough because we usually fall into one of two camps when dealing with them. In camp one, (where I currently spend most of my time), you stuff your emotions and pretend that they are not there, and they eat you from the inside out.


The other camp is the opposite. You give into your emotions and say whatever is on your mind. So if something feels wrong, you don’t stuff it, you just turn the volume up. You vent how you really feel and you give full control to your emotions. The problem is that you end up doing things you regret and hurting people you care about. 


In both cases, fears and anxieties can ruin your life.


The Psalms teach a different way.


What the Psalms teach time and again is that emotions are really important in our relationship with God and each other, so they don’t teach you to stuff them. But, they also don’t have you give your emotions full control. Instead they teach you to pray through your emotions with God. 


This is about

  • Understanding the source of my emotions
  • Seeing their cause and effect
  • Being real about the whole mess with God.

In next week’s blog, we’ll take a look at just how the Psalmist was able to work through his emotions and anxiety in a very real way before God.  Until then, here are a couple of questions to ponder:

  1. What is an area your life in which you most often experience anxiety or fear?
  2. What is a time or two you think Jesus may have wrestled with anxiety or fear?
  3. Do you tend to "stuff" your emotions, or give full control to your emotions? What are some potential outcomes of either of these approaches?

Continue to Part 2 HERE...
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