Questions About Anxiety

When teaching those two messages entitled "Do Not Be Anxious" (find them here) from the Sermon On the Mount (Matthew 6:25-34), I realized that there would be some very big questions raised about the implications these sermons would have for our day to day lives. Unfortunately, I did not have time to address these questions for us. Praise God for The Overflow Blog : ) I want to tackle a few of those questions now.

In these 2 messages you might remember that I pointed out the 6 means Jesus has given us to fight anxiety: (1) Look Outside, (2) Remember Who Your Father Is, (3) Pray For Your Daily _______, (4) Put Anxiety to the Test, (5) Be Faithfully Forgetful, and (6) Be Anxious About the Things of the Lord.

Here are a few of the questions I could imagine all of us had as I was pointing these things out...

1. Does This Mean We Don't Think About the Future?

I can see how we might go to this extreme. After all, doesn't the Lord call us to "not be anxious about tomorrow?" Didn't I call us to be "faithfully forgetful?" Yes. And both of these calls still stand. Are we then to forget about tomorrow all together? No. We are to change the way we think about tomorrow. Christ says, "Do not be anxious about tomorrow," not "Do not think about tomorrow." We are to think about tomorrow, only in light of who God is and what God has said. We don't get caught up asking questions about the future: "What if? What if? What if?" Rather we make statements about it:

"He has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?' (Heb 13:5b-6)."

We remember His faithfulness so we can faithfully forget about our worries when we think about and plan for tomorrow.

So, think about tomorrow, only don't worry about it. Make plans, only submit them to God.

"Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that'” (James 4:15).

That is why you will find these words above The Rain Calendar. We think about the future, yes we do. We just submit it to the Lord and stop worrying about it (easier said than done, right : ).


2. Does This Mean We Don't Work?

If God is going to provide for us like He does for the birds and the fields, if we are not to be anxious about our lives in regards to food, drink, clothing, etc., doesn't that mean we don't need to work at all? Can't we just trust God to do it for us? Isn't that what He said? Yes and no.

Taking the birds and the fields for example: We must see that God supernaturally provides for them in seemingly natural ways. For He provides for the birds, not in spite of their work, but in and through their work. They might not store up in barns or worry about food for tomorrow, but they do fly from tree to tree looking for nuts, insects, etc. And it is in this seemingly natural "work" that God supernaturally provides for them. He provides flowers for the fields in much the same way. For God clothes the fields with flowers via very seemingly natural processes--He gives them rain, sunshine, nutrients, etc. and little by little flowers are produced. And yet, all the while it can be said: God is clothing these fields!

Paul clearly agrees with this:

"For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living" (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12).

So then, obviously we are to work. Christ is not dealing with whether we should work or not in our text. He is dealing with the way in which we work. We are to work not out of fear or anxiety, not because we have to in order to survive (for we trust in God not our work ultimately to provide for us), but because we want to serve and glorify God. Our motivation for work is different. No longer are we to be "eating the bread of anxious toil" (Psalm 127:2), but we work, as Adam did back in the Garden of Eden, because we love God and love others!

"Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need" (Ephesians 4:28).

We would do well to hear George Muller on this subject. This is especially important for all of you students asking the questions: "Why I am I in this major? Why I am I looking to start this career? Etc." The answer better not be: "Because if I don't, I won't have food on the table." Wrong! That cannot be our fundamental reason for work. God has promised to provide for us. We do not work because we have to in order to survive (as if our heavenly Father were either unable or unwilling), we work because we want to in order to serve and glorify God. We work because it is a calling from Him! But I digress, here is Muller:

"Why do I carry on this business, or why am I engaged in this trade or profession? In most instances the answer would be, 'I am engaged in my earthly calling so that I may support myself and my family.' Here is the chief error that causes almost all the other errors by children of God concerning their calling. To be engaged in a business merely to obtain the necessities of life for ourselves and family is not scriptural. We should work because it is the Lord's will concerning us. 'Let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth' (Ephesians 4:28)."

"The Lord generally meets our needs through our jobs. But that is not the reason why we should work. If providing the necessities of life depended on our ability to work, we could never have freedom from anxiety. We would always have to say to ourselves, 'What will I do when I am too old to work, or if I am sick?' but if we are engaged in our earthly calling because it is the will of the Lord for us, He is sure to provide for us because we labor in obedience to Him."

"Why do I carry on my business? Why am I engaged in this trade or profession? These questions should first be settled in the fear of God and according to His revealed will. We will then answer honestly, 'I carry on my business as a servant of Jesus Christ. He has commanded me to work, and therefore, I work.' Whether a believer chooses to become a missionary, a teacher, a carpenter, or a businessman, he will be blessed and find satisfaction in his career--as long as he works in joyful obedience to the Lord."

The Autobiography of George Muller, pp. 169-170.

3. Does This Mean We Don't Suffer?

This will be the last question I tackle (though I am sure there are more that could be dealt with). One could draw this conclusion from the fact that Jesus says:

"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:31-33).

"All these things will be added to you?!" That sounds like, so long as I seek God first, I will never suffer, right?!! Wrong. Some birds fall to the ground dead. Some fields catch fire. And some Christians can go hungry, thirsty, naked, and even die!

So what good is this promise then? It is a promise that moves on through eternity. It means, we will ultimately, eternally be provided for by our Father, even if He sees it fit for us to suffer for a time here. Does it mean that He will provide for us here? Yes, absolutely. But sometimes, His providing for us here is to take us through tribulation that refines our character or increases our heavenly reward or gives us rest from our earthly sorrow. After all, a sparrow does not fall to the earth apart from our Father (Mat 10:29)!

We can see this truth clearly in Romans 8:

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

'For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:31-39).

God's love and provision supersedes (in an eternal sense) any famine or nakedness or even death (in a momentary sense)!

So no...this promise is not your ticket for a suffer-free life. But it is a promise from God that He will provide for your needs, whether that be through giving you food or withholding it from you.

"I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

"...And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen" (Philippians 4:12-13, 19-20).

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Here's to fighting anxiety for the glory of God!!!