Anxiety

What we think

Were inconsolable - my situation is unique, we leave no room for others to speak into our lives because we discredit them based off of experiences

Its a personality trait

Its inevitable - the world is a sad place, people die, hearts break, things never go right and so of course I worry, I get depressed

It’s COVID -

It’s just stress - we all have stressful moments and situations but how we respond to stress is ie “I am stressed out” = anxiety

Its physical

31% of 13-18 year olds are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder

How is it diagnosed? Off of symptoms

Many say anxiety is hereditary and a chemical imbalance in the brain - however there is no reliable test in existence to measure your brains chemical balance .

Anxiety according to modern science is INCURABLE ! they only provide methods of anxiety management

3-3-3 Rule - See, Hear, Body parts

No soda

Better sleep

Declutter

Meditation

self care

Cognitive behavioral therapy - attempts to uncover how negative thoughts affect you and then teach you how to change your responses to situations. Change the way you think, change the way you feel.

Our world is putting band-aids on broken legs, advil for cancer

Anxiety is a real struggle for teens, it is infecting every high school campus, it affects christian youth, it has settled in the hearts of many here tonight and has stripped away hope and joy. Anxiety has led many to find “relief” through pornography, for others they need affirmation on social media so they post more and more of their body.

1 Pet 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Sadly, many here have been devoured by anxiety and then told there is no hope, solution or cure.

We’ve been sold a lie.

What He thinks

Anxiety = Distrust in God and resistance of his Providence

Anxiety biblically is sin cut and dry

God is not silent about it and doesn’t make exceptions for it. “Trust in God” is the 3rd most popular character trait emphasized in the NT. That tells us (2 things) that Distrusting God affects a lot of people and God desires us to trust Him.

Imagine telling someone who loves you “I don’t trust you. I don’t believe you are doing what is best for me” it would break their heart.

Well this is what our anxiety says to God. God demands trusting him as much as he demands obeying Him.

In fact we see an example of this with Isreal when they were bungry in the desert

Psalm 78:19-22 “Then they spoke against God; They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? “Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing; Can He give bread also? Will He provide meat for His people?” Therefore the Lord heard and was full of wrath; And a fire was kindled against Jacob And anger also mounted against Israel, Because they did not believe in God And did not trust in His salvation.”

Anxiousness, not trusting God isn’t a bummer its a sin that angers God. It is a spit in his face. YOU ARE NOT THE VICTIM of anxiety YOU ARE THE PERPATRATOR.

He also clearly commands against it

Phil 4:4-7 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

1 Pet 5:7 “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

Psalm 119:71 “It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.”

Sovereign

We talked about Gods sovereignty last week so I will not stay here for too long BUT it is central to the conversation on anxiety.

Because if God is not completely sovereign then we cannot trust Him.

Sovereignty as Del pointed out last week means God is in control over everything.

Job 42:2 ““I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”

Psalm 115:3 “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”

There is no detail so small that God passes over it or event so big God can’t control it. He is in control of people, nations and nature.

When it comes to anxiety is kind of ironic because many would say “I get anxious when I don’t have control over a situation” but I’d ask you what situation do you have control over?

I don’t want to bury you in this but the reality is YOU ARE NOT IN CONTROL.

Many have whats called “Carrie Underwood Theology” - Don’t tell Jesus to take the wheel trust me he has it.

“Let Go and let God”

God doesn’t play tug of war

He is the creator, sustainer, author, designer and orchestrator of every detail in history

Anxiety - distrust in God is a complete denial or resistance to Gods sovereignty BUT PEACE is found when you know the sovereign God and trust Him.

Wisdom

Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.”

God is infinite in his wisdom. We think of wisdom as having good judgement and making the best decision. Yet even the wisest person will still make a mistake. They will get hit by unforeseen circumstances. They will struggle to make decisions, they will seek council and advice.

God is not this way. God does everything without need of council. He doesn’t need to way the best options. He doesn’t choose the lesser evil. Gods way is always the best way. His plan is the best plan. There has never been and will never be a mistake made by God.

Brooke made cookies once and used salt instead of sugar IT WAS A DISASTER. But God never uses the wrong ingredient in your life. Everything he gives or takes away or places you in IS THE EXACT & BEST thing you need whether it feels good in the moment.

When we are anxious we are not trusting in Gods way as best, we are not living in light of His wisdom.

When a pandemic hits and our grand plans for our senior year are ruined, when we are scheduled to work when we asked to be off or even bigger when Christians in Afghanistan are being murdered for their faith, when a relative or parent dies unexpectantly - we may think “God made a mistake” Or “I hope God really knows what he is doing”

I do not minimize any of those situations, but our hope is that our infinitely wise God is behind all of it doing exactly what will bring him the most glory and therefore what is our greatest good.

So don’t ask why and don’t be quick to presume it. I offer you no answer for why God has allowed specific hardships, difficulties and trials in your life...

Isaiah 55:8-9 ““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Rom 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”

We need not to ask WHY but as one pastor said “When Job continually asked God in an accusatory tone “Why, Why, Why God?” God didn’t answer “Why” but who

Before we demand God to give us a reason for the different difficulties that we are anxious over we need to remember WHO gave them to us.

What is it that causes your anxiety? Low self image, too much responsibility, fear of the unknown, tramatic experience? Know this God owes you no explanation because he is God and he does what he wants when he wants how he wants.

Rom 8:28-29 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”

Your greatest good is not wealth, comfort, happiness but it is becoming more like Jesus Christ and so through this seeming mess we can trust it is actually being orchestrated by our soverien and wise God to bring him glory and make us more like Christ.

Love

Maybe most important to understand if we want to trust God is that He IS LOVE

1 Jn 4:8 “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

God only and always acts according to His character. This means everything He does is loving, kind and good.

It is here I’d like to pause. All of Gods attributes are infinite and time fails us to explore the depths of even one attribute. The Bible itself is dripping of verses about God’s love.

But its one thing to theologically agree about who God is, its another thing to experience who God is. Anxiety dies in front of Gods love. Now many my come to agree that God is in control and that God is wise but we may in times of dificulty and emotion question in our hearts if God is really all that loving.

How can a loving God allow evil? How can God say He loves me yet allow all of these situations surround me.

Gods love isn’t gewy sappy pat on the backs. Often his love is tough love.

I love josh and left his bible when he forgot it.

How can we really trust that God loves us? Ultimatley John answers that question

1 John 4:9-10 “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Look no further for evidence of Gods everlasting, infinite and sovereign love than the cross of Christ.

We have no room to question how God is loving towards us in the adversities of life when we remember his ultimate sacrificial act of love by sending HIS SON TO DIE and BY JESUS willingly being tortued to the point of death on a cross and receiving the even more painful and more torturous punishment that we deserved for our sin.

How can I REALLY KNOW AND BELIVE AND TRUST that God is showing me love even in the most difficult time? Because He showed you love when you were his enemy.

Rom 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

If God loved you as his enemy how much more will he love you as his child?

TO THE BELIEVER: God sovereignly chose to love you, nothing can make Him stop loving you, he loves you deeply like a father to his child, and He loved you when you were his enemy. - You can trust Him

Its here that I’d like you hear the words of Jesus. Jesus, who died for the anxious is saying this to you tonight...

Matt 6:25-33 ““For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heav…”

God cares DEEPLY for you, dont be fooled.

We need to come to grips and choose to believe that God is sovereign, wise and loving if we want to trust him. There is hope, there is a cure. His name is Jesus Christ. Would you repent tonight, rip anxiety off the throne of your heart and make room for the prince of peace.

So what?

Choose to Trust - Trusting God doesn’t mean life will be easy or even happy, it means that even when we don’t feel like trusting God, even when our emotions aren’t there we determine to trust Him anyways. When we do our emotions will follow.

Put off anxiety and put on thankfulness - Rom 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

God is acting in your life to make you more like Jesus Christ and idk about you but the less me and the more jesus you see is a really Good thing.

God doesn’t demand neutrality in this area BUT absolute submissive trust which will always lead to giving thanks. Job after losing everything in the matter of a day Job 1:21 “He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.””

Pursue Communion - there is no bandaid memory verse, no quick fix. The only way to trust God is to know God and for some that means tonight if you want to escape your ensalvement to anxiety, depression, worry, fear, frustration then bow the knee to Jesus as Lord.

Give your life to Him. Surrender. Believe in Jesus and his sacrifical death on your behalf and leave your sin behind. Pursue obedience.

Others who have done so already yet are struggling with anxiety, recognize that by definition if you are anxious you are distant from God. Draw near again. Show me someone anxious and Ill show you someone who lacks prayer, show me someone anxious and Ill show you someone starved of the Word.

Be like ezra and set your heart to study the word. Discipline yourself to wake up, and before your eyes are exposed to a million pixels let them be illuminated to the living and active and comforting Words of God. Before your lips touch a coffe cup or squeeze out a yawn let them speak to God.

You will not distrust God when you are daily holding his hand.