Remedy for Anxiety
Winter 2022
Is there a heart o’er-bound by sorrow? Is there a life weighed down by care?
Come to the cross, each burden bearing—All your anxiety, leave it there.
Sorrows and cares, hearts and lives o'er-bound and weighed down—Christian women often feel this way! Several women in the Bible certainly had troubles, like Hannah who desperately prayed for a child, and Martha, who was troubled and full of care when Jesus was in her house! Living life in a full of care, worried, and anxious state chokes the blessed walk of victorious faith just as the thorny ground in the parable choked the good seed of God’s Word. Too often, Christian women are weighed down, stressed out, and cranky, barely surviving from day to day. How can the beauty, calmness, and stability of gracious Christian womanhood and the effectiveness of Titus 2:3–5 be regained? Philippians 4:6–7 presents a powerful, effective rescue! “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
The apostle Paul, directed by the Holy Spirit, cuts straight to the heart with “be careful for nothing”! How directly opposite that “nothing” is to the mental webs we weave over the cares of this life. “But you don’t understand” is often our first reaction. Paul also said that he suffered many cares from “without” as well as his daily “care of all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28). Paul understood what the weight of many cares was, yet he could tell others not to be full of care over anything and shared a powerful remedy.
Paul said in everything to pray with supplications (humbly asking your petition) and thanksgivings, and to let your requests be made known to the Lord. A.W. Tozer points out that supplications, thanksgivings, and making your requests known to God are all forms of prayer! In other words, pray, pray, pray, and pray! Notice that prayer is the action commanded, not our natural responses—to figure out things, worry, get stressed out, or other unbecoming actions. How much better to do as Susannah Wesley did: she threw her apron over her head, stood still, and prayed. Her children knew that Mama was talking with God when that apron was over her head! Maybe you don’t wear an apron, but we can train ourselves to be still and to pray! God knows our needs and distresses, but He wants us to ask Him. Paul learned to pray over his cares and he gives us the best counsel—pray, pray, pray, pray first of all!
Finally, besides the answers to prayer God bestows, He promises His incredible, incomprehensible peace! Not just any peace, but the very peace of God! What does the peace of God working in our lives look like? Perhaps the Lord Jesus Himself emulated best the peace of God when He was asleep in the ship during the storm (Mark 4:38–40). He was sleeping while His disciples panicked and became fearful. Jesus was calm when they woke Him up with the accusation, “Don’t you care that we’re perishing?” The Lord Jesus didn’t get offended, but He simply stilled the winds and the waves. Then He challenged the disciples regarding their fearfulness and faithlessness. Aren’t we so often just like the disciples? In the midst of a crisis, we often forget to pray, becoming fearful and faithless, worried and anxious. Dear sister in Christ, take everything to God in prayer, and you’ll prove Him faithful both to provide and to fill you with an incredible, indescribable peace!
All your anxiety, all your care,
Bring to the mercy seat, leave it there;
Never a burden He cannot bear,
Never a friend like Jesus!
Mrs. Barbara Mooney
Trinity FPC, Trinity, AL