There Is A Place for Anxiety

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Not long ago, NBC News did a report on anxiety in America. “We’ve become a very tense and anxious nation,” the reporter said. Over the past thirty years, anxiety disorders have jumped more than 1,200 percent. According to some studies, as many as 117 million adults report high levels of anxiety.

What is anxiety? A Columbia University professor of psychiatry described it quite simply. The main symptom, she noted, is constant worry or tension over various issues, such as work or family problems, money or health. Such worry or tension, according to the National Institute of Health, can show itself in various ways, including difficulty concentrating, fatigue, irritability, sleep difficulties, and restlessness.

Since anxiety is at such high levels, we must turn to the Bible for wise counsel as to how to deal with it. What does the Lord have to say about the matter? 

For starters, anxiety is nothing new. From the moment Adam and Eve opened the floodgates of sin, human beings have been drowning in anxiety. King David felt the sting of anxiety thousands of years ago. He wrote that a period of his life felt as if his bones were wasting away through his groaning all day long—all caused by his sin [Psalm 32:3]. In this poisoned, sin-sick world, the threat of anxiety is a fact of life.

The tough question is, what do we do with anxiety when it knocks on our door? The NBC reporter suggested turning off the TV and the computer an hour before going to bed. Don’t you feel better already!

The apostle Peter, writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, really cut to the chase. Knowing what it was like to experience extreme anxiety, he said to a group of Christ followers — as well as to YOU and ME — “Cast all your anxiety on Christ because He cares for you.”

There is a place for anxiety — His name is Jesus. He invites you to throw your anxiety on Him. He is tireless and strong. And one last thing, notice that Peter didn’t say to cast some of your anxiety, or even most of it. He said to cast “A double L” — ALL of it on Christ.

There is a place for anxiety. Put it where it belongs.

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7