How Can You Overcome Anxiety?

Matthew 6:25-34

God did not design you to be anxious or nervous. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told the crowds, " Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'...Therefore do not worry about tomorrow" (Matt. 6:31, 34).

All of us have worried about the basics of life. When we reduce most of our anxities to their lowest terms, we discover they involve fundamental things; where we live, what food we buy, what clothes to wear, what friends we have, what others think about us. In all these concerns, the issue of believers in Jesus Christ comes down to trust.

Do you believe that you are in charge of your life? Or do you acknowledge that God directs and provides? Your answer has everything to do with your anxiety level.

Have you ever watched a mouse running inside a wheel? The faster he runs, the faster the wheel moves-but he doesn't make the slightest progress. He does not even have the sense to get off the wheel.

That is what anxiety does to you. You run faster and faster, trying harder and harder to meet the demands or prevent disaster-and still you do not have control over your circumstances. So when something does not go quite right, your frustration level continues to mount.

There is a way off the wheel, however. God created you. He knows your deepest needs (see Ps. 68:19). He longs for you to end the anxiety cycle and let Him lead (see Matt. 11:28). I Peter 5:6-7 says, "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." The word "casting" is related to the Greek verb used in Luke 19:35, when on Palm Sunday the people of Jerusalem threw their garments onto a colt for Jesus to ride. The word describes the same motion: a deliberate action of setting something down and leaving it there.

Jesus wants you to throw your cares on Him and leave them there. You depend on Him for life itself; and you acknowledge this reliant relationship by saying, "Here Jesus. Take my problems. You have the answers! I trust You to show me what to do and to take care of the consequences."