Axing Anxiety

PresbyCan Daily Devotional

1 Peter 5:7 – Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (NLT)
"Your wife and daughter have been in a wreck."
Frank listened to the voicemail. Anxiety crept up his throat. He and his brother had been hiking in a place with no cell phone reception. He could see that he had voicemails but couldn't listen to them. As soon as they left and reached a place where reception was possible, he dialed voicemail. But he wasn't prepared for what he heard.
Two hours stretched between him and the hospital where he needed to go. All types of thoughts meandered through his mind as he drove. He attempted to place matters in God's hands, but it didn't seem to work. His gut wrenched, his mind raced, and his hands sweated.
Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as he had imagined. His daughter had only bent her glasses, but his wife had broken a foot and crushed her wrist. Frank discovered that his anxiety hadn't changed a thing.
The apostle Peter wrote to first-century Christians who suffered miserably for their faith. He encouraged them to give their cares to God because He cared about what they faced.
Peter's encouragement is still appropriate twenty centuries later. God cares about what happens to His children. Sure, I sometimes wonder why He allows certain things to happen if He cares so much, but that's not for me to know. He is God; I am not. Since He is loving and kind, we can trust His heart even when we can't see the reason behind what He does or allows.
I've learned that being anxious won't solve anything either. Anxiety didn't undo the wreck that Frank's daughter and wife had. It won't undo the effects of a natural disaster nor stymie the blows of a bully. Neither will it put money in our bank accounts for monthly bills.
In fact, anxiety impairs our judgment. An anxious mind can't make good decisions. Anxiety will lead us to unhealthy habits in an attempt to soothe our troubled feelings, or lead us to unwise decisions in an effort to undo what has been done.
Believing that God cares about what we're facing will replace the anxiety with peace — peace that can't be explained or understood, but peace nevertheless. When we take our needs to God, He transforms the anxiety into peace — regardless of the nature of our circumstances.
Let's allow God to teach us the art of axing anxiety.
Prayer: Father, soothe our anxious moments with the assurance of Your love and control. Amen.