The End of Faith is the Beginning of Anxiety

Anxiety is an epidemic. People get anxious over life-and-death situations, and if their TV repairman doesn’t show up before their favorite show.

Anxiety can give rise to many sins. For example, anxiety about finances can give rise to coveting, greed, hoarding or stealing. Anxiety about succeeding at some task can make you irritable or abrupt. Anxiety about relationships can tempt you to be withdrawn, indifferent or uncaring toward other people.

Anxiety doesn’t just give birth to sin; it is sin. Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? … Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ … Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matt 6:25, 31, 34). Anxiety means that we don’t trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what happens in our lives.

Now, the world has taught us to cope with anxiety through using anti-depressants or drinking alcohol or watching TV to relax the mind or doing yoga. The major problem with any of those outlets for coping with anxiety is simple: they draw us away from God and His Word.

The message for the Christian is not to fill their life with worry or anxiety; the message is to attack it. How? How do fight our worries and concerns? Psalm 94 gives us one such method.

The psalmist in Psalm 94 wonders why the Divine hammer hasn’t fallen on his enemies and the impact of this apparent silence has led him to worrisome thoughts and anxious wanderings. He looks around and sees that the righteous are being oppressed, the unrighteous are prospering, and God doesn’t seem to care. The psalmist is frustrated and anxious because – like many times before – he thinks the wicked are getting their way. It has caused him to worry and stress and the psalmist acknowledges he is beyond the power to do anything about it. He is a frustrated man who counsels himself – and by extension counsels us – about how to attack anxiety. He is set to attack his anxious thoughts. In this psalm, we discover 4 ways to attack anxiety.

1. Attack Anxiety By Petitioning God for Help (Psalm 94:1-2)

If this isn’t foundational, I don’t know what is. When one gets anxious and turns to God, he is on the right track. But if he turns to another besides God, then he is living outside of the will of God. The psalmist sees injustice and he petitions God first.

Thank goodness the righting of wrongs is not our responsibility. We can do our part in society to help bring justice to those who commit evil (e.g., juries), but the ultimate and final responsibility here is not with us but with God.

The psalmist wants God to arouse Himself from supposed inaction. He prays for God to act now. This is a war-like prayer and cry, similar to the one in Numbers 10:35 when the Ark of the Covenant was going forth before the Israelites in battle. David petitions God for justice. He wants God in His righteous anger to judge with the judgment He promised.

So we start here. Anxiety should summon us to go to God first. We are to petition Him for action, not get a prescription or pop a few pills or enjoy a few hours of television or have a secret, immoral affair. Anxiety is the sinful failure to apply our knowledge of God to our problems. So if you want to attack anxiety, start here: petition for divine action.

2. Attack Anxiety By Identifying the Sources of Anxiety (vs. 3-11)

Sun Tzu, a Chinese military general who wrote The Art of War talked often about knowing your enemy in battle. That is what the psalmist does in vs. 3-11. He identifies his enemies – the sources of his anxiety.

This is a common prayer of the man of God. Time seemed like it would never end. This state of sorrow and groaning seemed to be endless. Time was dragging. The question of “how long?” is a mixture of complaint and petition and misery. David’s patience could no longer hold out. He had continued to experience these trials and difficulties as long as he could, and he sees no end to these troubles, so he asks “how long?”

When trouble comes, we want it over sooner rather than later. When a trial comes, what is our reaction? We ask, “When will this trial be over?” That is what we think and want (e.g., “How much longer till we get there?”)

There are times when the wicked seem to get their own way, because we live in a world of imperfect justice; that is what the psalmist was seeing and so he wants to know “how long?” These questions are familiar to any saint who gets overwhelmed with the seeming continuation of evil.

These sources of anxiety – these men – had no regard for God’s law or His warnings of judgment on the subject. They dealt arrogantly with those who are the most evident objects of compassion. They have no regard for these people. And if that isn’t despicable enough, they questioned the very character of God. They mock that God would even care or see any of their arrogant deeds. These wicked men live as if God won’t do anything about their deeds because the believe He doesn’t see and doesn’t care.

Why is this important? Why is it important to know the sources of your anxiety? Well, in the battle against sin, when you know the source of your sin, you know where to fight. If you don’t know the source of your sins, you cannot properly battle them. Too many people are fighting the wrong battles. For example, if you get anxious about doctor’s appointments, the solution to battling that sin is not to avoid all doctors at all costs. You have to find the source of that sinful anxiety.

In spiritual warfare, we are to deal with heart issues and not surface issues. And I will say that the source of our anxieties is too low a view of God. When your view of God is low or not biblical, you are going to worry and doubt and get anxious. Know your enemies; they are not sovereign. God is.

3. Attack Anxiety By Declaring Lessons Learned from Experiences (vs. 12-15)

What we mean here in the fight against anxiety is that we are to keep the end in sight. We can’t get so focused on the present concerns and forget about what God will bring about as a result – the lessons to come. People who are anxious live in the present only; people who are not anxious live in the present and the future.

There is a sequence of events in vs. 12-13 you cannot afford to miss. God allows the wicked to prosper, which results in the chastening of the righteous. This chastening is part of the teaching process, because in the midst of adversity we become much more attentive to God’s law. Learning God’s law gives the righteous “rest” in the midst of adversity. In this way the righteous find God faithful both to give peace in adversity and, ultimately, to give deliverance from adversity. See the train of thought?

Only in God’s wisdom can He bring “rest” for the godly out of the prosperity of the wicked. This is what we mean when we say fighting anxiety is about learning the right lessons and keeping the big picture in mind. He does this because He won’t forsake His people. God has a permanent commitment to His people because He was established a covenant with them.

4. Attack Anxiety By Affirming God’s Promises (vs. 16-23)

Anxiety can often be remedied by remembering that God is trustworthy; He keeps His promises.

The psalmist asks, somewhat rhetorically, “Who will stand up for me? Who will take a stand for me against the wicked?” The two expressions “rise up” and “stand up” both refer to a powerful, purposeful defense – an attack launched against the wicked. When God stands or rises up, it will signal that He is no longer going to tolerate sin. The psalmist is suggesting that when God stands up, look out! God alone can and will “rise” and “stand up” against the wicked. The psalmist sees how critical it is to have a promise-keeping God on his side and as his “help.” He has the appropriate perspective here. He knows who is in charge.

Fighting anxiety happens when the man of God affirms God’s promises. When he meditates on the trustworthy nature of God and allows that to saturate his life and soul, He can attack anxiety instead of anxiety attacking him. Anxiety is the sinful failure to apply our knowledge of God’s covenant faithfulness to particular problems. Someone said, “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.” Don’t carry your anxieties; cast them away.