Worry
23 Feb 2022
I read this in a particularly sad news report the other day.
According to a recent survey by Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) , second only to having Covid, anxiety was the reason most commonly cited by school leaders for higher-than-normal absence levels late last year. The report warned that pupils’ worries were not always school-related. Sometimes they were linked to wider experiences during the pandemic, such as relatives becoming ill or stressed, or experiencing domestic violence or financial difficulties.
While it is tragic to read of the rise of anxiety in children, the honest truth is that they are simply imitating what they see in the grown ups around them. Which of us can honestly say that we are not living our lives with at least a little bit of worry at the moment?
There are plenty of reasons that this may be the case.The lifting of covid restrictions accompanied with the fact that the virus is still around. The rise in the cost of living, and warnings that this may get worse. War in Europe. Divisions in society, and the fact that life in 2022 can feel almost unrecognisable to the world we grew up in - especially as society discusses sexuality and gender. The growing opposition to historical Biblical Christianity.
It can be very easy for preachers and pastors to challenge worry in a harsh way. But I’ve noticed that Jesus is far kinder than many of his servants. Much of the Bible assumes that we will worry and be anxious. But the tone of what God says about our worry is more like a mum comforting her crying toddler than an angry teacher. Jesus says “do not worry”, but the illustrations he gives next about clothing the flowers and feeding the birds shows us that the emphasis of what he says is “you don’t have to worry”. Peter tells us to “cast all our anxieties on him” (which assumes we have anxieties). We do that “because he cares for you”. Not because he thinks our worries are stupid!
As I think about my own worries as a man, a husband, a father and a pastor, I am reminded that God in his word calls me to do two things.
The first is to THINK HIGHER THOUGHTS. That is, to set my heart and mind on the fact that Jesus is Lord. Too often my thoughts are filled with what’s going on in the world. But God tells us that the most important fact about our world isn’t to be found in the world news. It is that Christ is risen, that he reigns, and that he is working his purposes out.
Psalm 46 is important to remember, and is worth memorising. In it the Lord makes it clear to us that “trouble” and days when it feels like “the earth gives way” are not unexpected. But as we live through them we can find “refuge and strength” in God. This is not us having religion as a crutch to get us through life. It is instead coming to the only fixed point in our universe - the “LORD of hosts” who is “with us”, the Lord who is in control, and will judge the whole earth. His statement “be still and know that I am God” is not a command to get away from it all and sit quietly. Instead, it is the terrifying command the universe will hear when he returns. As we come to the Lord Jesus Christ we get to do that now - recognising and worshipping him for who he is, and knowing the world is in his hands.
Linked to that, God also calls me to do the opposite, which is to THINK LOWER THOUGHTS. Part of my problem is I can do fill my mind with all that’s going on in the world, that I take on worries that are not my responsibility. The rolling cycle of news provokes an anxiety that can lead me to feel that I have to fix everything!
Each of us have particular responsibilities. But they are fairly small and limited. We have families to care for. A job to work. A church to be a member of. Neighbours to love. Those things are more than enough to be getting on with. And obviously a God to worship! The Lord simply calls us to do the next thing within those relationships. Might it be the case that some of our anxiety is simply pride in another form? We aren’t called to know everything and solve everything. As David (even David, the King of Israel!) writes -
“O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvellous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Psalm 131:1-2)
When I preached on this Psalm last year, I misunderstood what the imagery of weaning meant (amusingly it was my own mother who pointed that out to me!) But listen to Charles Spurgeon explain it -
The weaned babe has given up what it loved. By nature we hang on the breasts of this world, and only sovereign grace can wean us therefrom, but when we give up self-righteousness, self-confidence, the love of the world, the desire of self-aggrandisement, when we give up trusting in man, trusting in ceremonies, trusting in anything but God, then has our soul become like a weaned child. It has given up what nature feeds upon, that it may feed upon the bread of heaven.
Practically, what does this mean? Turn off the TV news. Stop scrolling through social media. Ask yourself why you know so much more about famous people you’ve never met, than those you are in a real relationship with. Go for a walk. Play with your family. Pray with your fellow church members. Read the Bible. Prepare for worshipping on the Lord’s day. Work hard at whatever you have been given to do. And give thanks that the Lord cares for you