Fear and anxiety in the bible

[Jennifer Rogers]

What did Jesus teach his disciples not to worry about? Why? What is the root cause of anxiety? How should Christians exercise faith in God under all circumstances?

Jesus taught his disciples not to worry about food and clothing. Worry here is a worry, anxiety, and insecurity before the needs of life. Jesus used illustrations to teach his disciples to see the deeper causes of anxiety. First, He puts life above the balance between life and food and drinks, between body and clothing, to help them realize what is more precious than life and the body (v. 25). Next, Jesus used two illustrations of the birds of the air and the lily to help his disciples understand that it is God who rules and gives all things. Man has to work, just like the birds of the air have to find their prey, but life does not come from man's individual efforts, but God himself gives and sustains it. Then why should followers of God have to worry about what to wear when God is the keeper of life?
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you"
God tells us "Do not be afraid". Why? "Because I have redeemed you" means "I have paid a price for you." That is what it means to be redeemed. When we think of the word "redemption," we often think of it. This word is repeated in the Bible. What God is telling us in the Old Testament, fulfilled in the very body of Jesus, you and I "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name yours; you are mine." (Isaiah 43:1)
So, if you are facing fear and anxiety, let this permeate, for this is what God is telling us: “you are mine”. Don't get me wrong, we don't care about His ownership but He can do whatever He wants; He is speaking as a bride is talking to her groom or as a groom is speaking to his bride. God says to each of us, “I love you more than you can imagine. We create everything. What I do is complete and it's all up to you. I created you with my will. Not by chance. Please understand that when I say that I have redeemed you, I am not only speaking but acting by shedding my blood. It's because you deserve it. “If you know this truth, all your fears will gradually disappear.
Listen to what God said earlier in the book of Isaiah. Remember that He did not speak only 2,500 years ago, but is speaking to us today: “Say to the cowards: “Be courageous, do not be afraid! Here is your God. He himself will come to save you” (Isaiah 35:4). This shows how much you mean to Him. God has come to the World. He did not come to send an angel, a prophet. But He came to protect us.
We live in a time when there is a lot to worry about. The need for food and clothing is becoming more and more frequent, making people worry about what to eat and what to wear. It is easy for us to let our circumstances control us, and instead of “seeking first God and his righteousness,” we live as people who do not know God. And with a little faith, we forget that the loving God is in control and directs our circumstances. The Christian must live in the belief that no matter what the situation is, a loving God is in control and dominates the situation. Christians must live in the belief that no matter what the circumstances, God still loves and cares for His children. Jesus wants us to live in the spirit of absolute trust in the Father instead of living in anxiety-like everyone else. But saying that does not mean that we live irresponsibly in taking care of our own health or living a lack of awareness in protecting the creatures that God has entrusted to us to manage. We need to live in God-given wisdom to know what to do and what not to do, but above all in a spirit of absolute trust in God.
Again in the book of Isaiah, God says, "Fear not, for I am with you" (41:10) what that means for us right now. No matter what's going on in your life: financial worries, health worries, worries about your children, worries about how you're going to make it through the world with all the changes that follow. your way. in front of you, this is what the Lord says: "Fear not, I am with you, I am with you". This is the God with you, God and Earth, who is fearless, and who is victorious.
Continuing with those words in Isaiah (41:10), God says, “Do not be discouraged, for I am your God.” Because He is our God and we belong to Him, with Him we can deal with anything that may come our way in life right now.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

I wonder if any christian can testify that neither they nor any christian they know ever faced anything they couldn’t handle by telling themselves that God loves them, they deserve Jesus dying for them, and they can, therefore, handle anything.

There’s an important part left out of the scripture you quote. Jesus gave examples of God caring for birds, etc., and then went on to tell them that they must, instead of worrying about themselves, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things will be given to them. It isn’t by believing God loves us that He meets our needs, it’s by DOING what He wants instead of seeking to meet our own needs as called for.

 

[Jennifer Rogers]

I wonder if any christian can testify that neither they nor any christian they know ever faced anything they couldn’t handle by telling themselves that God loves them, they deserve Jesus dying for them, and they can, therefore, handle anything.

There’s an important part left out of the scripture you quote. Jesus gave examples of God caring for birds, etc., and then went on to tell them that they must, instead of worrying about themselves, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things will be given to them. It isn’t by believing God loves us that He meets our needs, it’s by DOING what He wants instead of seeking to meet our own needs as called for.

Thank you for your answer.

 

[Hidden In Him]

The need for food and clothing is becoming more and more frequent, making people worry about what to eat and what to wear.

Yes, a word in due season. It will indeed become more and more of an issue in the future, which is why it is important for the believer who has not yet trained him or herself to walk in faith must do so now before things get progressively worse, and we reach the stage where "men's hearts are failing them for fear of the things coming upon the earth."

You write some attractive and timely studies, sister, if these are in fact your works. And since you seem to have an aptitude for good teaching, let me expound on it a little more.

The fuller passage is as follows:

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 “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? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The stress in Jesus' teaching here was on not letting money concerns distract us from what is in reality the most important thing in life: Keeping our minds focused upon God, growing in our relationship with Him, and serving Him every day. His "lamp of the body is the eye" teaching was used to drive on this point. Focusing on anxieties like money concerns causes our spiritual eyesight to go bad, because we end up spending more time worrying about earthly necessities than we do on the things of God. Our minds end up getting controlled by the enemy, and by fear. This is why He compared it to trying to serve two gods at the same time. "Mammon" was depicted as a god we end up serving if our earthly concerns become bigger than our concerns about living for the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence why His admonition to us was to not worry about tomorrow, but simply focus on serving Him, and the rest would be provided for us if we did.

It's really a wonderful way to live. If anything, it makes life incredibly boring, LoL, which is something I have struggled with for many years now. I don't have many anxieties, other than my concern for if I am serving Him well enough or not. But that's the ONE thing I think should be our concern.

Thanks for the post, and I like your presentations.

Btw, if you want a little advice, I don't think Jesus was talking about birds of prey in the teaching. In v.26 He asks them concerning the birds of the air, "Are you not of more value than they?" Then in Matthew 10:31 He gives a similar teaching and then tells them, "Fear not therefore. You are of more value than many sparrows." (You are of more value than many στρουθίων = a little bird, especially a sparrow). It's possible He might have used a different analogy, but the likelihood is He was employing the same imagery in both instances.

God bless, and thanks again for the post. Always good to be reminded of this passage.

 

[Jennifer Rogers]

Yes, a word in due season. It will indeed become more and more of an issue in the future, which is why it is important for the believer who has not yet trained him or herself to walk in faith must do so now before things get progressively worse, and we reach the stage where "men's hearts are failing them for fear of the things coming upon the earth."

You write some attractive and timely studies, sister, if these are in fact your works. And since you seem to have an aptitude for good teaching, let me expound on it a little more.

The fuller passage is as follows:

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 “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? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The stress in Jesus' teaching here was on not letting money concerns distract us from what is in reality the most important thing in life: Keeping our minds focused upon God, growing in our relationship with Him, and serving Him every day. His "lamp of the body is the eye" teaching was used to drive on this point. Focusing on anxieties like money concerns causes our spiritual eyesight to go bad, because we end up spending more time worrying about earthly necessities than we do on the things of God. Our minds end up getting controlled by the enemy, and by fear. This is why He compared it to trying to serve two gods at the same time. "Mammon" was depicted as a god we end up serving if our earthly concerns become bigger than our concerns about living for the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence why His admonition to us was to not worry about tomorrow, but simply focus on serving Him, and the rest would be provided for us if we did.

It's really a wonderful way to live. If anything, it makes life incredibly boring, LoL, which is something I have struggled with for many years now. I don't have many anxieties, other than my concern for if I am serving Him well enough or not. But that's the ONE thing I think should be our concern.

Thanks for the post, and I like your presentations.

Btw, if you want a little advice, I don't think Jesus was talking about birds of prey in the teaching. In v.26 He asks them concerning the birds of the air, "Are you not of more value than they?" Then in Matthew 10:31 He gives a similar teaching and then tells them, "Fear not therefore. You are of more value than many sparrows." (You are of more value than many στρουθίων = a little bird, especially a sparrow). It's possible He might have used a different analogy, but the likelihood is He was employing the same imagery in both instances.

God bless, and thanks again for the post. Always good to be reminded of this passage.

Thank you for your answer. God bless you!

 

[evenifigoalone]

I think it's also good to note that these verses aren't condemning us for having human emotions; rather they are meant to be a comfort in the same way a mother might tell a fearful child "it's okay, don't be scared".

 

[Jennifer Rogers]

I think it's also good to note that these verses aren't condemning us for having human emotions; rather they are meant to be a comfort in the same way a mother might tell a fearful child "it's okay, don't be scared".

Thank you for your answer.