The Bible does not pretend anxiety away. “When anxiety overwhelms me,” a psalmist says, and Proverbs knows it “weighs down the heart of a man.” Hannah, troubled in spirit, pours out her soul before the Lord; another psalmist lies awake, too troubled to speak; Mary and Joseph search three days for their son, “anxiously.” Jesus’ answer is to look. Look at the birds of the air: your Father feeds them. Consider how the lilies of the field grow: not even Solomon was dressed like one of these. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Martha is “worried and upset about many things,” and the worries of this life can choke the word until it bears no fruit. So anxiety is given somewhere to go. “Cast your burden upon the Lord.” “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” The one who trusts is like a tree by the water that does not worry in a year of drought. Jesus himself is not spared it. In Gethsemane he “began to be deeply troubled and distressed,” and he takes it to his Father: “Abba, Father… not what I will, but what You will.” That same night he tells his friends, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Then the word Jesus used for worry turns up in Paul pointed outward: his daily concern for all the churches, Timothy who will genuinely care for others, members of one body with mutual concern for one another. Cast your own on him, and carry one another’s burdens.
The Bible does not pretend anxiety away. “When anxiety overwhelms me,” a psalmist says, and Proverbs knows it “weighs down the heart of a man.” Hannah, troubled in spirit, pours out her soul before the Lord; another psalmist lies awake, too troubled to speak; Mary and Joseph search three days for their son, “anxiously.” Jesus’ answer is to look. Look at the birds of the air: your Father feeds them. Consider how the lilies of the field grow: not even Solomon was dressed like one of these. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Martha is “worried and upset about many things,” and the worries of this life can choke the word until it bears no fruit. So anxiety is given somewhere to go. “Cast your burden upon the Lord.” “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” The one who trusts is like a tree by the water that does not worry in a year of drought. Jesus himself is not spared it. In Gethsemane he “began to be deeply troubled and distressed,” and he takes it to his Father: “Abba, Father… not what I will, but what You will.” That same night he tells his friends, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Then the word Jesus used for worry turns up in Paul pointed outward: his daily concern for all the churches, Timothy who will genuinely care for others, members of one body with mutual concern for one another. Cast your own on him, and carry one another’s burdens.