We are living in anxious times. As I grew up we faced total annihilation by way of the bomb. My folks actually considered building a bomb shelter. Some of you may have done that. We wondered what would happen. Our anxieties are ever expanding. We have seen people poisoned by simply eating food that we have always taken for granted was pure. We have seen people die from AIDS by way of blood transfusions and not through an immoral lifestyle. We have more access to information today than ever before and in many cases it has caused us to be more apprehensive about our future. We are living in an age where technology is increasing faster than we have time to absorb the changes. Anxiety is the most pervasive psychological phenomenon in our time and few people understand.
I want to talk about “Hanging In There Through Anxiety.” There are not many of us who have not experienced some form of anxiety at some time. Anxiety comes about with concern about a possible danger or problem or something that will embarrass us. Anxiety is an emotion ... a feeling of apprehension or dread or uneasiness or worry or concern ...
and along with the feelings there are physical symptoms like clammy hands or a fast heart rate even migraine headaches.
Sometimes we know the source of our anxiety.
Years ago, Patty, Kevin and I went to Sweetwater, Texas for the rattlesnake roundup.
It is an annual event where people go out into the country side capturing rattlesnakes.
They are actually paid by the pound for the amount of rattlesnakes they can capture alive. We went to a large arena that is also used for rodeo and cattle buying purposes.
Two things hit you almost immediately when you enter that arena:
the smell and the sound of rattlesnake rattles.
It is an eerie feeling. They had caught some 10 tons of rattlesnakes. They were doing everything to milking them for the venom to skinning them, and one fellow was even irritating them to try to make them strike. The ones that were on the ground, where they were contained by concrete rings about 4 feet high, these they had to continually turn and move because they were so thick they would suffocate.
As usual, once our back was turned, Kevin was off and gone. There were moments of apprehension as we looked for him. Then, when we found him, we were even more apprehensive because he was standing outside of one of those rings, watching the man irritate the snakes. I had intended to eat rattlesnake for the first time in my life. After watching them kill and skin the snakes I had no stomach left to eat and to this day have not tasted rattlesnake.
There are some things that trigger anxiety and we know what they are. We understand.
Those things are built in safeguards God has given us to cause us to flee from danger.
We get anxious about other things. We get anxious about going to the doctor. We’re afraid he is going to find something wrong and sometimes we’re afraid he won’t find what’s wrong.
I get anxious about going to the dentist. They always ask, “Am I hurting you?” My standard answer is, “You started hurting me when I got into my car to come over here.”
They advertise “Painless Dentistry.” As far as I’m concerned that is as much an oxymoron as “military intelligence” and “government efficiency.” This is specific anxiety.
Things we specifically can identify as making us anxious.
Then there is free floating anxiety. We don’t really know why we are anxious ... why we have this feeling of apprehension. It is just there. We feel something is going to happen and we’re not sure we are ready, we don’t know how to prepare for it. Some people feel this is abnormal. To be fearful when there is nothing to be fearful about. Sometimes I think the free floating anxiety causes us the most difficulty.
We just have a sense of dread.
• We are anxious about our children.
• We are anxious about our spouse.
• We are anxious about our jobs.
• We are anxious about our health, retirement, the future, the economy.
We are anxious.
Some anxiety is good for us. They did a study in a hospital to determine the anxiety level in patients facing surgery. They found that the ones who were extremely anxious did not do well in surgery. But, those with no anxiety didn’t fare any better. They actually found that those who were mildly anxious about their circumstances were the best patients. They healed more quickly. A little bit of anxiety is good for healing physically and maybe even spiritually.
Maybe when we read about fearing God, which actually means to reverence the Lord, maybe we need to take that literally and recognize that we are in an accountable relationship with the Lord. God is going to hold us accountable for the way we live and act and relate to Him.
Dr. Thomas Holman at the University of Washington in Seattle did a study some years ago with his colleagues. They developed a “life’s events scale” where they determined a numerical value for the different things in life that cause us stress.
The loss of a spouse = 100 pts.
Divorce = 73
Getting pregnant = 46
Even Christmas = 12 just anticipating Christmas.
They concluded that if your points equaled 300 at any given time, you would be impacted either physically or psychologically within a 2 year period. This load of stress does not dissipate. I have a cousin that has a certain type of cancer, and they say that the cancer grows faster in direct relationship to the amount of stress a person experiences.
So we all experience something of what anxiety is all about. Another word for anxiety is fear. When Jesus said, “Be not anxious for tomorrow,” I think He was saying, “Don’t be afraid.” Psalm 46 speaks to us about anxiety. Listen as I read it through. READ
A psalm that speaks concerning anxiety. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.” That is the testimony of another psalm and that is what this psalm is saying.
God is our refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble. And the word trouble is probably best translated “pressed.” We are caught in a tight squeeze ... between a rock and a hard place. Have you ever been there?
Look with me at this psalm and let’s recognize three events.
Upheaval in Nature vv.2-3
First is an upheaval in nature from vv. 2-3. He is talking about things that happen in nature. Has it ever dawned on you that you cannot do anything about nature?
There are things that happen in nature that we really can’t do anything about.
I remember when lived in New Orleans and there was a flood. When I went to work that morning the skies were cloudy like it was going to rain. That wasn’t unusual ... it rained everyday in New Orleans. We never had to water our lawn. This particular day it turned pitch black outside. Then it rained all day long. I had moments of anxiety. Patty was at home with Kevin who just a few months old.
Home was over thirty miles away across Lake Ponchatrain. Would the bridge be closed? Could I even get out of downtown? Anxiety was my close companion that day.
It wasn’t as bad as my bosses wife. My boss had established temporary living quarters in
N. O. and his wife remained in Dallas. Al had surgery and was in the hospital. When his wife came to the hospital, she found herself submerged on the streets of downtown. She didn’t know a soul in N. O. Finally, she got out of her car, swam around and got on the roof, and sat there and cried. She was overwhelmed by her anxiety. Wouldn’t you have been?
And yet the psalmist says, “We will not fear.” READ vv. 2-3 I’m just going to trust God. I’m just going to let Him bring quietness to my heart. We will not fear.
Civil Disobedience vv. 4-7
There is a second calamitous thing that happens that the psalmist is concerned about. It is civil disobedience. READ vv 4-7 Civil disobedience. The city was under siege. And the psalmist was afraid. I think we are living in a time when it may be a very common thing to be anxious concerning civil disobedience.
Do you lock your doors when you leave? Do you lock your house up? We are anxious. We have a right to be. And yet what can happen to us? God is within our city, she shall not be moved, she shall not totter, she shall not fall. Are we aware that God is of infinitely concerned and greatly interested in you and me. If we trust Him we find peace where anxiety might have reigned.
Post Battle Fatigue vv. 8-10b
There is a third section in this passage. I think it may speak of post battle fatigue. When something happens our heart continues to race after the event. When we have already passed through the wars we find our hands clammy and our hearts racing.
READ vv. 8-10b
Isn’t it amazing that when we start to worry, when we start to get that feeling of apprehension, we roll up our sleeves and start to do something about it?
The Hebrew word actually means to relax. Cease striving ... be still and know that I am God. Relax and let God break through to our conscious mind. Let God allay the fears and anxieties that are there. Be still and know that I am God.
There’s a bit of verse in the form of a prayer that I think is appropriate:
Slow me down, Lord.
Ease the pounding of my heart
by the quieting of my mind,
Steady my hurried pace
with the eternal reach of time,
Give me amid the confusion of the day
the calmness of the everlasting hills,
Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles
with the soothing music of the singing streams that
live in my memory,
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations,
Of slowing down to look at a flower
To chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to smile a at a child,
To read a few lines from a good book,
Slow me down, Lord,
And inspire me to send my roots deep
into the soil of life’s enduring values
that I may grow toward my greater destiny,
Remind me each day the race is not always to the swift,
That there is more to life than increasing its speed,
Let me look upward to the oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well.
Relax .... be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Finally let me suggest 3 things about God’s help in trouble ... in times of anxiety.
The key vs. is vs. 1.
1. God is our ever present help.
That means that any time any where God is our helper. You don’t get caught up in anything ... you don’t find yourself at any time ... apart from His ability to help you. His strength is like that.
2. His strength is adequate for anything you might face.
It is bigger than anything that confronts you. There is no trouble beyond His ability. No word from a doctor, no word from a loved one, no statement of rejection that is beyond His ability to help you.
3. The third thing is ... It’s His help and not yours.
There is not much you can do to help Him. His help stands on its own.
We talk about the weather. Some times as we come to church we think the devil has more to say about the weather than God does. But you know I can’t do a thing about it.
But God can. What I am and what I contribute are worth zero. But His help is all I need.
What time I am afraid ... what time I am anxious. Are you anxious? What time I am afraid ... I will trust in Thee.
Will you?
