Anxiety - Covid and Social Unrest

 I write this after being locked down during the 2020 pandemic.  There’s been a great deal of upheaval.  Many have lost jobs and businesses.  Just when we thought we were getting a reprieve we entered into a great time of social unrest following the death of George Floyd.  The entire nation watched in horror and unbelief at his death. 

What followed immediately was a public outcry – from pretty much everyone.  Politics did not matter the left and right and everyone in between was shocked, horrified, and even angry.  I was personally glad to see the universal response and was hoping and expecting a wonderful time national healing.  Instead the incident was hijacked by anarchists, Antifa, White Supremacists, and the Marxist lead Black Lives Matter movement to create yet more social unrest. Now there is the added death of a Supreme Court justice and even more unrest.

 I’ve seen the horrific toll of these last few months in my friends, patients, social media, and on television.  Like everyone else – I’ve been anxious, worried, and concerned.  I use these words because they are Biblical.  Many would have used the word “stress.”

 It’s often hard for a Christian to find the help they need in the scriptures if they don’t know what they are looking for.  The word “stress” does not appear in the Bible.  It uses other terms – notably anxious and worry.  If we are not aware of these words we may well miss the help that can be found in its pages.

Scripture has much to say on these topics and I’m going to cover a small part of that material.  I’m going to cover what has been of the greatest help to me.  My prayer and hope is that these words might point you in the direction of the word of God as revealed in the Bible for your own comfort and hope.

 Time after time, I keep coming back to the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:4-9:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if  there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about  these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

I kept coming to those words in verse 6 “do not be anxious about anything.” I found these words to be quite comforting.  I don’t have to be anxious.

 As I shared this passage with others I found many of them had a quite different response.  They felt that this passage did not apply to them because they had good reason to be stressed!  What usually followed was a particular incident, situation, or experience that invalidated this passage.

They had a “triggered” type of response.  Perhaps you might have such a response as well.  It’s not generally thought that telling a grieving, hurting, traumatized, and or hysterical person to just calm down.  Unlike television – a good slap across the face rarely does the trick.  So what does?

 I think this particular passage gives a few clues. I know that these concepts have been of immense help to me.  After the apostle said “do not be anxious about anything” he immediately said, “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  Thanksgiving? 

My initial thought was the story of Corrie ten Boom in “The Hiding Place.” She was in a Nazi prison camp with her sister.  Her sister brought up this passage and told her that she needed to be thankful for the fleas that infested their living space.  She found out later that the reason the guards left them alone was that the guards did not want to be infested by fleas and so they left the alone!

That is certainly an interesting story.  It comes to my mind often.  Yet, I really think that this passage is saying something quite different.  I really don’t think we are to be thanking God for the pandemic, the death of George Floyd, the social unrest that is seizing the nation, and all of the personal suffering we see all around us.  I don’t think that is godly, kind, or warranted.

 So what are we to be thankful for?  I think the key is in verse 4 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” We are to continuously be rejoicing in the Lord.  What does that mean?

It means that we need to be thinking of him and what he has done.  We can’t rejoice in him if we are not thinking about him. In chapter 2 we learn something of who Jesus is:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Did you see that Jesus is:

• exalted
• that every knee will bow
• that every tongue will confess

Thinking about Jesus focuses us on who is and what he has done.  By doing that we can be thankful!  In the midst of all of the horrible things that are happening now we can live – as the saints always have – in the firm assurance that He is mighty and that he can be trusted.  We have a promise and it does us good to dwell on these things.

 Now that we know something about thankfulness let’s see how we ought to be dealing with our anxieties; “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. “We are to be praying to God!  This prayer actually has some important content.  In the midst of our struggle and uncertainty we are to be thankful for his blessing us with the amazing gift of Jesus and the benefits we have from his life, death, and resurrection as we pray.  This focuses our prayer life during our struggles.  It gives us the confidence that our prayers will be both heard and answered.  It changes us.  I like to think of how Moses face glowed as he left the presence of God and how it was known that the disciples had been with Jesus.  Being in the presence of God changes us.

 In verse 5 we read, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” This is said immediately after we are told to rejoice in the Lord.  Some translations say gentleness.  Rejoicing in our Lord changes us.  People see it.  It really does have an effect.  We need this daily, moment by moment, always.  It’s one of the ways people can see Jesus in us.

I love verse 7, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” We start with anxiety and end with peace, an amazing peace that the world does not understand. How could they?  It only comes by deeply considering the person and work of Jesus.  They don’t do that.  The peace that comes from that is how God guards our hearts and minds from the cares/anxieties of the world.  This is a very common theme in scripture.  God offers and actually commands that we do the things that lead to our peace – that deal with our anxiety.  And the apostle is still not done. 

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is     just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if      there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about     these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Thinking is key to the believer.  Meditation on what is good is important.  We have God’s works of creation and providence to occupy our thoughts as well.  We can hear beautiful music, see vast landscapes, and contemplate works of art and many other things to occupy our minds.

Or we can focus our thoughts inordinately on the problems at hand.  We need to see and acknowledge problems and seek out solutions – but always in the context of faithful mindfulness of out God and what he might have us to do.  I often tell people they need to severely limit their intake of news, television, and social media.  We do need to live in this world but we need to abide in Christ while we do it. I find a certain expectation when praying about the circumstances in which I find myself.  God answers prayers in ways that I never thought.  These answers drive me back to him.  I hope this is of some help to you.  I’ve barely touched on the subject of anxiety but hopefully pointed you toward Christ and something of what he would have you to know.