Sarah Ensslen, Copyright 2020
As “returning to normal” continues to evade us in the year of the coronavirus, combined with unrest in so many spheres of life, and the everyday regular life struggles - anxiety has skyrocketed in ourselves and our communities at times to the point of panic attacks. In a world that cries for symptom relief, our God offers us so much more. As a citizen of the Kingdom of God, what will you search for when faced with anxiety or panic? Will you simply search for freedom from distressing emotions, ruminating thoughts and the accompanying physiological symptoms? Or, will you allow your shouting body, mind and heart to drive you to cross for the exposure of your unbelief as well? Will you search for freedom from symptoms, or will you search for the freedom of belief in the Godhead that produces the fruit of peace, hope and joy?
In Christian communities the common reply is, “you just need to trust God,” as though one can wave a magic wand of trust, or flick a mental switch from trust off, to trust on. No, the call of Christ is a call to fight for faith. God doesn’t tell us “don’t worry, be happy,” He tells us “don’t worry, instead fight for faith (Mat.6:25-34).” He even provides armor for us to wear while we fight, because he knows the intensity of the battle is beyond what we realize and beyond want we can bear on our own (Ep. 6). There is no room for “you just need to” in the fight for faith - whether it’s a fight for faith in the midst of anxiety, depression, grief, losses, gains, discontentment, contentment. “You just need to” reeks of self-reliance and self-sufficiency, as though we easily have what it takes to trust and have faith on our own, as though the absence of anxiety equals the presence of faith. The absence of anxiety does not mean that faith is present. Faith is not a state of tranquility or an absence of stress (though we can experience this in the fight for faith!). Faith is fighting and choosing to believe that God is King, that He knows our needs, that He is good, and enough - even when circumstantial evidence points to the contrary.
I have found that those who are fighting daily for faith when anxiety strikes are some of the most courageous faith-filled people I know. It is easy to say we trust God when our heart rate is normal, our body is relaxed, the emotion center of our brain is peaceful and the thinking center of our brain is functioning with clarity and creativity. But the depth of our faith is revealed when anxiety strikes, our heart is racing, our muscles tensing, our emotions rising and our brain screaming in so many ways “you’re not safe!!” As Ed Welch says in his book, Running Scared; God has beautiful words of comfort to speak to those who are afraid. God has beautiful words of comfort that can calm the body, emotions and mind not because of the words themselves, but because the words are just one gift to us from the God of the Universe who offers all of HIMSELF.
Every moment of every day the God of the Universe reaches out to us with a safe, loving, wholehearted, no strings attached relationship with Him. He wants to be our Abba, Father – our Daddy (Ro. 8:15). He “is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love” (Zeph.3:17). Stop and visualize what God is doing in this verse, how He is delighting in you! Will you dare to seek Him for a peace that comes from living in relationship with Him, instead of seeking only the temporary peace of symptom reduction? Don’t get me wrong, I want you to feel better, but I want you to feel better because you are standing on and setting your hope in the ROCK (Mt. 7:24-27).
For anyone currently faced with anxiety, I recommend watching this sermon by a dear friend of mine, Ajay Thomas. And if you find that you need extra help, I would love to walk with you through this season.