Fear & Anxiety: Do Not Be Anxious About Your Life, Vol.1, Complete Edition

Fear & Anxiety: Do Not Be Anxious About Your Life, Vol.1, Complete Edition

By. John Piper

Battling the Unbelief of Despondency

When my heart was grieved

and my spirit embittered,

I was senseless and ignorant;

I was a brute beast before you.

Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me into glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

(The following is a transcription of the sermon audio.)

I want you to focus on verse 26 for just a few minutes - "My flesh and my heart may fail" - because that’s the definition of despondency that I want us to work with. Do you see the three parts to that little phrase “my flesh and my heart may fail”?

"My flesh" - that means there’s a physical component to despondency. Isn't there? The body weakens, there’s fatigue, there’s a sense of listlessness and sluggishness.

Secondly, "and my heart" - that means there’s this emotional spiritual dimension to despondency. Our hearts are discouraged, dejected, gloomy, burned out.

Third, "fail." The word means come to an end, run out, be exhausted of resources. It’s like your life is a tank and in it is water that you need for refreshment. And somebody pulls the plug at the bottom and it just all runs out. And this word in Hebrew (Kalla) means come to an end, be exhausted, be depleted of resources to handle problems and life.

Is Sin the Source of Despondency?

Now the question is, Is unbelief the root of that experience of despondency? And with ten minutes to preach here I’m passing over a lot. The answer is yes and no.

In other words, it’s not simple. But I’m going to pick a simple sentence, one that comes from Scripture, because we need clear and simple things to live by. Here’s the sentence that I think is simple and true: Unbelief is the root of yielding to despondency.

I’ll pass over the issue of where despondency comes from, because it’s very complex. Wherever it comes from, unbelief is at the root of making peace with it, yielding to it, giving no spiritual warfare to fight it, being negligent in putting on the armour of God and so on. Now I want illustrate this briefly by looking at the Psalm and then looking at Jesus.

"But God..."

The Psalm 73:26 contains this truth, "My flesh and my heart may fail." Now literally it's just "fail," not "may fail." There’s no "may" implied in this Hebrew verb. Its just, "My flesh and my heart are failing, I am discouraged, I am despondent, I am at my wit's end." And then comes the spiritual counter attack in the next phrase: “but God.”

So here’s this man. The cork is pulled out at the bottom of his life. His heart and his flesh are just about depleted, and he says—perhaps with his last breath—"but God is the rock (or strength) of my weak, failing life and my portion forever."

So my point is wherever this despondency may come from it’s unbelief that doesn't say “but God.” It’s unbelief that puts up no resistance. It’s unbelief that doesn't take the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit and fight. That much I think we can say with clarity from Scripture. "My body is shot, my heart is almost dead, and for whatever reason I will not yield. I will trust to God though my strength is gone."

Psalm 19:7, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul." The word of God is given to revive souls. The saints' souls need to be restored and revived. That means despondency comes and the Word of God is given to restore it.

Satan vs. the Son of God

Let’s go to Jesus. Turn with me to Matthew 26:36 and following. I want us to be with Jesus for a few minutes in Gethsemane. We’ve just celebrated the Lord’s Supper. A few hours later Jesus is in Gethsemane and what’s happening there is probably the greatest spiritual warfare in a human soul that’s ever happened or ever will happen.

Satan no doubt has drawn near. You remember when it said after Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, "He withdrew from him until an opportune time." When do you think that was? Right now, I think. And not only did he draw near. I’ll bet he gathered all of the most powerful members of his wicked army. You can be assured that the flaming darts that Paul mentions in Ephesians 6 were flying with volleys against the soul of the Son of God as he knelt there wrestling for his faithfulness.

Look at verse 36:

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I go yonder and pray." And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death."

Now what’s going on here, why is Jesus so distressed and troubled and sorrowful?

John 12:27 says "Now is my soul troubled. What shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, but for this purpose, I have come to this hour." Now I think that text tells us what the nature of the temptation was. Satan was firing volley after volley into the mind of Jesus Christ. And thoughts came into his mind from Satan, thoughts like, "This is a dead end street. Calvary is just a black hole. It’s going to hurt like nothing has ever hurt any human being ever before, and these rascals aren’t worth it, etc." These were coming out of Satan’s wicked heart into the mind of the Son of God.

Satan wants to produce in Jesus a spirit of despondency that sinks unopposed in resignation and says "It won’t work, there’s no point in pressing on anymore." Now I want us to think about this warfare for a minute and compare it to the disciples.

Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled

Jesus is a sinless man. According to Hebrews 4:15 and 2 Corinthians 5:20 he never sinned at all, neither in thought, emotion, or deed. He was sinless. This means that the emotional turmoil that he was experiencing at this moment was a fitting response to the kind of extraordinary temptation he was enduring. The demonic thought that Calvary is a black hole of meaninglessness and emptiness and purposelessness is so horrendous that it ought to cause a jarring, a shock, in the soul of the Son of God as well as yours and mine.

It’s like a bomb. Satan drops bombs on the peaceful sea of our lives. And if it’s an atomic bomb there is, as soon as it explodes, a massive shock wave that hits before the deadly rays begin to make there way over people’s lives. That’s what I would say in Jesus' life is not sin. The shock wave of a satanic temptation that the death of the Son of God would be pointless is so powerful that it rolls him, it knocks him.

Now the amazing thing about this is that the word used here that he was troubled is also used of the disciples. However Jesus says to the disciples, "Don’t be troubled." John 14:1, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me."

Or John 14:27, "My peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you, not as the world gives to you. "Let not your hearts be troubled." When I read that yesterday I said to myself, "Now wait a minute. I got to figure this out here. I’m saying the sinless Son of God can be troubled—same word—and yet he tells the disciples don’t be troubled." It’s as though Satan drops this bomb, the same bomb, right in the experience of Jesus and the disciples.

They were about to be despondent because Jesus was going away and it looked to them like it was back to fishing. There’s no Kingdom here. This is a pointless thing. Nothing good has happened and now our best friend and, we thought, Lord is gone. And Jesus says, "No, don’t be troubled," and yet he was troubled.

Is this a contradiction? Is it okay for Jesus to be troubled and not okay for the disciples to be troubled? I don’t think there’s a contradiction. Here’s how I would put the two together.

On the part of the disciples Jesus is saying, "When the bomb drops in your life and Satan colors the shock wave of this experience with black hopelessness, don’t yield. Believe." In other words, he’s telling them, "Counter attack, let not your hearts be troubled, attack, believe in God, believe also in me." He’s not saying that this first shock wave that can knock you over or pull the plug out of your life won’t be there. He’s saying, "Counter attack, believe, take my peace, listen to what I’ve said, look at the word of God. I will show you the path of life."

Now with regard to Jesus, no one knew better than the Son of God that if he didn’t immediately counter attack the shock wave of Satan’s satanic temptation he’d be done for. And so in closing I want us to look very carefully at how Jesus responded to his troubled soul and the satanic attack on his peace with God. It’s right here—five steps.

Fight Unbelief Like Christ

As I mention these five steps in Matthew 26:37 and following I want you to fix in your mind what it is that threatens your tranquility most, what it is that causes despondency or disheartened feelings to rise most often in your own life. What’s the shell that Satan drops most frequently into your life? And then as I mention these five steps that the Lord Jesus took when the bomb dropped in his life, I want you to translate them immediately into your experience, because they're all relevant. Alright? There five of them.

Jesus chose some close friends to be with him. Verse 37: "And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled." So he didn’t withdraw. He took the inner ring, his most precious and trusted friends, and he pulled aside with them.

He opened his soul to them. Verse 38: "Then he said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.'" I can imagine their mouths dropping open, their King confessing his weakness. He opened his soul to them.

He asked for their help in spiritual warfare. Verse 38, second half: "Remain here and watch with me." Another text says "pray," and another, "Don’t let yourself come into temptation; stay here and fight with me. Fight with me."

He poured out his heart to the Father in prayer. Verse 39: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." It’s just fine to pray that the bombshell that has dropped into your life be taken away. That’s just right. Whatever it is that Satan fires at you, it's just fine to say, "Take it away Father. You’re stronger than he is."

But finally, he rested his soul in the sovereign wisdom of God. Second half of verse 39: "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."

So here’s the lesson. When Satan drops a bombshell on the peace of your life the initial shock waves of emotional response are not necessarily sin. What is sin is not to do what Jesus did when the bomb fell in the Garden of Gethsemane. Sin is yielding to depression. Sin is not taking the armour of God. Sin is not waging spiritual warfare.

But Jesus shows us another way. It’s not painless, but it’s not passive either. And I want us to follow him in it.

A Picture and a Plan

Let me just sum it up as we close.

Find your trusted friends. Who are they? Who are your inner ring.

Open your soul to them.

Ask them to fight with you, to wage war with you, to support you, to watch with you and pray with you.

Pour out your soul to the Father.

And rest in the sovereignty of his wisdom, come what may. "But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

So I close with this image. Leave it in your mind. The lesson of Jesus' life and the lesson of the Psalms is this: every cave that you're in—wandering along, feeling the rocks, stumbling, stepping, bumping your head—every cave that you are in is a tunnel that opens into glory. It opens into a day like today in Heaven, with the sun shining, and the grass green, and the waters flowing—as long as you don’t sit down in the cave and blow out the candle of faith.

Anxieties: to Be Cast Not Carried

Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon him, because he cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The opposite of boldness is fear or anxiety. It's not surprising then that God not only calls us to be bold for Christ and his kingdom, but he also makes a provision for us to get rid of our fear and anxiety. Giving us courage and taking our fear are two ways of doing the same thing.

Today's text is not a direct call to boldness. It's a call not to be anxious. And so it's an indirect call to boldness and courage.

The Threat of Humility?

But there is something very unusual about this text. The threat in this text that tempts us to be anxious is not explicitly prison or injury or slander or plundering of property or loss of money. The threat is humility. Or to put it another way, the reason Peter deals with the problem of anxiety is because he is dealing with the problem of humility. Somehow the command for humility makes the command to cast our anxiety on God more urgent, more needed.

The Flow of Thought from Verses 5–7

Notice this in the flow of thought from verses 5–7. The chapter starts with a word to the elders of the church to shepherd the flock willingly and eagerly and without being motivated by money. Then the focus turns to the others in the church.

You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; [then to all the church] and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time . . .

Now right here comes the connection between this call for humility and the command to cast all your anxiety on God. The command for humility seems to cause anxiety to rise and so Peter deals with it.

The Punctuation of the Sentence

The NIV and RSV put a period at the end of verse 6 and make verse 7 into a new sentence. "Humble yourselves . . . Cast all your anxiety on him." But that break obscures the connection. The NASB and the KJV don't have a period because verse 7 does not start a new sentence in the original Greek. It is part of the sentence in verse 6 and continues with a participle: not, "Cast all your anxiety on him . . . ," but, " . . . casting all your anxiety on him."

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." Not: "Humble yourselves. And cast your anxiety." But: "Humble yourselves . . . casting your anxiety."

Casting Your Anxiety on God Is Part of Humbling Yourself

The point is that casting your anxiety on God is somehow part humbling yourself. Casting your anxiety on God is crucial if you are going to humble yourself under God's hand and clothe yourself with humility toward each other. Casting your anxiety on God is not simply a separate thing that you do after you humble yourself. It's something you do in order to humble yourself, or in the process of humbling yourself.

There is something about humbling yourself under God's hand and humbling yourself before other people that makes casting all your anxiety on God necessary. Or to say it another way, there is something about casting your anxiety on God that makes humbling yourself under God and before others possible.

It looks like humility is a threat that causes anxiety. And if we are going to be humble with God and with each other, we are going to have to cast our anxiety on God. That's the connection between verse 7 and what goes before. "Clothe yourselves with humility toward each other and humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God by casting your anxiety on God."

Why Does Humility Create Anxiety?

But why does humility create anxiety? Why does humility take courage? Why do we need someone to take our anxiety away in order for us to be humble?

You can see the answer easily if you just start thinking of some examples of humility. What does it mean to be humble? It means, when you've made a mistake, admitting it and saying you're sorry. It means, when you are weak or sick or inadequate for a task, not being too proud to ask for help. It means doing some ordinary jobs and spending time with ordinary people and being indifferent to accolades.

In other words, in all its forms humility is the risk of losing face. Humility is the risk of not being noticed, not being appreciated, not being praised, and not being rewarded. Lowliness runs the obvious risk of being looked down on.

And being looked down on is painful. Being unnoticed and unappreciated is painful. Losing face is painful. Being made little of is painful. And therefore humility causes anxiety. And the command to be humble under God and to be clothed with humility toward each other makes us anxious.

We Have to Solve This Anxiety Problem

So if we are really going to be humble, we have to solve this anxiety problem. If we are going to have the courage of humility and the boldness of lowliness, someone is going to have to take our anxiety away.

That's the point of verse 7: "Be humble by casting all your anxiety on God." The secret of humility is being able to cast your anxiety on God. Note the connection between humbling yourself under God's mighty hand in verse 6 and casting your anxiety on God in verse 7. God is the focus in both verses, and the connection is this: before you can put yourself humbly under God's mighty hand, you have to put your anxiety confidently in God's mighty hand.

There is a fearful cowering under the mighty hand of God for the rebellious and the proud. But that is not what Peter is calling for in verse 6. The humility Peter commands under God's hand is the peaceful, confident humility that comes because we have cast our anxiety on God with the confidence that he cares for us.

I love these two images side by side: humbled and lowly under the mighty hand of an infinitely holy and powerful God, and confident and peaceful because that very God cares for us and carries our anxiety. Before you bow down and step under him, cast the burden of your anxiety on him!

How Do You Cast Your Anxiety on God?

Now what does it mean to cast your anxiety on God? How do you do that?

Getting Help from the Same Word in Luke 19:35

This word "casting" in verse 7 occurs one other time in the New Testament—in Luke 19:35, in exactly the same form. It's Palm Sunday and the disciples have been sent to get the donkey for Jesus to ride on. Then verse 35 says, "They brought it to Jesus, and casting their garments on the colt, they set Jesus on it."

So the meaning is simple and straightforward: if you have a garment on and you want an animal to carry it for you, you "cast" the garment on the animal. In this way you don't carry it anymore. It's on the animal not on you. The donkey works for you and lifts your load.

Well, God is willing to carry your anxieties the same way a donkey carries your baggage. One of the greatest things about the God of the Bible is that he commands us to let him work for us before commanding us to work for him. "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you" (Psalm 55:22). "Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save" (Isaiah 46:4). "From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him (Isaiah 64:4).

God wants to be a burden bearer because it demonstrates his power and puts him in a class by himself among the so-called gods of the universe. "No one has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him." So throw the garments of your anxiety onto him. He wants to carry it.

Practically How Do You Do That?

You do it by trusting the second half of verse 7 very specifically in relation to your specific anxiety. The first half of verse 7 says, " . . . casting all your anxiety on him . . . " and the second half of the verse says, " . . . because he cares for you."

Here is where the rubber meets the road. How do you practically make the anxiety transfer from your back to God's back? The answer is: trust that he cares for you. Believe this promise. Trust him. It's a matter of practical trust.

That promise does not hang in the air. It is connected to a command and the promise is meant to show you how to obey the command. The command is, Cast your anxiety on God. The promise is, God cares for you. That means, he cares about the thing that has you worrying. He wants to be trusted for that.

Lay a Specific Anxiety on God

So often we trust God in the abstract. Yes, he is a trustworthy God. Yes, he can save sinners in general. Yes, he will work it all out, generally speaking, for my good.

But a text like this means, Lay a specific anxiety on God. Trust him specifically that he cares about that. Believe that he is God. His purposes cannot be thwarted. "I know that you can do all things, says Job, and no purpose of yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2).

When it says that he cares, it means he will not stand by and let things develop without his influence. It means he will act. He will work. Not always the way we would. He's God. He sees a thousand connections we don't see. The lost credit card might result in an evening of searching and take you away from a TV program that unbeknownst to you would have put a lustful desire in your mind and made prayer unappealing so that you failed to seek God's power and missed a golden opportunity to speak of Christ to a ready colleague the next day, which because of that lost credit card you did not miss. God sees a thousand connections we do not see.

Casting your anxiety on God means trusting him for handling this specific situation. If you believe that he cares (which is what the promise says), and believe that he is God, then your fears will be lifted.

The Connection with Prayer

There is one other thing to say about this act of casting anxiety on God, namely, the connection with prayer. Philippians 4:6 says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

So 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast your anxiety on God by trusting that he cares for you." And Philippians 4:6 says, "Cast your anxiety on the Lord by praying and letting your requests be made known to him." The connection is simple. Trusting that God cares about your anxiety is expressed in prayer. Prayer is the trust turned toward God and spoken.

A Summer of Opportunities . . . and Anxieties

Which brings us now to our new summer adventure for the next hour of "praying the vision"—taking what we have seen of God and his will and turning it into prayer.

We have been talking about boldness and courage and risk-taking for some weeks. And we are planning a summer full of opportunities to do just that—sports outreach, inviting people to the Gate, survey teams, street witnessing teams, personal harvest appointments, bar ministry, drama outreach. Every time you humble yourself and love someone like this, you run the risk of losing face. What shall we do with this repeated threat of anxiety this summer?

We will pray, every Sunday morning for the next 12 weeks for 45 minutes as an extension of the morning service. And we will trust the promise of God—"I care about you . . . I love evangelism, and when my people call upon me together, I will pour out on them a Spirit of peace and power."

Ideas for Prayer:

"With thanksgiving" (Philippians 4:6)—expressions of praise and thanks that God is sovereign over our anxieties and is wise enough and caring enough that we can entrust ourselves to him.

Prayers for humility and for more of the Spirit of the lowly, servant, risk-taking Christ (Philippians 2:3–8).

Prayers for more faith in God's promises and that every binding obstacle to joyful trust would be overcome.

Prayers for God to call people to all the outreach ministries on the insert to the bulletin; that we would cast our anxiety on God and hear his call.

Broaden prayers out to the summer ministries of other churches and pray for the prosperity of God's kingdom in every fellowship where Christ is truly named.

Broaden further to pray for courage and humility on the front lines of world missions and that this summer would be a period of powerful advance for Christ and his kingdom in Africa and Asia and Europe and South America, as well as America.

Battling the Unbelief of Anxiety

Unbelief as the Root and Essence of All Sin

Let me hang a bridge between last Sunday's text and our concern today with the unbelief of anxiety. In Hebrews 3:12 it says, "Take care, brethren, lest their be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, leading you to fall away from the living God." And verse 14 says, "For we have shared in Christ, if we hold our first confidence firm to the end."

In other words the evidence that you have come to share in Christ—that you are united to him in saving faith—is that you hold that confidence firm to the end. Perseverance in faith is necessary for salvation. When a person is truly converted, the heart is changed so that now life is lived by faith (Galatians 2:20).

The new birth introduces a person into a life of warfare. That warfare is called the "fight of faith" in 2 Timothy 4:7; 1 Timothy 6:12. And here in Hebrews 3:12 it is called the battle against unbelief. "Take care [that's the vigilance of battle], brethren, lest there be in you and evil heart of unbelief [there's the enemy in the warfare], leading you to fall away from the living God [there's the warning against not taking the warfare seriously]."

In other words the most basic battle of our life is the battle to believe in the living God, and not to allow our heart to become an evil heart of unbelief. Because if unbelief in the living God gets the upper hand in our life, then the result can be a hardening that makes us unwilling to repent and thus cuts us off from the grace of God.

Now this will not happen to those who are truly in Christ. Those who are truly born of God take the battle seriously, and draw on the power of God to fight it, and win it with persevering faith. That is what God promises. "He who calls you is faithful and he will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

The bridge, then, that I want to hang between last week's text and this week's text is the truth that beneath our battle against evil in our heart is the battle against unbelief. Unbelief is the root of evil and the essence of evil. All our sinning grows out of unbelief in the living God and what he has said to us in Scripture.

Unbelief as the Root of Anxiety

Now today's text illustrates this with a specific evil condition of heart, namely, anxiety.

Stop for a moment and think how many different sinful actions and attitudes come from anxiety. Anxiety about finances can give rise to coveting and greed and hoarding and stealing. Anxiety about succeeding at some task can make you irritable and abrupt and surly. Anxiety about relationships can make you withdrawn and indifferent and uncaring about other people. Anxiety about how someone will respond to you can make you cover over the truth and lie about things. So if anxiety could be conquered, a lot of sins would be overcome.

But what is the root of anxiety? And how can it be severed? To answer that we go to our text in Matthew 6. Four times in this text Jesus says that we should not be anxious.

Verse 25: "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life."

Verse 27: "And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?"

Verse 31: "Therefore do not be anxious."

Verse 34: "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow."

The verse that makes the root of anxiety explicit is verse 30: "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothes you, O men of little faith?" In other words Jesus says that the root of anxiety is lack of faith in our heavenly Father. As unbelief gets the upper hand in our hearts, one of the results is anxiety.

So when Hebrews says, "Take heed lest there be in you an evil heart of unbelief," it includes this meaning: "Take heed lest there be in you an ANXIOUS heart of unbelief." Anxiety is one of the evil conditions of the heart that comes from unbelief. Much anxiety, Jesus says, comes from little faith.

This is the kind of connection we are going to see again and again in the weeks to come. The root of a sinful condition of the heart is unbelief in the living God.

Two Kinds of Disturbed Responses to This Truth

Now I can think of two kinds of disturbed responses to this truth. Let me tell you what they are and then give a biblical response before we go on to the battle against the unbelief of anxiety.

1. "This Is Not Good News!"

One response would go like this: This is not good news! In fact it is very discouraging to learn that what I thought was a mere struggle with an anxious disposition is in fact a far deeper struggle with whether I believe God or not.

Now my response to this is to agree but then to disagree. Suppose you had been having pain in your stomach and had been struggling with medicines and diets of all kinds to no avail. And then suppose that your doctor tells you after a routine visit that you have cancer in your small intestine. Would that be good news? You say, emphatically not! And I agree.

But let me ask the question another way: Are you glad that the doctor discovered the cancer while it is still treatable, and that indeed it can be very successfully treated? You say, yes, I am very glad that the doctor found the real problem. Again I agree.

So the news that you have cancer is not good news because having cancer is good. It is good news because knowing what is really wrong is good news, especially when it can be treated successfully.

That's what it's like to learn that the real problem behind anxiety is unbelief in the promises of God. It's not good news because the cancer of unbelief is good. It's good because KNOWING WHAT IS REALLY WRONG is good, especially because unbelief can be treated so successfully by our great physician.

So I want to stress that finding out the connection between our anxiety and our unbelief is in fact very good news, because it is the only way to begin the battle with the real cause of our sin and get the victory that God can give us by the therapy of his Word and his Spirit.

2. "How Can I Have Any Assurance at All?"

There is another possible response to the truth that our anxiety is rooted in our unbelief in God's promises. It goes like this: I have to deal with feelings of anxiety almost every day; and so I feel like my belief in God must be totally inadequate. So I wonder if I can have any assurance of being saved at all.

Being Faithless Vs. Having Faith Attacked

My answer to this concern goes like this: Suppose you are in a car race and your enemy who doesn't want you to finish the race throws mud on your windshield. The fact that you temporarily lose sight of your goal and start to swerve does not mean that you are going to quit the race. And it certainly doesn't mean that you are on the wrong racetrack. Otherwise the enemy wouldn't bother you at all. What it means is that you should turn on your windshield wipers and use your windshield washer.

What I mean is this: when anxiety strikes and blurs our vision of God's glory and the greatness of the future that he plans for us, this does not mean that we are faithless, or that we will not make it to heaven. It means our faith is being attacked. At first blow our belief in God's promises may sputter and swerve. But whether we stay on track and make it to the finish line depends on whether we set in motion a process of resistance. Whether we fight back against anxiety. Will we turn on the windshield wipers and will we use our windshield washer?

The Testimony of Scripture

Psalm 56:3 says, "When I am afraid, I put my trust in thee." Notice: it does not say, "I never struggle with fear." Fear strikes and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike.

For example, 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you." It does NOT say, you will never feel any anxieties to cast onto God. It says, when the mud splatters your windshield and you lose temporary sight of the road and start to swerve in anxiety, turn on your wipers and squirt your windshield washer.

To the One Who Struggles Daily with Anxiety

So my response to the person who has to deal with feelings of anxiety every day is to say: that's more or less normal. The issue is how you deal with them.

And the answer to that is: you deal with anxieties by battling unbelief. And you battle unbelief by meditating on God's Word and asking for the help of his Spirit. The windshield wipers are the promises of God that clear away the mud of unbelief. And the windshield washer fluid is the help of the Holy Spirit.

Without the softening work of the Holy Spirit the wipers of the Word just scrape over the blinding clumps of unbelief. Both are necessary—the Spirit and the Word. We read the promises of God and we pray for the help of his Spirit. And as the windshield clears so we can see the welfare that God plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), our belief grows strong and the swerving of anxiety smoothes out.

Overcoming Anxiety by Battling Unbelief

Let me close by using some illustrations how battling unbelief overcomes anxiety.

The Pattern of Jesus and Paul

Here in our text we have the illustration of anxiety over food and clothing. Even in our country with its extensive welfare system, anxiety over finances and housing can be very intense. But Jesus says in verse 30 that this is owing to unbelief: "O you of little faith." And so this paragraph has at least half a dozen promises in it to battle that unbelief.

For example at the end of verse 32 he says, "Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." That is a spectacular promise. In everything you do at home and at work, put God's purposes first, and he will provide all you need to live for his glory. Believe that promise, and financial anxiety will evaporate in the warmth of God's care.

Paul applied the promise to anxiety in Philippians like this. In 4:6 he says just like Jesus, "Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God." And then in 4:19 he gives the promise like Jesus, "My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Anxieties We May Face

And so we follow today the pattern of Jesus and Paul. We battle the unbelief of anxiety with the promises of God.

When I am anxious about some risky new venture or meeting, I battle unbelief with the promise: "Fear not for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God; I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).

When I am anxious about my ministry being useless and empty, I fight unbelief with the promise, "So shall my word that goes forth from my mouth; it will not come back to me empty but accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11).

When I am anxious about being too weak to do my work, I battle unbelief with the promise of Christ, "My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9), and "As your days so shall your strength be" (Deuteronomy 33:25).

When I am anxious about decisions I have to make about the future, I battle unbelief with the promise, "I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you" (Psalm 32:8).

When I am anxious about facing opponents, I battle unbelief with the promise, "If God is for us who can be against us!" (Romans 8:31).

When I am anxious about being sick, I battle unbelief with the promise that "tribulation works patience, and patience approvedness, and approvedness hope, and hope does not make us ashamed" (Romans 5:3–5).

When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, "Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save" (Isaiah 46:4).

When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that "none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself; if we live we live to the Lord and if we die we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and rose again: that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living" (Romans 14:8–9).

When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promise, "He who began a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ" (Philippians 1:6). "He who calls you is faithful. He will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). "He is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).

And yesterday when Rob and Gail got married, they printed the promises of God in the wedding folder. With these they have and they will fight off the anxiety of all the unknowns of marriage: "And the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; he will be with you. He will not fail your or forsake you. Do not fear, or be dismayed" (Deuteronomy 31:8).

So I urge you in your warfare, take up the book of God, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and battle on. And remember the promise of Proverbs 21:31, "The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord."