Can Christians Have Anxiety?
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People throughout the Bible’s Old and New Testament exhibited anxiety. Psalms by King David—a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22)—indicate bouts of debilitating anxiety, from sleepless nights and bad dreams to obsessions about fear. Moses was anxious and insecure about his ability to lead God’s people out of Egypt (Exodus 3-4). The prophet Elijah, filled with anxiety that he would end up like the other slaughtered prophets, fled Queen Jezebel into the wilderness, begging God to take his life (1 Kings 19). Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus, was distracted, worried, and unhappy about the stresses of her workload, complaining to Jesus to urge her sister to help her (Luke 10:38-42). Jesus Himself experienced anxiety over his coming execution, praying to God in the Garden of Gethsemane to “take this cup from me” if God willed it so (Mark 14:36).
But the Bible also says that although it is natural to feel anxiety, even debilitating anxiety that causes one to beg for the end of one’s life, we are not alone in our fears.
In fact, “do not fear” is one of the most common phrases we can find in Scripture, appearing in some form more than 300 times.
God tells us repeatedly that He is with us, He will not leave us alone, and we can find rest and peace in Him.
He tells us this so we understand that what we fear might indeed hurt our earthly bodies and even kill us, but we are to understand He is mightier than those fears. In Him, we have eternal life and true salvation in a heavenly kingdom that lasts far beyond what we can imagine here on earth.
He tells us this not to shame us for feeling frightened, but to offer hope about what is to come so we understand this life is not the end.
As Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:28-29, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.”
While anxiety as an emotion or a brain disorder is not a sin, there are some times when anxiety can be a sin, such as when anxiety is more about our worries and a blatant refusal to trust God—that is, making the fear an idol that is more powerful in our mind than God is.
God clearly wants us to trust Him and know He is almighty and in control. While evils may lurk all around, He has the upper hand and, in Him, we are triumphant.
Here are a few Bible verses among hundreds throughout Scripture that offer hope about anxiety:
Do you have a favorite verse about anxiety? If not, pray on these above, and see if the Lord is speaking into your heart about anxiety and how He can help us through it.
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Photo credit: Unsplash/Joice Kelly
