8 Proverbs to Decrease Anxiety and Increase Peace

“Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty” (Proverbs 28:19).

Our world provides numerous “get rich quick” schemes — opportunities and investments that promise wealth but, often, steal it from us. Unfortunately, con artists are skilled at speaking to our greed or fear of financial insecurity while diminishing our caution. As a result, according to some estimates, nearly 30% of adults in the United States have fallen victim to some type of financial fraud. Countless others have lost their homes, savings, and retirement funds pursuing a seemingly lucrative venture that proved highly unstable and left them destitute.

Proverbs 28:19 echoes this cliché: If something seems too good to be true, it likely is. By keeping this principle in mind and focusing on hard work and perseverance rather than hoping for that so called “fast buck,” we can avoid the pain and anxiety that comes when we’ve lost income through foolish endeavors.

3. Trust the Lord to Richly Provide

“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10).

While this is a principle, not a promise, the premise stands. Adhering to God’s standards leads to increased stability in every area of our lives. This doesn’t mean we won’t encounter financial difficulty, but it does eliminate the “divine correction” one might receive when pursuing selfish gain and worshiping wealth rather than Christ. 

When considering verses such as the above, it’s important to understand that if we’ve trusted in Jesus for salvation, we already live under God’s favor. We don’t need to strive and stress to evoke His attentive concern; every blessing and provisions we receive stems from His incomprehensible and unconditional love for us.

That said, His love also drives Him to respond to us and our choices as a wise and attentive Father. In other words, while He promises to meet our needs (Phil. 4:19), He cares for us too much to bless those things that, unmitigated, lead us to increased dysfunction, self-reliance, and isolation. 

This highlights another principle tucked within Proverbs 3:9-10. Honoring God with our “firstfruits,” or the best of our figurative crops, implies that we’re seeking His guidance for all our resources. The more we do so, the less apt we’ll be to make foolish, and potentially expensive, decisions.

This also implies a level of trust and the awareness that the Lord owns it all. This reality, when grasped, combined with our awareness of His love, power, and sovereignty, helps alleviate the weight of feeling like our wellbeing rests solely on ourselves.

For encouragement on maintaining faith amid financial uncertainty, check out these two Faith Over Fear podcast episodes: Maintaining Faith Amid Financial Uncertainty and Finding Courage in Financial Uncertainty.

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1. Listen before Passing Judgement

“Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions” (Proverbs 18:12).

Imagine what our social media feeds would look like and the drama and hostility we’d avoid if God’s children learned to apply this verse. Admittedly, this isn’t easy, especially in our loud culture that encourages everyone to use their voice and “share their truth.” Proverbs 18:12 also applies to our closest interactions. We’ve probably all engaged in arguments only to discover, after we’ve damaged or potentially destroyed relationships, that much of our conflict arose from misunderstandings and false assumptions. 

Author Donna Jones and I discussed this in a recent Faith Over Fear episode titled “Does Conflict Make You Anxious: Practical Steps to Increased Relational Peace.” In it, she shared a story illustrating one of the most important elements of healthy conflict resolution: listening. In her book Healthy Conflict Peaceful Life, she wrote, “Most of our day-in, day-out conflicts can be summed up in one word: misunderstanding. If 90 percent of our misunderstandings could suddenly disappear, we’d all experience more peace and fewer problems. Listening is the bridge that closes the chasm between misunderstanding and understanding.” 

Science supports this truth. In our discussion, she said, “Our brains are wired to make sense of, ‘Why did this conflict happen?’ So, we assign motives to other people, but social scientists have studied the accuracy that people have when they assign motives to other people's behavior. And what they found is that we are only accurate 20% of the time. … Which means that 80% of the time, why somebody does something is not the reason we're thinking that they're doing it. So that's why it's really important to get the whole picture...”

What’s more, when we take time to hear and understand others, they’re defenses decrease and they’re more apt to listen to our perspective. Plus, we’re less likely to act like fools and experience the sting of regret and anxiety that can cause. As Proverbs 10:19 states:

“Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.”

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“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1).

When we fostered teenagers, we learned the importance of responding to their outbursts by using a calm, soothing voice. Here’s why. When people behave irrationally, most likely, something triggered their amygdala, the area in the brain responsible for fight-flight reactions. They have, in essence, “flipped their lid,” and have become temporarily disconnected from their prefrontal cortex, or their brain’s “thinking center.” In such situations, the anger we see likely stems from fear. Harsh responses only intensify their subconscious survival drive. 

We help reengage their “wise mind” as cognitive behavioral therapists phrase it, by intentionally lowering our voice, slowing our delivery, and speaking words of affirmation. For example, this might look like telling our spouse, in the middle of a disagreement, how much we value the relationship. This quiets whatever fear of rejection, harm, or manipulation arose from their unprocessed wounds and provides a sense of safety that fosters healthy communication.

That’s not to say this is easy to do during intense conflict, when subconscious reminders of past hurts hijack our amygdales and suppress our ability to think clearly as well. Therefore, we must first speak softly and kindly to ourselves. This takes practice, remaining alert to the messages our body sends, and implementing self-soothing tools like deep breathing to quiet our fight-flight responses.

Here’s the good news. Thanks to neural plasticity, the more we engage in emotional regulation, the easier this becomes in the future, which leads to decreased inner and external chaos.

3. Build Your Home on a Firm Foundation

“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down” (Proverbs 14:1).

God used this verse to pull me out of a downward-spiraling self-obsession during a challenging season for our family that triggered some deep, unhealed wounds. Having experienced homelessness in my late teens, I developed an intense fear of financial and food insecurity. For years, I coped with this by trying to control our finances and overstocking our pantry — not realizing the root of my behavior.

Then, one day my husband came home on his lunch hour and said he’d quit his job. In that moment, and the months that followed, I felt as if I was reliving some of the most painful moments in my past. I began to slip into a melancholy that, for a time, caused me to become emotionally unavailable to those I loved, including my daughter, who needed her mom to serve as a safe, calming presence during what became a year-and-a-half transition.

One morning while reading my Bible in bed, I came across Proverbs 14:1. The moment I reached the end of the verse, my daughter called out to me. I glanced up to see her standing in my bedroom doorway. This was a powerful and necessary Holy Spirit moment. I sensed Him giving me a choice: Would I continue to ruminate on everything that felt hard and uncertain, thereby modeling a “Sunday morning faith” where I sang about God’s power and goodness during church then behaved the rest of the week as if He didn’t possess the strength to carry us through life’s crises? Or, would I demonstrate a faith that remained and sustained us during difficult situations? I chose the latter. I found a devotional booklet to read through as a family, and we learned to turn to God in our pain and hold tight to one another.

I sometimes wonder where we’d be now had we not clung to Jesus during that season. Thankfully, I’ll never know. Through Proverbs 14:1, the Lord helped me consider how my actions could affect those I loved. It reminded me that my behavior doesn’t just impact me. It also encouraged me to lift my gaze off our circumstances and fix it on God. This in turn positioned me to receive His peace, comfort, and strength. As a result, He turned what began as a hard and frightening season into one where we experienced a depth of connection with Him and each other that we hadn’t previously. He gave us beauty in place of ashes (Isaiah 61:3).

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1. Lean on the Lord’s Wisdom and Guidance

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6, emphasis added). 

This verse assures me that I don’t have to have everything figured out or stress over my perceived inability to hear God’s guidance. So long as I continually pursue Him and His will, implement the biblical wisdom I do know, and do my best to yield to His leading, He will lovingly and faithfully direct me step by step.

When speaking to women’s groups (and myself, when I feel anxious!), I often say, “God’s ability to guide us is even greater than our ability to ‘hear’ Him.” He’s not watching us, thinking, “You messed that one up. Bummer for you.” Instead, He’s gentle, loving, and oh-so-gracious with us, His children. He’s much more concerned with the condition of our hearts and our desire to know and connect with Him than He is with our ability to get everything “right.” 

This verse encourages me to remain yielded to Him as it promises that He truly has good planned for me. It also reminds me that my wisdom isn’t so wise, which in turn increases my dependence on the One who promises to attend to my needs and comfort me in my pain and overwhelm.

2. Give It over to God

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” (Proverbs 16:3).

Some people suggest this verse promises that God will grant us our every desire, so long as we ask for His blessing. But that’s not what Scripture is saying, nor would that lead to enduring peace. A “god” who does our bidding is far too small to uphold us during times of crises.

The closer I grow to Christ and the more His truth transforms me, the more I realize how faulty and insufficient my perception and strategizing is. While I don’t always remember this while feeling panicked, I am learning to seek God in my fear. As I do, He reminds me that His ways truly are best. 

This unchanging truth enables me to “commit to the Lord whatever [I] do.” In the original Hebrew, one could phrase this as, “Roll your plans and concerns onto Him.” It’s an invitation to unload our burdens and the heavy weight we carry onto the One with shoulders strong enough to carry our every concern. This also implies seeking to honor Him, because as Amos 3:3 states, “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” 

To walk in agreement with God means acknowledging that He knows best and giving Him the authority over our lives that He deserves and we need. When we focus on pleasing Him, as best as we’re able, He takes care of everything else. We’re responsible to respond to Him with trust and obedience; He takes full responsibility for the results of our obedience.

That said, to experience the full peace Proverbs 16:3 provides, we must recognize that He holds the authority to define what is and isn’t success. Whereas our culture often focuses on attaining prestige, power, and wealth, God focuses on our inner transformation and making us into men and women who experience peace, joy and freedom, even amid life’s fiercest storms. 

That’s a process that often takes a lifetime to fully develop, but as we set our hearts on Christ, He fills us with Himself, and in His presence is power, provision, and peace (Psalm 16:11). 

What a faithful Father we have who went to such lengths to preserve such soul-strengthening principles in Scripture. He truly longs to see us flourish and provided an extensive Book to teach us how to walk in Christ’s freedom.

Proverbs contains practical wisdom that, when applied, helps us grab hold of all the spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ. While we will feel afraid on occasion, He never abandons us in our fear. Instead, He meets us in it, speaking truths into our souls and anchoring us deeper into those truths with every divine interaction.

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