Anxiety Attacked

Well take your Bibles and turn to one Peter, chapter five, one Peter chapter five, and we have arrived at verse six in our study of this very helpful, very practical, very timely, relevant letter that Peter wrote to the believers in Asia Minor. And so read with me starting in verse six, one, Peter chapter five, verse six, where it says, therefore humble yourselves 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. Father, we thank you for verses like these that are so thoughtful of you knowing that we are but dust and would often struggle with worry and anxiety and fear as pilgrims, as aliens and strangers living in a world that's not our home, longing for our eternal home in heaven. But along the way there was some difficult paths that we had to walk through. And so Lord, you've put verses like this in the Bible to help us, to encourage us to serve us. And so Lord, we've all come with some kind of burden on our heart, something that is perhaps tempting us to be anxious or fearful. And so, Lord, I ask that this text would be used by your spirit to comfort us, convict us, but most of all conform us to the image of Christ. We pray this in His name. Amen.

Well, most commentators lump the remaining nine verses of one Peter into one section, which isn't surprising because Peter wrapped up this letter with a series of commands and appeals that all flow very nicely together. And so initially I was planning to cover all nine verses in one message, which would've meant that we would finish our study of one Peter today, but that seemed too abrupt for me, like just slamming on the brakes or we're done rides over time to get off. And besides this final section of one, Peter contains several of the most familiar and foundational verses, not just in this letter but in the entire New Testament.

Many of you already know these verses. Some of you even know them by heart. You've memorized them in verses that we to memory are typically ones that are essential or fundamental to the Christian life. There's only so many verses that you can memorize that you can cram into your mind and into your heart. And so you got to pick the ones that maybe are the most relevant, the most timely, the most practical. Those of you that are doing that fight club, going through navigator's, topical memory system, they're just picking out the mountain peaks, if you will, of verses in the scriptures to encourage you to memorize. Well, these two verses are what one of my seminary professors referred to as a jugular text, which was his way of emphasizing how critical certain portions of God's word are for our lives as believers. And so at the risk of breaking up Paul's flow of thought here, I think these vital verses are worthy of a sermon all their own, which will give us an opportunity to drill down and focus in on some pivotal and practical truths contained in these remaining verses.

And so this morning we're going to focus in on and drill down on the subject of worry and anxiety. And so I want to begin by taking a simple sin survey. And I don't mean to make anyone uncomfortable, but I'm curious to see what sins we struggle with most by a show of hands. Now, I understand this might be awkward, and so if you don't feel comfortable participating, I get it. That's between you and the Lord, but just here we go. How many of you struggle with swearing? Randy, you have your hand up before I even started. It's like I'm on the list, pastor put me on. Okay, so swearing. Okay, we got some honest folks here raising their hand on that. How many of you struggle with stealing?

Everybody's looking around to see if anybody's sitting next to them that's raising their hand. Well watch your stuff this morning. How many of you struggle with lying? That's another one that we often struggle with. How many of you struggle with drinking? Yeah, that's not one We might, I had a little junior high kid raise his hand in the first service. His dad rolled his eyes. I said, I'll pray for you, brother, little, little wisecracker. How about this? How many of you struggle with worrying? Oh, now you're raising your hands. Now why was that easier, more comfortable to raise your hand admitting that you struggle with the sin of worry? Why is that?

Well, I think it's simply the point is that some sins are easier to admit than others worry. Anxiety is one of those sins and I think because it's so common, so many of us struggle with it, it's become what author Jerry Bridges called a respectable sin. In other words, it's not so serious of a sin, and so we tend to tolerate it in our lives. I pulled off my old copy of Respectable Sins off my bookshelf this week and we read it years ago in Ironman, and I remember there was a chapter in there on anxiety. And so Bridges just said some really helpful things in that chapter. For example, let me read to you just one paragraph and I quote, anxiety is sin for two reasons. First, anxiety is a distrust of God. When I give way to anxiety, I am in effect believing that God does not care for me and he will not take care of me in the particular circumstance that triggers my anxiety. Anxiety is a sin also because it is a lack of acceptance of God's providence in our lives. God's providence may be simply defined as God's orchestrating all the circumstances and events in his universe for his glory and the good of his people. Some believers have difficulty accepting the fact that God does in fact orchestrate all events and circumstances, and even those of us who do believe it often lose sight of this glorious truth. Is that not true?

Instead, we tend to focus on the immediate causes of our anxiety rather than remembering that those immediate causes are under the sovereign control of God. And then he gets transparent and vulnerable and he said, I have come to the conclusion that my anxiety is triggered not so much by a distrust in God as by an unwillingness to submit to and cheerfully accept his agenda. For me, I think bridge's words provide a perfect summary of today's text, which is one of the key passages in the Bible about how to deal with our fight or deal with or fight against the sin of anxiety. And what I want us to see today, excuse me, that there are two basic principles that Peter lays down here that we need to apply that will help us overcome the temptation to worry. Two basic principles we need to apply that will help us overcome the temptation to worry.

And both principles have to do with believing something about God and trusting those things in the midst of life's trials and tribulations. Particularly again in the context of one Peter when we experienced suffering and persecution for our commitment to Christ. I think the simplest way to say it is this, worry is what we do when we don't trust God. Worry is what we do when we don't trust God and whenever we worry, it reveals that we are doubting his control over our lives and we are questioning his concern for our lives. And that's why Peter affirmed in these two verses that God is worthy of our complete trust. And so what are these two principles? Well, number one, we need to humbly submit to God's control of our lives. That's verse six. And then verse seven, we need to have bold confidence in God's concern for our lives.

So let's look at these two principles, one at a time. Number one, humble submission to God's control of our lives. Notice verse six, he says, therefore, which again is indicating that what he's about to say is based on what he just said. And so Peter just exhorted us in verse five, to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another. He quoted Proverbs 3 34, which expresses what God thinks of and how God acts towards those who are prideful and those who are humble. Look what it says, verse five, he says, all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And so in light of the fact that God is opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble, not only should we humble ourselves before each other, we should also humble ourselves before God. And that's what he says. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.

I mentioned this last week, but the word humble coming out of the mouth of Peter the Apostle with a foot shaped mouth right, is very ironic, but it's also a testimony of God's grace in his life. Because when you think of Peter words like arrogant, overconfident, self-reliant might come to mind. I say that because he thought he knew better than Jesus. When Jesus revealed that he was going to suffer and die, Peter's like, ah, no, that's not going to happen as long as I'm alive. Ain't happening over my dead body thought he knew better than Jesus. And then when it all went down, Peter thought he could protect Jesus with a sword, whipped out his sword and he was going to defend Jesus if Jesus needed to be defended.

But like all prideful people, Peter thought he could figure things out and fix things on his own without God's help anybody relate to that, always trying to figure things out on your own, trying to fix things on your own without God's help. But by this time when he wrote this letter, he had come a long way and God had worked in this area of his life. And what he said about pride and humility in these verses was based on his own experience and his personal interaction with God in the flesh Jesus Christ. And you remember Peter had boldly claimed that he would remain loyal to Jesus even if all the other disciples fell away. And just a few hours later, he denied that even knew Jesus, not just once but three times, and he was a broken humble man after that occurred. And he no longer thought as highly of his own wisdom and his own strength as he did before. He was overwhelmed by a sense of unworthiness and he humbly acknowledged his dependence on God's wisdom and God's strength.

And so how appropriate for him to say to us, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. And that phrase, the mighty hand of God is an Old Testament reference to the power and the strength that God exerts to accomplish his sovereign plans and purposes. I think Chuck Swin doll summarized it very well when he said this. In the Old Testament, God's hand symbolizes two things. The first is discipline. And you could reference Exodus chapter three, verse 20, how God's mighty hand poured out all the plagues on Egypt to discipline Pharaoh for not letting his people go. We see in Job chapter 30, verse 21, how God's mighty hand reproved job and prune job and refined job. And then in Psalm 32, 4, you may remember David admitting that when he had hidden his sin that God's hand was heavy upon him. And so the first thing that God's hand symbolizes is discipline. Secondly, it says the second is deliverance. Deliverance. Deuteronomy chapter nine verse 26 talks about how God delivered Israel from Egypt by his mighty hand. In Ezekiel chapter 20, verse 33, Ezekiel prophesies that God would deliver his people from exile in Babylon and bring them back to their homeland, and then ultimately he would restore the nation of Israel to the promised land, to the nation of Israel or to Israel in the end times when Christ returned.

And then Swin DOL says this, when we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, we willingly accept his discipline as being for our good and for his glory, and we gratefully acknowledge his deliverance that is always in his time and in his way. So to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God means that we acknowledge and accept whatever comes into our lives as coming from God's hands and that it is for his purposes. Whenever we face any kind of suffering or persecution, it is never arbitrary or meaningless. God sovereignly, ordains, everything that happens to us and providentially orchestrates his will for our lives through his almighty hand and therefore we must humbly submit to God's control of our lives and embrace his will for our lives.

And again in the context here, Peter was telling his readers to embrace the fiery ordeal that was about to fall on them as coming from God's hand and receive it as his will for their lives. Chapter four, verse 12, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you verse 19. Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right. But if we're honest, we know that sometimes we're guilty of resisting God's will for our lives or fighting against God's purposes in our lives, or sometimes we judge his sweet providence as not being so sweet, but we see it as unkind or unfair.

And what Peter is saying here is that when trials and sufferings come, the best policy is to take them humbly from the Lord's hand and trust him to sustain us. God prescribes pain and persecution to purify us, to mature us, but he also promises to protect us and to bring us safely through it. God not only rules over our difficult circumstances, but he redeems our difficult circumstances and uses them to teach us and to make us more of who he wants us to be. And so if you were in a hard place this morning, Peter's words are simple, be humble and teachable so you can learn what God wants you to learn. He knew of what he spoke and once God is convinced that you have learned the lesson or lessons he puts you in that situation to teach you, that same mighty hand that puts you in that situation will eventually deliver you out of that either in this life or the life to come.

Notice what Peter went on to say. He says, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time. Again, Peter knew what it was like to be humbled and then to be exalted. Jesus permitted him to be sifted or tested by Satan, even though he failed the test, his faith didn't fail and Jesus restored him and commissioned him to be the leader of the early church. Talk about a promotion, turn over just a few pages to the left to James the book right before one Peter. So just a couple pages to the left, James chapter four, verse 10, excuse me.

Notice what James says here, James four 10, humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you. Sounds very familiar to what Peter just said. Humble yourselves in the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time. Both James and Peter saying the same thing, simply repeating the exact same statement they had heard Jesus make on multiple occasions, James and Peter, part of the inner circle. They were with Jesus almost all the time, and so they were privy to all of these sermons and parables and stories that he would tell. For example in Matthew 23 verse 12, when he was confronting the Pharisees for being prideful and pompous and seeking glory for themselves and for everybody to think how be impressed by how spiritual they were and how holy they were, Jesus said, whoever exalts himself shall be humbled and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted again.

In Luke 14, Jesus told the parable about the guy who showed up at the feast and looking around for a seat, no, and he saw one at the head table, so he thought, why not me? So he walked up and sat at the head table and the host came in and said, Hey, sorry buddy. We got somebody more important to sit there. You're taking their seat. You need to go back there, put 'em way back in the weeds somewhere talking about a humbling experience. Again, thinking more highly of yourself than you ought. Luke 1411, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and ew, who humbles himself will be exalted and maybe the most familiar one is Luke 1814, after Jesus told the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the Pharisee listing off all of his spiritual resume, if you'll all the things he's faithful to do and looking down his nose at this tax collector and the tax collector standing off a far beating his breast, not even able to go in, lift his head to the Lord if you will, and just saying, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. And then what did Jesus say?

For everyone who exalt himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted again back in one Peter notice he says that he may exalt you at the proper time. You're like, well, can you be a little more specific? Well, what does that mean? Well, Peter wasn't specific. He didn't say when or how God will exalt us. He just said at the proper time. So he leaves us to have to trust God to exalt us in his way and in his time whenever it will bring him the most glory and in whatever way we'll accomplish the most good and achieve the greatest growth in our lives.

I think Wayne Gruden does a good job of summarizing this. He says It is best to understand this statement generally that in the time that God deems best, whether in this life or in the life to come, he may lift you up from your humble conditions and exalt you in the way that seems best to him, perhaps only in terms of increased spiritual blessings and deeper fellowship with himself, perhaps in terms of responsibility, reward, or honor, which will be seen by others as well. Whenever I read this verse verse six, I am reminded of an experience in my own life when I was serving as an intern turn in a church years ago. And it was such an honor, such a privilege to have been invited to be a part of the student ministry, staff of a large church, to come alongside a pastor, a youth pastor, and to serve him and to serve the students.

And as an intern, I mean I did all the stuff. He didn't want to do all the stuff that would free him up so that he could focus on studying and preaching and leading. And so I was the guy who administrated all the activities and the events and made up the calendars and printed the flyers, and I was the one that turned the lights on and the first one there, set up the chairs, last one to leave to tear it all down again and calling and arranging all the buses and just all the administrative details, which I enjoyed and I learned a lot doing. But there came a time after doing that for several years when I started getting discontent and I started to think to myself, this, this is great, but man, I would sure love to be a pastor someday and actually get to do what the guy's doing that I'm serving.

And so I began to struggle and wrestle with my role. And I remember through a series of weeks or months of just wrestling with the Lord about that, I remember sitting one day in my little cubicle, I didn't even have an office, I had this little cubicle that I shared with another guy, another intern, and I was in there by myself, and I just remember the Lord just breaking me that day to the point where I just relinquished my will to him and just said, Lord, if you want me to be an intern for the rest of my life, I will do it for your glory and with great joy.

And it was just like I just had to have that moment where I just gave it to the Lord. A week later, I got a phone call from one of the elders and said, Ken, we'd like to interview you because we're considering you to be the next high school pastor. And of course it's one of those moments when the heavens open and the angels are singing, you're like, oh, wow, that's cool. But guess what? That phone call would've never came unless I had humbled myself and been broken before the Lord and just said, Lord, whatever your will is, I'm good with it.

There's better examples than that in the Bible like Joseph for example, who was under God's hand in Egypt for at least 13 years before God exalted him to be the overseer of the nation, to fulfill ultimately his plan for Joseph and his people, the people of Israel. Moses was under God's hand and meaning for 40 years before God raised him up to deliver the Jews from Egypt and like Joseph and like Moses. And of course obviously like Jesus, we must be willing to be humbled before we are exalted. And that is really one of the themes of the book of one Peters, that the cross comes before the crown and those of us who share in the sufferings of Christ here on earth will also share in His glory in heaven. And the promise of ultimate exaltation should produce in us a willingness to humbly submit to the mighty hand of God.

So what do we learn from verse six? Recognizing and submitting to God's sovereign hand in our trials freeze us from the worry and anxiety that they tend to produce. I, I've got this chunky commentary written I think back in the 18 hundreds on one Peter. It's called an obedient patient Faith, Robert Layton, I don't often get to it because it's kind of hard to navigate. It's a lot of information. It's really small print and it's old English, and so you really got to work at it, but it's full of nuggets. And I had a chance to read through it this week. And so listen to this nugget. He said this, God is sovereign Lord of all. Therefore, it is just that you, his people professing loyalty and obedience to him be most submissive and humble in your subjection to him and all things. It is a vain thing to flinch and struggle for. He doth what he will if th will not yield. Thou must yield if thou will not be led, thou shall be pulled and drawn. Therefore, submission is your only course.

And I thought of Nebuchadnezzar Daniel, chapter four, who came out on his patio and looked at all of Babylon and said, wow, I'm sure a swell guy. Look at all that I've done. Look at all that I've achieved. Look at all that I've accomplished. Look at all that I've built. There's no one greater than me and God's up in heaven going, oh, really? Well see how you like the taste of grass. And he turned him into a cow, not literally, but he lost his mind in the providence of God. And so here's Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon grazing in front of his palace on all fours like a cow. And everybody's like, Hey, what's up with the king? Kind of odd. Well, at some point he humbled himself. He acknowledged that he was not as great as he thought he was, and that ultimately God was the sovereign ruler of the universe and over his life, and he repented of his pride and he exalted God, he glorified God, he praised God the God of Daniel. And so God restored his mind and perhaps even saved his soul.

Those who exalt themselves will be humbled. Those who humble themselves will be exalted. I never thought of this before, but Mary is really a perfect example of this principle here in one Peter, turn back to Luke chapter one for second. And we usually only go to this passage like at Christmas time. Luke chapter one, here we find Mary receiving the message from Gabriel that she was chosen to be the mother of the Messiah and that she was going to give birth to God's son. And she's like, okay, that's great, but I'm a virgin. That going to happen? And then he explains the whole virgin birth thing and being impregnated by the Holy Spirit. And God puts the bottom line here, he says, for nothing will be impossible with God. But look at first 38. I love Mary's response. This is Luke 1 38. Now you got to know that her head was spinning.

What in the world is going on here? I don't get this, but notice her response. Behold the bond slave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word. In other words, I don't get it. I don't understand how it's going to happen, but you do what you want to do. I'm your woman. Or we could say, I'm your man, Lord, just have your way in my life. Notice how she responds and praise. And this is jumping ahead to verse 46. This is the magnifico. And Mary said, my soul exalts the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior. Now listen to the language here for he has had regard for the humble state of his sla. For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me. Blessed for the mighty one has done great things for me. And holy is his name. And his mercy is upon generation after generation towards those who fear him. He has done mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers and their thrones and exalted those who were humble. So Nebuchadnezzar Mary, good biblical examples of what Peter was talking about here in verse six.

Well, there's another verse and there's another principle here, and that is this, that we must have bold confidence in God's concern for our lives. We must humbly submit to God's control of our lives, but we also must have bold confidence in God's concern for our lives. This is like the other side of the coin. Notice verse seven, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. And Peter here was alluding to or quoting from Psalm 55 verse 22, which was a psalm written by David. And by the way, the context of Psalm 55 is David was commiserating with God about a trial that he was experiencing. And it wasn't that one of his enemies was betraying him and slandering him. It was one of his dear friends, we expect our enemies to betray us and to say all sorts of slanderous things about us, but not your friend.

But this is what David said. Psalm 55 22, cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. So Peter says, casting all your anxiety on him, that word anxiety means literally to be drawn in different directions, to be divided or distracted. And I think that's a good picture of how anxiety works. I mean when we're anxious or we worry, it's like our mind is going all over the place, right? And it's like a racketball going all over the place inside of a court and we can't keep track of what's happening and we're going in all sorts of different directions and we're distracted. And so when we become anxious about our circumstances, we get distracted and drawn away from what we know to be true about God rather than being drawn toward him and causing us to depend on his love and his care for us. And so he says, cast all your anxiety on him. That word cast there means to throw something on someone else.

And the only other time this word is used in the New Testament, I think this is interesting, is in Luke 1935 when the disciples threw their coats on the cult on the back of the colt to make an impromptu saddle for Jesus to write on what a great image there. So Peter was calling us to throw our anxieties and our burdens on God's back rather than trying to carry them around ourselves. And so we must deliberately and intentionally and decisively hand our problems over to God. We need to entrust whatever we're worrying about or working through or whatever is troubling us or burdening us. We need to entrust that to God, which Peter has already mentioned in this letter in one Peter chapter two, verse 23, he showed Jesus as the example of that while being reviled, he did not revile in return while suffering yet or no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. And again in chapter four verse 19, therefore those who suffer according to will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right.

Listen, some of you are trying to carry heavy burdens around that God never intended for you to carry yourself. Why are you doing that? When I mentioned to one of our elders that or mentioned to the elder this morning in our prayer time that this is what I was going to preach on, one of them said, it's interesting how prideful it is of us to think that we can handle our problems better than God can. You've got burdens. We all do some heavier than others, and they may be memories from the past that you carry around or maybe pressures in the present that are burdening you right now or maybe their fears about the future.

It could be contentment or discouragement or despair or pain or confusion or persecution or false accusation or financial strain or physical pain or cancer. Someone from the first service came up to me afterwards and said, Ken, thank you so much for that message. He said, when my dad was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, we went home and we sat down in the living room and he said, my first question to my dad was, Hey, hey dad, what verses are going around in your head? And he said, my dad immediately quoted, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

And he said, Ken, I don't think I've ever remember my dad worrying about anything his entire life. And this was kind of like the cherry on top of the Sunday evidence that he trusted God, that, Hey, God's got this. Why do I need to worry about it? It's on him, not me. And so whatever it is this morning, Peter rolled them together in the word all. Don't miss that casting all your anxiety on him. Listen, we can cast anything and everything on God. And so I ask you, what is the one thing in your life right now that's causing you to be anxious or fearful?

Zero in on it. The thing that's causing you to worry or to be afraid the most. And I want to encourage you to entrust it to God today. He wants to take it from you. He wants to carry it for you. There's no reason that you have to go on carrying this by yourself. And by the way, it's not like, Hey God, would you help me carry this? God, would you carry this? I can't. It's all on you. And God's like, bring it on. I got this. Why? Because he cares for you. Peter says, cast all your anxiety on him. Why? Because he cares for you.

And this verb, there cares is in the present tense, which indicates God's care and concern for us is ongoing. It's unending. In other words, God is constantly concerned for us. He's continually caring for us, never stops, never goes away. And so our confidence in casting our anxie is on him rest in the fact that he is not indifferent to our sufferings, but he's genuinely concerned for both our physical and our spiritual welfare, which he proved ultimately by sending his son to save us from our sin. If you ever question God's care for you or concern for you, just look at the cross.

De admit Hebert said it well, he said, amid the crushing burdens or the burning trials that often befall the saints, it is the cross and resurrection of Christ that remained the unshakable demonstration of God's love and concern. So we should never doubt God's care or concern for us. He cares more deeply for us than anyone has ever cared for us or ever will care for us or even can care for us. I know some of you are what they refer to as burden bearers. You just kind of collect burdens from other people. And again, it's not just your own burdens, just other people's burdens. Even when they don't ask you to, you hear about something that's going on in somebody's life and you just bear that burden with them or for them. Well, guess what? God is the great burden bearer, and he wants to bear your burdens. All you need to do is ask John Phillips, who's just a very down to earth commentator, said this, I love this. He said, quote, our cares may be many and varied, but God has only one care us. Isn't that good? Our cares may be many and varied, but God has only one care. Guess what? That's you.

And in this little verse, short little verse, just a few words, casting all your anxiety in him because he cares for you. Peter encapsulated all that. Jesus taught his disciples about dealing with anxiety, and surely he had in mind the classic words of encouragement that Christ shared on a number of occasions. You can find it in Luke chapter 12. It's probably most familiar in the sermon on the Mount Matthew chapter six, verses 25 through 33. Lemme just read it for you. Jesus said, for this reason, I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you'll eat or what you'll drink, nor for your body as to what you'll put on is not life more than food in the body, more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not worth much more than they? Have you ever seen a sparrow freaking out? They don't. And who have you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? In other words, you worrying about something changes nothing. It accomplishes nothing. So why do it? And why are you worried about clothing? He says, observe how the lilies of the field grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon and all his glory cloth himself like one of these, but if God so closed the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothed you?

And again, we've all had the blessing of driving out towards the hill country in springtime and seeing all the blue bonnets everywhere and they just kind of come up out of nowhere. But you got to time it right, because a few weeks later, a month later, they're gone. That's just God having fun, painting the world multicolor. And then Jesus puts his finger on the root cause of our anxiety. He says, you of little what? Faith. It's a lack of faith. Do not worry then saying, what will we eat or what will we drink? Or what will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. In other words, worry is pagan. That's what unbelievers do. Believers aren't supposed to worry. They're not supposed to be anxious or fearful. Why? Because God knows what you need.

He says, but seek first His kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you, William McDonald, in that one volume commentary I often recommend and commend to you to get and have in your home. And this is what he said about this text. He said, worry is unnecessary. There is no need for us to bear the burdens when he is willing and able to bear them for us. A preacher once said, worry is sin because it denies the wisdom of God. It says that he doesn't know what he's doing. It denies the love of God. It says he does not care, and it denies the power of God. It says that He isn't able to deliver me from whatever is causing me to worry.

So I guess the question that remains is how do we cast our anxieties on the Lord? How do we do this practically? Well look at Philippians chapter four real quick. Philippians chapter four, A familiar text. And Paul gave a three-step plan to overcome anxiety. We know the first one already. It's pray. Pray. Verse six, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request be made known to God. In other words, all that's involved in prayer, confession, confess your anxious thoughts to God that you know their sin. Thank God for his faithful provision for you in the past that he's worthy to be trusted in the future. Ask God to provide for your present needs. Express your trust in him regarding what lies ahead that you are not aware of. You can't see. So pray. And it says when you do that, the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ.

There's a second step though. It's more than just pray. You could call it stay. Stay. Verse eight. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely of good repute. If there's any excellence, if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. In other words, keep your mind fixed or focused on the right things. Isaiah 26, 3. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you because he trusts in you. So pray. And then as you leave your time of prayer, make sure your mind doesn't go right back to worrying about all that stuff. Keep your mind focused on the Lord and the right things. And then notice verse nine, the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. The fact that he says the God of peace will be with you tells me He's still thinking about this whole idea of how do you deal with anxiety. So this is kind of the bookend here. And so what's this last piece? This last step? It's obey. It's obey. Do what you know is the right thing to do while you're waiting on God to answer your prayers. Be content with whatever God provides you. He talks about that in verses 10 through 12. And then ultimately, remember that you can only do these things through Christ who strengthens you. That's verse 13.

So in light of that, hopefully you're not one of those tongue in cheek people who say, Hey, why pray when I can worry. I was reminded of a familiar hymn What a Friend We have in Jesus, a hymn. I am sure you all know well sung many times. I personally didn't know the background of that hymn. I think it's interesting to learn about how and why a certain song came into being. But this particular hymn was written by a guy named Joseph Scriven, who was born in Dublin, Ireland immigrated to Canada. He originally composed it as a poem to encourage his mother during a time of sorrow in her life.

And yet Scriven's own life was filled with all sorts of sorrow, all sorts of grief, all sorts of trials. He often needed the comfort and solace of the Lord. For example, he enrolled in military college to prepare, prepare for an army career, but his poor health forced him to give up that ambition. Soon after that, his beloved fiance died in a drowning accident. On the eve of their wedding, she was riding a horse across a bridge and fell off the horse, landed in a river and drowned. After moving to Ontario, Canada, his plans for marriage were dashed again. When his new bride died of pneumonia following these calamities, he seldom had a regular income. He was forced to live in the homes of others. He experienced mistrust from his neighbors, even his friends, because of his eccentricities and his work with underprivileged people.

And because Scriven suffered from depression, no one knows to this day of his death by drowning with suicide or an accident. But this is the man who wrote, what a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Let's pray. God thank you that whenever we're tempted to worry about something in our lives, you are worthy to be trusted in it about it for it. We ask that you search us and know our hearts. Try us and see if there are any anxious thoughts in us. Help us to be more submissive to your sovereign control of our lives and be more confident in your sincere concern for our lives. Thank you for this word today. Help us Lord to put it into practice with the help of your spirit. This week. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.