“Diagnosis: Worry Warts”
March 15, 2019
My face could be on the book covers of children’s books like, The Worry Warts and Wilma Jean the Worry Machine. Often, like the main character in the picture book, Wemberly Worried, I worry about small things and big things. It is not easy to be cured of my worry warts!
Part of the struggle is that the world suggests remedies for worry warts that are ineffective. For example, I recently read an article about what to say to a student “suffering from anxiety” (suffering is not an overstatement if you personally know the torment of an anxious heart). First, there are things to avoid saying to an anxious pupil, such as, “Don’t Worry!”, “Just Relax!”, or “It’s not worth worrying about!” These ineffective anti-anxiety creams for worry because clearly the person worrying would stop and relax if it were as simple as that, and if they did not think what they were worrying about was worth it in the first place.
Secondly, this article went on to say, it is better to say things such as, “Can you describe to me how you are feeling right now?”, “What do you need from me?”, and “I’m here for you.” However, true worriers are infrequently comforted with these tactics. Talk therapy is cheap and it doesn’t get to the core of what is causing the worry in the first place.
The World’s remedies are often not helpful. However, the Word’s remedies are the true panacea for overcoming worry! One key verse from Scripture, that is a flawless prescription for clearing up worry warts is I Peter 5: 6-7 –
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
For the longest time I missed the connection between the lack of humility and worry because, truly in my heart and mind, my worry did not feel arrogant. However, on closer inspection, I finally realized that as my anxieties rise, so does my sense of self-sufficiency. As my anxieties rise, “self” swells and God diminishes, and once I lose sight of God, I am less humble and think I can control my anxiety with some of the strategies mentioned above.
However, the antidote to worry is clearly prescribed in I Peter 5: 6-7:
- First I need to humble myself under the mighty hand of God
- At the proper time, He may exalt me (rarely, if ever, is my sense of timing God’s sense of timing; He knows my needs and in His proper time, He will grant them)
- I need to CAST (a powerful word that is similar to how we cast or heave our trash in the garbage truck) ALL my anxieties on Him
- Why? BECAUSE HE CARES FOR ME (right there is the antidote for worry)
Of all the words in these verses, the most powerfully healing words for overcoming worry are, BECAUSE HE CARES FOR YOU!
When our fears flare up, and our worries weigh us down, we need to be reminded of just how much He cares for us!
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)