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Anxiety

FAITH AND OUR EMOTIONS

Anxiety

October 15, 2006

Text: Isaiah 43:1-7

But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. 5 Do not fear, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you;

6 I will say to the north, "Give them up," and to the south, "Do not withhold;

bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth — 

7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."

NRSV 

      You know, one of the things I enjoy at the end of the day is to write in my journal. I find it so relaxing.

      “Let’s see. I want to face the future, faithfully.

      “There’s my health. I’m in pretty good shape. But I did notice this spot on my arm—and mom and dad both had cancer. Oh my.

      “There’s our family finances. What will we have to pay for in the future? Braces for the kids? Unknown medical expenses? Known health insurance increases? Another car, and more insurance? Saving for college for two kids. Savings for retirement—retirement? Emma graduates high school when I’m 65. I’ll practice now: ‘Would you like fries with that?’ Oh my.

      “Speaking of our children… They’re going to be teenagers. What will they encounter in school? Violence? Drugs? Sex? And what kind of boyfriend will Emma bring home? “Bubba”, the guy that looks like Charles Manson and talks like Marilyn Manson? Oh my.

      “There’s my career. The bishop appoints Methodist pastors. Whenever he sees fit to move me, where could my next appointment be? Here’s a map of Missouri. ‘Lord, give me a preview’… Oh my.

      “Yes, I enjoy journaling. I find it so…relaxing.” 

      You know, if you were to write down all the things you could worry about, you’d better make sure you have a thick enough legal pad, a heavy-duty ink pen, and a lot of time.

      You could fill several pages. And when you do, and you review your list, you know what? What you see isn’t necessarily bad.

      Anxiety can be a useful thing.

      It forces you to learn HUMILITY.

      It makes you experience VULNERABILITY.

      It forces you to discover and use your STRENGTHS, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES.

      Anxiety can help you TRUST OTHERS more—and trusting others usually makes them more trustworthy.

      BUT…

      We all know that letting anxiety run wild sucks the joy right out of life.

      Worry keeps you from enjoying a perfectly good cup of coffee, or perfectly beautiful sunrise/sunset.

      Worry snowballs, and once you worry about one thing, you’re more likely to start worrying about a lot of things—things that wake you up at 4 in the morning.

 I don’t know about you, but the “bad” can certainly outweigh the “good” anxiety.

      That’s why that passage from Isaiah speaks to me, and I hope it speaks to you as well.

      Read this verse over to yourself a couple of times:

Thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine!

      God is the One whose heart beats with the same rhythm as that of a doting, love-overwhelmed Parent. Five-hundred years after Isaiah wrote these words, Jesus entered our world and called God, “Dad.”

      BUT THAT’S WHAT ISAIAH’S DOING RIGHT HERE!

      Thus says the LORD, he who created you, O [Bob, Sarah, Mary Jane]; he who formed you, O [Harold, Ruth, Sam]: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

      The first day Cameron got on the school bus, I wanted to get on it with him.  The first day I walked Emma to kindergarten, I didn’t want to just stop at the door, I wanted to go to class with her.

      I wanted to be with my children to protect them from any of life’s “alarms.” Of course, no parent could or should do that. Children learn from the things they encounter and have to deal with apart from Mom and Dad. Their struggles, their anxieties, shape their souls.

      But I guarantee you this: just as any parent would, I will move heaven and earth to be with my child when they need me, when they have to rely on a stronger arm or a more experienced soul.

      And how much more will God move for you?

      As a matter of fact, this doting parent-God lets us know in specifics what “He” will do for us.

      Look at what follows this verse:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you

      Personally speaking, just as I don’t understand why some people like camping out, I also can’t understand why some people like to mess around in water. It’s unnatural. We were made with feet, not fins. Water can be deep. It can be cold. It can have powerful currents that can sweep you away and drag you down.

      I don’t think God was a big fan of water, either. You read the creation accounts, and you know that “in the beginning” there was nothing but water: formless, chaotic, violent.

      Maybe God saw that and knew what a threat it would be for people with feet, not fins. God knew that water could knock you off your feet, and sweep you away. Sort of like what you feel when you try to make a relationship or marriage work, but it breaks apart and drifts away, anyway. Just like what you feel like trying to love a child who constantly turns away. Just like what you feel when you try to make sense of why bad things happen to good people, and end up more confused than ever, thinking there can be no God, let alone a good one. You feel knocked off your feet and carried away by the current when you stand up for what you think is right, only to find yourself passed over for promotion. Just like what you feel when you struggle to hold on to your values in an immoral world, and find yourself ridiculed or ignored and alone.

      Life’s floods can be chilling and cold, with a death-grip undertow.

      And God says, “Let the waters separate—and let there be DRY GROUND for my people—for Bob, and Sarah, and Bernice. For YOU, I’m going to part the waters of the Red Sea all over again—when you pass through the waters, I’ll be with you—the water will NOT overwhelm you!”

      You might be feeling pretty wet right now, but HOLD ON! God is with you. God is blowing back the waves. The God who says, “You’re MINE”: THAT God is going to put your feet back on dry ground.

      TRUST HIM!

      And that’s not the only thing our “Parent who art in heaven” is doing for you.

When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

      For Isaiah’s readers, “fire” wasn’t just a symbol.

      It was real.

      They had seen the Babylonians torch their land. Forty chapters earlier Isaiah had written,

“[Our] country lies desolate, [our] cities are burned with fire…aliens devour [our land]; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.”

                                          Isaiah 1:7

      How awful it is to see your enemies approaching, with torches in hand.

      You know pain is coming. You know you’re going to be burned, and the pain from a burn is excruciating.

      There’s no way out. 

      Or…is there?

      In the 7^th grade, I was a scrawny kid. One day at lunch the 8^th grade bully picked on me in front of everybody. After some taunting he said so everybody could hear, “Kid, you meet me after school out there, and I’m going to teach you a lesson!”

      My eyes must have grown as big as saucers, and I remember a sick feeling in my stomach. But I also knew that if I didn’t stand up to him and possibly endure the beating, things would only get worse.

      So, after school, I went out there and waited for him.

      Now, I don’t necessarily say that this is the way to deal with bullies, but that’s what seemed right to me at that time.

      He eventually came out, with a few kids following him. But he seemed surprised—it’s like he didn’t expect me to show up.

      As he approached, I tried to look as threatening as I could. He paused, and said, “Kid, I don’t have time to fight you now—I have to go to choir practice at the Baptist Church.” [We had strange bullies in Poplar Bluff!]. “But you meet me here tomorrow after school, and we’ll finish this.”

      And I said, with much more courage than I really felt, “You wanted to fight. I’m here. Let’s get it over with.”

      The bully turned around and walked away. The next day I see him in the hallway, and he says, “Hey, kid, we don’t really need to fight.” And that was that.

      You know, sometimes running away from the pain hurts more than facing it. Living in fear of the pain can make it appear bigger than it is. It makes the 8^th grade bully look like Hulk Hogan or Arnold Schwarzenegger.  

      But why am I telling you this?

      I’ve seen so many of you stand up to bullies much more dangerous than that 8^th grader.

      I’ve seen you stand up to cancer, leukemia, dialysis, and heard you say: “Let’s fight.”

      I’ve seen you stand up to death, when it takes away a child, or a friend, or a spouse of 40, 50, 60 years, and heard you say, “Bring it on.”

      I’ve seen you stand up to disease and death and uncertainty with a courage that’s amazing.

      You’ve stood up even when your knees felt like buckling.

      You knew that the fear of the fire can burn you worse than the fire itself. So you stood up and faced your fire. And when you did, you discovered that God was there. God would let the fire neither burn you, nor consume you.  

      Now, I know for some of you, this might sound like wishful thinking.

      Some of you are in the midst of facing the bully right now. The kid’s not walking away to choir practice. The flames are not retreating, and you’re sweating. It may not feel like that doting parent is coming to your side, to shield and protect you.

      You may feel that you have said to God, “I trust you—help me!” only to receive a cold, silent reply.

      You may feel that the bully, the fire, got the best of you.

      You may feel like that old nation of Israel, with the cities burned and the people scattered to the four winds.

      But remember what God said, at the end of this passage: [Bible]

      “[O children of Israel, scattered to the four corners of the world:] I will gather you!” 

      You CAN stand your ground. You CAN say, even if you don’t feel like it,

“Let’s get this over with”…

      …Because God is working behind the scenes. Just as God was working behind Jesus’ cross, so is God working in your confrontation behind the school cafeteria. God is working to bring you “shalom,” “peace.”

      God’s plan for your life isn’t that you have a laugh, have a cry, have some fun, and then you die.

      No.

      “My plan for you, Bob, says the Lord God…. is to bring the scattered pieces of your life back together…for you, Carol, to bring the relationships broken by death and by circumstance back into a wholeness…for you, Ruth, to bring fullness to your spirit even as death approaches.

      “I will gather you,” says the Lord your God. “I will bring you HOME!”

      What’s behind anxiety? Fear of losing control. Well, I have good news for you today: you never had control to begin with, and never will. No matter how you plan and plot, dream and scheme: anything can happen at any time, making you feel like the Babylonians have invaded your life and torched your cities.

      You never had control, and never will. Make peace with that, so you’ll know how to live, and so you’ll know how to die.

      You never had control, and never will. So trust the one who DOES. Trust the one who said, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine!”

      NO WONDER his son, years later, would say,

       “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life”

      Matthew 6:25