Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World

by Max Lucado

Anxiety is a meteor shower of what-ifs. What if I don’t close the sale? What if we don’t get the bonus? What if we can’t afford braces for the kids? What if my kids have crooked teeth? What if crooked teeth keep them from having friends, a career, or a spouse? What if they end up homeless and hungry, holding a cardboard sign that reads “My parents couldn’t afford braces for me”?

And what about the onslaught of personal challenges? You or someone you know is facing foreclosure, fighting cancer, slugging through a divorce, or battling addiction. You or someone you know is bankrupt, broke, or going out of business.

One would think Christians would be exempt from worry. But we are not. We have been taught that

the

Christian life is a life of peace, and when we don’t have peace, we assume the problem lies within us. Not only do we feel anxious, but we also feel guilty about our anxiety! The result ...

“Don’t let anything in life leave you perpetually breathless and in angst.” The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional.

With God as your helper, you will sleep better tonight and smile more tomorrow. You’ll reframe the way you face your fears. You’ll learn how to talk yourself off the ledge, view bad news through the lens of sovereignty, discern the lies of Satan, and tell yourself the truth. You will discover a life that is characterized by calm and will develop tools for facing the onslaughts of anxiety.

This much is sure: It is not God’s will that you lead a life of perpetual anxiety. It is not his will that you face every day with dread and trepidation. He made you for more than a life of breath-stealing angst and mind-splitting worry. He has a new chapter for your life. And he is ready to write it.

I have no inclination to believe that God loves corn bread and buttermilk, but I do believe he loves his children. He oversees your world. He monitors your life. He doesn’t need to check the doors; indeed, he is the door. Nothing will come your way apart from his permission.

Paul’s prescription for anxiety begins with a call to rejoice. Paul used every tool in the box on this verse, hoping to get our attention. First, he employed a present imperative tense so his readers would hear him say, continually, habitually rejoice!1 And if the verb tense wasn’t enough, he removed the expiration date. “Rejoice in the Lord always” (emphasis mine). And if perchance the verb tense and always were inadequate, he repeated the command: “Again I will say, rejoice!” (emphasis mine).

We are urged to “Rejoice in the Lord.” This verse is a call, not to a feeling, but to a decision and a deeply rooted confidence that God exists, that he is in control, and that he is good.

Let storms blow. Paul’s tent of faith would never collapse. He had stabilized it with a sturdy belief system.

Your belief system is not concerned with the exterior of the tent but the interior. It is the set of convictions (poles)—all of them unseen—upon which your faith depends. If your belief system is strong, you will stand. If it is weak, the storm will prevail.

To change the way a person responds to life, change what a person believes

about life. The most important thing about you is your belief system.

In the treatment of anxiety, a proper understanding of sovereignty is huge. Anxiety is often the consequence of perceived chaos. If we sense we are victims

of unseen, turbulent, random forces, we are troubled.

The formula is simple: Perceived control creates calm. Lack of control gives birth to fear.

So what do we do? Control everything? Never board a plane without a parachute. Never enter a restaurant without bringing

your own clean silverware. Never leave the house without a gas mask. Never give away your heart for fear of a broken one. Never step on a crack lest you break your mother’s back. Face anxiety by taking control. If only we could. Yet certainty is a cruel impostor. A person can accumulate millions of dollars and still lose it in a recession. A health fanatic can eat only nuts and veggies and still battle cancer. A hermit can avoid all human contact and still struggle with insomnia. We want certainty, but the only certainty is the lack thereof.

That’s why the most stressed-out people are control freaks. They fail at the quest they most pursue. The more they try to control the world, the more they realize they cannot. Life becomes a cycle of anxiety, failure; anxiety, failure; anxiety, fa...

The Bible has a better idea. Rather than seeking total control, relinquish it. You can’t run the world, but you can entrust it to God. This is the message behind Paul’s admonition to “rejoice in the Lord.” Peace is within reach, not for lack of problems, but because of the presence of a sovereign Lord. Rather th...

that my chains are in Christ”

And those troublemakers in the church? Those who preached out of “envy and strife” (Phil. 1:15)? Their selfish motives were no match for the sovereignty of Jesus. “Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice” (Phil. 1:18 NLT). Paul believed that “God highly exalted [Jesus] and gave Him the name that is above every name”

Stabilize your soul with the sovereignty of God. He reigns supreme over every detail of the universe. “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD”

God] does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’” (Dan. 4:35 NIV). He “sustains all things” (Heb. 1:3 NRSV). He can “whistle for the fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt” (Isa. 7:18). He names the stars and knows the sparrows. Great and small, from the People’s Liberation Army of China to the army ants in my backyard, everything is under his control. “Who can act against you without the Lord’s permission? It is the Lord who helps one and harms another” (Lam. 3:37–38 TLB).

Lift up your eyes. Don’t get lost in your troubles. Dare to believe that good things will happen. Dare to believe that God was speaking to you when he said, “In everything God works for the good of those who love him” (Rom. 8:28 NCV). The mind cannot at the same time be full of God and full of fear. “He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord!” (Isa. 26:3 TLB). Are you troubled, restless, sleepless? Then rejoice in the Lord’s sovereignty. I dare you—I double-dog dare you—to expose your worries to an hour of worship. Your concerns will melt like ice on a July sidewalk.

Your Father has never dropped anyone. He will not drop you. His grip is sturdy and his hands are open. As the apostle proclaimed, “And I know the Lord will continue to rescue me from every trip, trap, snare, and pitfall of evil and carry me safely to His heavenly kingdom. May He be glorified throughout eternity. Amen” (2 Tim. 4:18 THE VOICE).

Place yourself entirely in his care. As you do, you will find it is possible—yes, possible!—to be anxious for nothing.

So if God is in charge, why was Joseph in prison? Why is our friend’s marriage in disarray? Why does God permit challenges to come our way? Wouldn’t an almighty God prevent them? Not if they serve his higher purpose. Remember the rest of Joseph’s story? When Pharaoh was troubled by his dreams, the butler recalled Joseph’s request. He mentioned Joseph to Pharaoh, and as fast as you can say providence, Joseph went from prison to palace. Joseph interpreted the dream, which was a forecast of a famine. Pharaoh promoted him to prime minister, and Joseph successfully navigated the crisis and saved not just the Egyptians but also the family of Jacob.

This gentleness is “evident to all.” Family members take note. Your friends sense a difference. Coworkers benefit from it. Others may freak out or run out, but the gentle person is sober minded and clear thinking. Contagiously calm.

prepared Jesus to ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, they “cast their garments upon the colt” (Luke 19:35 KJV). The crowd removed the garments off their backs and spread them in the path of Christ. Let this “throwing” be your first response to bad news. As you sense anxiety welling up inside you, cast it in the direction of Christ. Do so specifically and immediately.

promises. Populate your prayer with “You said…” “You said you would walk me through the waters” (Isa. 43:2, author’s paraphrase). “You said you would lead me through the valley” (Ps. 23:4, author’s paraphrase). “You said that you would never leave or forsake me” (Heb. 13:5, author’s paraphrase).

Find a promise that fits your problem, and build your prayer around it. These prayers of faith touch the heart of God and activate the angels of heaven. Miracles are set into motion. Your answer may not come overnight, but it will come. And you will overcome.

Paul advances a healthier strategy. He learned to be content with what he had.

He had the love of God. He had forgiveness of sins. He had the surety of salvation. He had Christ, and Christ was enough. What he had in Christ was far greater than what he didn’t

Learn a lesson from the king. Lead with worship. Go first to your Father in prayer and praise. Confess to him your fears. Gather with his people. Set your face toward God. Fast. Cry out for help. Admit your weakness. Then, once God moves, you move too. Expect to see the God of ages fight for you. He is near, as near as your next breath.

They come. But Jesus still catches his children. He still extends his arms. He still sends his angels. Because you belong to him, you can have peace in the midst of the storm. The same Jesus who sent the angel to Paul sends this message to you: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you” (Isa. 43:2 NIV). You may be facing the perfect storm, but Jesus offers the perfect peace.

Satan knows this. The devil is always messing with our minds. He fills the sky with airplanes that carry nothing but fear and anxiety.

He will lead you to a sunless place and leave you there. He seeks to convince you this world has no window, no possibility of light. Exaggerated, overstated, inflated, irrational thoughts are the devil’s specialty.

But Satan wants us to think we are. He wants to leave us in a swarm of anxious, negative thoughts.

So “fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Phil. 4:8 NLT). The transliteration of the Greek word, here rendered as fix, is logizomai. Do you see the root of an English word in the Greek one? Yes, logic. Paul’s point is simple: anxiety is best faced with clearheaded, logical thinking.

Our assignment is not fruitfulness but faithfulness. The secret to fruit bearing and anxiety-free living is less about doing and more about abiding. Lest we miss this point, Jesus employs the word abide(s) ten times in seven verses:

God does the same with us. Don’t load yourself down with lists. Don’t enhance your anxiety with the fear of not fulfilling them. Your goal is not to know every detail of the future. Your goal is to hold the hand of the One who does and never, ever let go.

he sustains all and controls all, do you think he has authority over this situation you face? What about his mercy? Is God’s grace great enough to cover your sin? Again, yes! “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1 NIV). Rejoice in the Lord. This is step one. Do not hurry past it. Face God before you face your problem. Then you will be ready to…

So ask! When anxiety knocks on the door, say, “Jesus, would you mind answering that?” Reduce your request to one statement. Imitate Jesus, who taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11). Engage in specific prayer. And engage in promise-based prayer. Stand on the firm foundation of God’s covenant. “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence” (Heb. 4:16 NIV). Having done so…

God does not need our help, counsel, or assistance. (Please repeat this phrase: I hereby resign as ruler of the universe.) When he is ready for us to reengage, he will let us know.

Of course, my prospects of a miserable summer are nothing compared to the lemons you’ve been handed. Just recently I spoke with an elderly woman whose husband has been diagnosed with dementia. She needs to take away his car keys. I spoke with a single mom who can’t remember her last good night of sleep. She wonders if she has what it takes to raise kids. I spoke to a middle-aged man who is reeling from the consequences of a divorce. He wonders if he’ll ever have a happy family.

How could viewing the Lord as a faithful friend who greets you in the early morning for a long walk or a conversation over coffee shape the way you see your current situation?

Take time to meet with the Lord as a friend this week. Rest, knowing he sees and he feels along with you more than anyone else in your life can.