Anxiety
Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)
“In nothing be anxious.” (Phil. 4:6, R.V.)
Worrying is as definitely forbidden as theft. This needs to be carefully pondered and definitely realized by us, so that we do not excuse it as an innocent infirmity. The more we are convicted of the sinfulness of anxiety, the sooner are we likely to perceive that it is most dishonoring to God, and strive against it (Heb 12:4). But how are we to strive against it?
First, by begging the Holy Spirit to grant us a deeper conviction of its enormity.
Second, by making it a subject of special and earnest prayer, that we may be delivered from this evil.
Third, by watching its beginning, and, as soon as we are conscious of harassment of mind, as soon as we detect the unbelieving thought, lift up our heart to God and ask Him for deliverance from it.
The best antidote for anxiety is frequent meditation upon God’s goodness, power, and sufficiency. When the saint can confidently realize “The Lord is my shepherd,” he must draw the conclusion, “I shall not want!” Immediately following our exhortation is, “But in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God.” Nothing is too big and nothing is too little to spread before and cast upon the Lord. The “with thanksgiving” is most important, yet it is the point at which we most fail. It means that before we receive God’s answer, we thank Him for the same: it is the confidence of the child expecting his Father to be gracious.
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought [anxious concern] for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?…But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mat 6:25, 33).
