Faith Matters | Are you feeling anxious? Look for answers in scripture

“May I speak to a manager please?!”

These dreaded words are loathed by employees. What normally follows is a barrage of accusations about a job done poorly. I’m confident every time you have used this phrase it was the last resort to restore order and justice to a transaction gone wrong. Like when your fries arrived cold at lunch. But not everyone is as logical as you.

One young woman tells the story about a job at Michaels one summer. A lady wanted to return yarn. Not a big deal. Except that it had already been used — to knit a scarf. The woman demanded to speak to a manager.

We don’t like feeling out of control. We believe the manager will see things our way, regain control of the situation and order will be restored to the universe. But what happens when there is no one to appeal to? What happens when we can’t regain control? What happens when chaos ensues? Not at the store, but in life.

That’s when anxiety kicks in.

Anxiety is the body’s response to worry and fear. Our palms sweat, our ears ring, our heart beats faster and we are overwhelmed with a sense of looming doom. I’ve never met anyone who enjoyed feeling anxious. And yet, here we are. Anxiety is one of the fastest growing issues affecting mental health in the United States. We seem powerless in its grip.

We tend to feel the most anxious when we are feeling the most out of control. When the doctors find something concerning in a routine exam and they need to run more tests. When you’re facing graduation and you’re not sure what the next step of life is supposed to be. When your house won’t sell, or bills can’t be paid, or the threat of divorce hangs in the air. The grip of anxiety tightens.

Then we come to the words of Jesus who says in Matthew 6:25, “Do not be anxious”. I appreciate His words of advice, but quite frankly, if I could just stop being anxious I would have done it already.

Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t stop there. He tells us how to quit. In the following verses He speaks of how God the Father feeds the birds, decorates the lilies and gives everything needed for the grass of the field to grow. He then makes this statement “Aren’t you more valuable then they are?” Of course we are. We just quickly forget.

We quickly forget the unique way God designed us in His image. We forget the power of God to provide when we’re out of options. We forget the plan of God when we can’t see past the problems in front of us. The answer to overcoming anxiety is found, not in the human will, but in being regularly reminded of God’s character as found in scripture.

We don’t need to call the manager. We simply need to spend time daily putting scripture in our heart and anxiety will begin to lose its grip.

This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 7:00 AM.