I’d been swimming for six years, and I never got nervous before a race. I was never the type of person to get in their own head before a swim meet, until my freshmen year. It was my third year swimming for our high school team. I knew what to do, but for some reason before my first race of the season I started panicking. My muscles felt tight, and my breathing was shallow. I felt tears build in my eyes. What if I wasn’t good enough? What if our team loses and it’s because I didn’t score well enough? Long story short, I lost that race miserably. I continued to have those panic attacks before almost every one of my races for the rest of the season, before finally working it out with my coach. Everyone worries at some point, whether that’s about sports, grades, or even money. Worrying is a part of life, but what does the Bible say about worrying?
The Bible has a lot to say on the topic of worrying, but we’ll focus on Mathew 6:25-34. This passage takes place during the Sermon on the Mount. (If you don’t know what that is, I’d advise you to read Mathew 5-7) During this sermon, Jesus is specifically talking to His Disciples and followers. Keep in mind that these people were poor, and had very good reason to be worried about money. In verse 25 He says this: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store food away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
In these verses Jesus talks about birds, telling us how birds don’t worry, and yet God still provides for them. God loves us so much more than the birds, so why don’t we trust Him to take care of us to? In the Bible there are so many examples of God providing for His people. In Exodus 16:4-5 God provides manna (bread-like food from heaven) for His people who are traveling in the desert. God also gives His people water from a rock in later in Exodus 17. God is continually providing more than we need.
Jesus later in the passage goes to say “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” First, I think it’s important to know what it means to “Seek His kingdom”. Seeking God’s kingdom means to find God’s will and align yourself with it. What is God’s will? God’s will is for us to serve Him by serving others. Jesus doesn’t say not to desire things such as food, money, relationships, etc. But he does say to seek His kingdom (or His will) first. I think you’ll find that when you’re thinking of others it’s a lot harder to focus on worrying. Your life gains so much more meaning and joy when you stop living to serve yourself and start living to serve others.
Finally, I want to leave you with one last secret way to fight anxiety and worry. Prayer. I know it’s cliche, but I think that’s why people tend to skip this part. We always say to pray, but have you ever actually just stopped and prayed during all the chaos? Prayer has power, and God listens to every prayer.