The truth is no, I don't. Like many of you, I experience anxiety and frustration almost daily. When I think about pursuing future goals, I get anxious. When a driver is going five miles per hour under the speed limit, I get frustrated. The examples are endless!
Anxiety shows God that I don't truly trust him as well as my lack of acceptance of what he has placed in my life. If someone I loved, told me they didn't trust me. I would be hurt. Essentially, that is what we are telling God when have anxiety. When I give way to anxiety, I'm believing God does not care for me and won't take care of me in the circumstances that trigger anxiety.
- 1 Peter 5:7
When things don't go my way, I need to ask myself 'What is God's agenda?' in all of this? At times my anxiety isn't triggered by a distrust in Him so much as an unwillingness to submit and joyfully accept His agenda for me.
So the question is... how do I overcome anxiety? By remembering these thing:
1. Everything He placed in my life is for His purpose
2. He is always right
3. There is a season for everything
Acceptance of God's providential will is not easy. I must learn to pray with an attitude of acceptance for whatever that will might me.
Worry is a synonym for anxiety and is often associated with long-term difficult or painful circumstances which appears to have no resolution. Since being saved I've become less of a worry-whort. In times of difficult situations, I remind myself that God has a plan and loves me so much. I can't control circumstances but I can show my trust and obedience to Him during these times.
"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God."
- Luke 12:6
I am His child. I am His personal concern.
Also discussed in this chapter was the respectable sin of frustration. Frustration is a form of ungodliness that usually involves being upset or angry at whatever or whoever is blocking our plans. The truth is that God is behind all the events in my life. He is the invisible hand behind whatever it is that is causing my frustration. An important scripture to memorize is Psalm 139:16,
"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
God planned not only the days of my life but also the events and circumstances of each day of my life. The next time I become frustrated I will stop and pray, asking the Holy Spirit to enable me to respond in a godly manner and use practical wisdom to overcome my frustration. I think God purposely uses events that tempt us towards frustration to push me in the area I need to grow. To make my sin evident in my eyes and show me that a changes needs to be made.
Even though anxiety and frustration may not seem like a serious sin in my eyes or the eyes of my peers, I need to me remind that all sin is serious in the eyes of God.
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