We had a few friends over for dinner the other day. Admittedly, we are privileged to call some of them “friends” because they are considerably cooler—and younger—than my husband and me. Given that we had a somewhat captive audience we decided to bore them with old pictures of ourselves. As my hubbers showed them pictures of himself from 2003, one of our guests, a young lady, looked at him, looked at the photos, looked back at the hubbers, and made a very astute observation: She went, “Hey, aren’t you wearing the same t-shirt as that picture?”

So, yeah, my dear hubs was wearing for our party the same tee in 2023 as he wore in 2003. That t-shirt was almost as old as the young lady who made the observation.

All this to say, I need to update his wardrobe every now and then. I usually end up buying casual tees with funny quotes on them. One of the t-shirts I recently bought him reads: “Hang on. Let me overthink this.”

The husband is a classic overthinker. As am I. But overthinking doesn’t seem to be a thing that runs just in our family. A quick search on Amazon spouts dozens of results of t-shirts with funny anxiety-related quotes on them.

Yes, anxiety is real and can be debilitating. Yes, in most instances therapy is a requirement and can be a blessing. Yes, there is absolutely no shame in seeking help. But anxiety has also become a label. As a culture, and even within the church, we’ve come to embrace and maybe even celebrate anxiety. At least we feel like we have little choice but to live with anxiety and succumb to stress.

But is that how God has designed us to live?

The Bible is replete with verses saying “Do not be anxious,” “Do not worry” and “Do not fear.” God doesn’t say those words to us as a divine dictator shouting orders—but as a loving Father who not only guides on how to live with freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness but also empowers us to do that.

In this series, we’re going to camp out in one of those verses about anxiety that is familiar to many of us, from 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

This is one of my favorite verses. It’s what I call a C4 verse or a Cute Christian Coffee Cup verse. Or an Instagram verse. With a nice font and a fancy color scheme with the right hashtags and this verse on Insta is guaranteed to get you a few new followers.

But there’s a verse that comes right before it.

1 Peter 5: 6 says: Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Now, That’s not an Insta verse. Post that verse and it won’t get you likes or follows. No one wants to talk about humbling oneself. Because that means you have to acknowledge this thing called pride. And that makes us humble people somewhat uncomfortable. doesn’t it?

But here’s the thing: this verse about casting our anxiety on God springboards off the previous verse of humbling ourselves before him. In the ESV translation, it is actually one long sentence: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,  casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

The apostle Peter wrote these verses to new Christians living in Roman-controlled regions of Asia Minor who were being ostracized for their faith. So both the author, Peter, and the readers of his letter, the new Christians who were being persecuted, had some super valid, reasons to be anxious.

And yet Peter here is not just saying to these new believers: Be bold. He says instead: Humble yourself.

Peter juxtaposes humility and anxiety.

When we position ourselves under God’s mighty hand, we are able to take off our backpack of burdens and say, “Here you go, God!”

It’s only when we humble ourselves before God, that we learn to cast our anxieties onto Him.

It’s not a popular thing to say. It’s not even a pleasant-sounding thing to say. But it’s the truth that God points us to from His Word. And it’s worth repeating.

It’s only when we humble ourselves before God, that we learn to cast our anxieties onto Him.

 

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Stay tuned for the next three parts of this four-part series on overcoming anxiety. Meanwhile, you can also download my YouVersion devotional “Do Not Worry…” But How???  and dive into some practical Biblical ways to overcome anxiety.

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