THE CURE FOR ANXIETY
Matthew
6:25-34
Author Tries to Find a "Cure" for
His Anxiety
In
an article in The Atlantic magazine, Scott Stossel shares openly
about his lifelong attempts to deal with the anguish of anxiety. From an early
age, he's been what he calls "a twitchy bundle of phobias, fears, and
neuroses." Stossel writes: "Even when not actively afflicted by acute
episodes [of anxiety], I am buffeted by worry." Stossel adds, "Here's
what I've tried [to deal with my anxiety]:
Individual
psychotherapy (three decades of it), family therapy, group therapy,
cognitive-behavioral therapy, rational emotive behavior therapy, acceptance and
commitment therapy, hypnosis, meditation, role-playing, interoceptive exposure
therapy, in vivo exposure therapy, self-help workbooks, massage therapy,
prayer, acupuncture, yoga, Stoic philosophy, and audiotapes I ordered from a
late-night TV infomercial.
And
medication. Lots of medication. Thorazine. Imipramine. Desipramine.
Chlorpheniramine. Nardil. BuSpar. Prozac. Zoloft. Paxil. Wellbutrin. Effexor.
Celexa. Lexapro. Cymbalta. Luvox. Trazodone. Levoxyl. Inderal. Tranxene. Serax.
Centrax. St. John's wort. Zolpidem. Valium. Librium. Ativan. Xanax. Klonopin.
Also: beer, wine, gin, bourbon, vodka, and scotch.[1] Here's what's
worked: nothing.
This
story could show us either 1. the deep pain and powerlessness of dealing with
crippling anxiety or other mental health issues, or 2. our need for God's grace
and power to help us in our weakness. I am not minimizing the pain of anxiety,
nor am I suggesting that you should never seek therapy or medication to address
it. All of us experience anxiety in one form or another. When we look around at
what is going on in the world, we become anxious.
I
am presenting an alternative Biblical cure for anxiety, one that Jesus offered
to His disciples in His Sermon on the Mount. In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus taught us to ask
for our daily bread. After guiding us to shift our focus from the temporary to
the eternal and from the physical to the spiritual, He used two natural
elements—birds and lilies—to help us overcome anxiety about meeting our daily
needs for food and clothing. The Cure For Anxiety: Matthew
6:25-34
Jesus
warned his disciples that our focus on money could rob us of the Joy of serving
God; then He commanded them, "For this reason I say to you, do not be
anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for
your body as to what you shall put on." Is not life more than food, and
the body than clothing? Matthew 6:25 NASB.
No
matter who we are, we all share basic needs for food, water, and clothing.
These days, those necessities are becoming scarce, driving people to the brink
of anxiety. Can we trust God to provide for those needs? Jesus used two common
elements of his creation to address these most basic human needs. What lessons can
we learn from the birds and the lilies?
I. The
Birds Teach Us How to Depend on God for Our Bodily Needs
Matthew
6:26: Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in
barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable
than they? The word "look" here carries a deeper meaning than simply
glancing at birds. It means: to look on, to observe fixedly, to discern
clearly, behold, gaze up, look upon, etc. When we pay attention to the birds
and look upon them to discern, we learn their absolute dependence on their Creator
God.
Have
you ever seen a worried bird, sitting on a tree branch with an angst-ridden
face, wondering where to find its next worm? That's not what we see in birds,
because our heavenly Father feeds them. Does God really feed the birds of the
air and the animals of the wild? Psalm 104:16: "The trees of the LORD are
well watered; the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. There the birds make their
nests; the stork has its home in the junipers."
The
birds, and the whole creation, look to God for their provision. Psalm 104:27-28:
"All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time.
When you give it to them, they gather it up; (to pick up or to collect), when
you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things." If our heavenly Father
can feed the birds, can He not provide food for all people?
By
using the illustration of birds, Jesus was not advocating a lazy, passive
lifestyle of dependency. Even birds have to work; they can't just perch in
trees or on a pole and wait for food to be brought to them. They need to look
for and collect seeds, pick up worms, and eat. In the same way, we have to work
hard for food by sowing, cultivating, hunting, catching fish, etc
Though
we may not live in an agrarian society these days, we must recognize that all
the food we eat comes from God. No matter how industrialized a society might
be, it will not survive without God's intervention. For example, where do we
get our bread, rice, vegetables, and meats? These are products of the land. For
the land to produce vegetation, and for the animals to survive, we need water
and sunlight. Where does water come from? Who lets the Sunshine?
God
sends the rain and the snow and lets the sun shine brightly. Genesis 2:5-6: "Now
no shrub had yet appeared on the earth, and no plant had yet sprung up; for the
LORD God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no one to work the
ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the
ground."
Genesis
7:4-11 teaches us how rain and the seas submit to God. Prophet Isaiah explained
the source and the purpose of the rain and snow. Isaiah 55:10: "As the
rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without
watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for
the Sower and bread for the eater." Matthew 5:45: "He causes his sun
to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous." Can you imagine what this world would be like if God
withheld rain and snow?
In
His general providence, He provides for all people regardless of whether they
believe in Him or not. But He also provides as a Father for His children, even
when the rest of the world goes hungry. God sustained Jacob and his family
during a seven-year drought. Gen 45:6-7. He cared for Elijah and his host’s
family during a three-and-a-half-year famine. I Kings 17.
II.
Observe how the Lilies of the field grow!
After showing them where to find food to care for our
bodies, Jesus turns their attention to clothing, another aspect of bodily care.
Matthew 6:28-29: "Why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the
lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you
that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these."
NASB
Jesus compared the naturally perfect
and beautiful lily with the royal glory of King Solomon and his clothing.
Solomon's garments looked pale compared to God's designer clothes of colorful
lilies and the grass of the field. Here is the main argument of these natural
elements of Birds and the lilies: If God could feed the birds of the air and
clothe the lilies of the field, how much more could He do for his children, who
are of greater worth?
For
that reason, we must not be anxious and say, What will we eat, or what will we
drink, or what will we wear? People who do not know God will run after them,
but our heavenly Father knows we need all these things. What should the people
of Faith do?
III.
Seek First His Kingdom And His Righteousness.
This
verse holds the cure for our anxiety about life. If we follow it wholeheartedly,
it will revolutionize our lives and put all our worries to rest. Matthew 6:33: But
seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things (food,
water, clothing) shall be added (provided) to you. The verb "seek"
here means continually seeking God's Kingdom and His righteousness.
If
you are anxious today for any reason, your Heavenly Father invites you to cast
all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7. Whenever we were
pressed for food or finances in Youth With A Mission, we used to sing Seek Ye
First the Kingdom written by Karen Lafferty in 1971. I testify, in all my years
of Christian ministry in India and here in the USA, that when we seek God's
Kingdom first, our Heavenly Father is faithful to provide for all our needs!
[1] Scott Stossel, "Surviving Anxiety," The Atlantic
(12-22-13) https://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/preaching/sermon-illustrations/author-tries-to-find-cure-for-his-anxiety/ 8-25-2026
