Give All Your Concerns To God

Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall. (Psalm 55:22)

“Care, even though exercised upon legitimate objects, if carried to excess, has in it the nature of sin. The precept to avoid anxious care is earnestly inculcated by our Savior, again and again; it is reiterated by the apostles; and it is one which cannot be neglected without involving transgression: for the very essence of anxious care is the imagining that we are wiser than God, and the thrusting ourselves into His place to do for Him that which He has undertaken to do for us. We attempt to think of that which we fancy He will forget; we labor to take upon ourselves our weary burden, as if He were unable or unwilling to take it for us. Now this disobedience to His plain precept, this unbelief in His Word, this presumption in intruding upon His province, is all sinful. Yet more than this, anxious care often leads to acts of sin. He who cannot calmly leave his affairs in God’s hand, but will carry his own burden, is very likely to be tempted to use wrong means to help himself. This sin leads to a forsaking of God as our Counselor, and resorting instead to human wisdom. This is going to the broken cistern instead of to the fountain; a sin which was laid against Israel of old. Anxiety makes us doubt God’s lovingkindness, and thus our love to Him grows cold; we feel mistrust, and thus grieve the Spirit of God, so that our prayers become hindered, our consistent example marred, and our life one of self-seeking. Thus want of confidence in God leads us to wander far from Him; but if through simple faith in His promise, we cast each burden as it comes upon Him, and are careful for nothing because He undertakes to care for us, it will keep us close to Him, and strengthen us against much temptation.” —Charles Spurgeon 

What God Do You Tru$t?

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible.

Things seem to be going very, very well for Israel! Check out what Isaiah wrote:

Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots.

Sounds like a success story to me!

But wait: the next verse sounds a bit ominous:

Their land is full of idols; the people worship things they have made with their own hands.

Money? Yes.

Influence? Lots.

Prosperity? For everyone.

Idolatry? Widespread.

They were no longer looking to God, but they were looking to what they had made with their own hands. In other words, they made Money their god.

Money can save us!

Money can fix all our problems!

Without Money we are lost!

Only those with Money can be saved!

Sadly, I believe what was said of Israel 2500 years ago could be said of the United States of America today. In God We Trust is printed on all our currency, but it really has become In Money We Trust. We have made Money our god.

Don’t believe me? How do you think most people would answer these fill-in-the-blanks:

  • I need _____________ to get clothes.
  • Without _____________ I cannot feed my family.
  • If I lost _____________ today I would be devastated.
  • I frequently think about how more _____________ in my life would make my life better.

But check out what Jesus says about clothes, food, and our means of survival.

What should go in the blank: Money or God? Again, let’s let Jesus have the final word: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Luke 16:13).

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The Doctor & The Pastor—Part II

Friends, I recently reviewed the manuscript for a new book Living Free In An Anxious World. This is an essential book for pastors, Christian counselors, psychologists, and medical doctors which deals with a problem that is only expanding: worry, stress, anxiety. Stay tuned to this blog for a chance to win a free copy in just a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I am absolutely thrilled that the co-authors of Living Free In An Anxious World have agreed to write to my blog readers! Today is the second installment from Dr. Lanny Hunter. (If you missed Part I from Victor Hunter, you can check it out here.)

Guest Author: Dr. R. Lanny Hunter

In my profession as a dermatologist, it’s fair to say that most of my patients come to see me because they are worried. Patients may have developed a rash that worries them. What is it? Is it contagious? Is it serious? Will it scar? What will people think? Can I get rid of it?

Patients may have developed a skin growth, a lump, a sore that won’t heal, a place that is changing color, causing pain, or bleeding. Again, they are worried. Is it cancer? Is it life-threatening? Can it be cured? If I do make a diagnosis of cancer, their anxiety escalates. Will I die? How long do I have to live? How will it be treated? What should I tell my spouse? My family?

Beyond questions of diagnosis, treatment, and questions of severity of illness, many worry about medical costs. How much will it cost? Will my insurance pay for it? They may confide that their insurance has a very high deductible, or that they have no insurance at all, or that they live only on Social Security and Medicare. Will treatment bankrupt them?

In the course of consultation, medical care, and surgery, patients reveal more than their medical worries. They confide their life disappointments—marriage problems, work conflicts, children in trouble, personal and vocational failures, criminal escapades.

Patients with worry and anxiety are my life’s work. To that end, I use all of the interpersonal skills, psychological insights, religious convictions, and medical skills that I have acquired through training and experience. I must listen compassionately and constructively, and be armed with the latest medical techniques in treating disease. I must be cognizant of my limitations in skill and time. I may need to refer a patient to a psychologist, psychiatrist, pastor, priest, social worker, or another physician. I must always remember that I’m not treating the skin. I’m treating the whole person.

With that holistic approach in mind, my brother (a pastor) and I (a physician) have authored a book, Living Free in an Anxious World, which combines the insights of our two vocations to help people manage worry and anxiety in order to free them for more productive living. 

The Doctor & The Pastor—Part I

Friends, I recently reviewed the manuscript for a new book Living Free In An Anxious World. This is an essential book for pastors, Christian counselors, psychologists, and medical doctors which deals with a problem that is only expanding: worry, stress, anxiety. Stay tuned to this blog for a chance to win a free copy of this book later this month.

In the meantime, I am absolutely thrilled that the co-authors of Living Free In An Anxious World have agreed to write to my blog readers! Today is the first installment from Rev. Victor Hunter.

Guest Author: Rev. Victor L. Hunter

Whether it was the Carter family’s version in the 1930s, Woody Guthrie’s in the 40s, the Kingston Trio’s in the 50’s, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott’s in the 60s, or Devo’s in the 70s and 80s, “Worried Man Blues” has been a ubiquitous presence in the bluegrass/folk song genre of cultural music throughout the “century of anxiety.” Its words and tune have provided a common background theme playing in our minds for decades:  “It takes a worried man to sing a worried song.” Most of us, men and women, have hummed along, literally and/or figuratively, with its sentiments.

During these decades, my brother and I have listened to the song’s lyrics and contemplated the reality of worry and anxiety both personally and professionally. He’s a physician. I’m a pastor. I can say without hyperbole that there hasn’t been a week go by in nearly a half-century of preaching, pastoral care and counseling, and teaching that worry and anxiety haven’t been at the forefront of conversations with people, young and old, men and women, who have said to me, “I need to talk with you about something.”

This is so because anxiety is part of what it means to be human beings. It’s part of our biological makeup and spiritual reality. It is essential to our survival, as well as being a core theological question. It can also be devastatingly paralyzing, keeping people from living free, living life fully alive.

During the past four decades, the doctor and the pastor, the brothers, have been in conversation about our disciplines of science and theology and our professions in medicine and religion. We have become increasingly sensitive to the many issues that meet at the intersection of biology and theology. It’s about being human before God. We share in Living Free in an Anxious World this conversation and our passion for a holistic understanding of our humanity in light of faith and science . . . as well as our hope for the healing and redemption of our lives. We affirm that while anxiety and worry are unavoidable, they can be our teachers rather than our masters. Our goal is to provide realistic, practical, and helpful guidance in understanding worry and facing our fears that we might travel the road of freedom and grace.

Check out the guest post from Dr. R. Lanny Hunter by clicking here

Uncomfortably Quiet

Yesterday we dove into part two of our series The Stranglehold Of Worry by looking at anxiety. The medical dictionary defines anxiety as “worry compound by our own self-doubts about our ability to cope with worry.” Wow, talk about a double whammy!

You’re already worrying about something, and then you worry about what you’re worrying about!

Or for many people, anxiety boils down to worrying about what others are thinking about what you’re worrying about.

There’s a story in Luke 10 where Dr. Luke notices Martha’s anxiety. She is trying to be the best hostess she can for Jesus and His disciples, but it has gone beyond that. She is worrying about what Jesus thinks about her hospitality. She’s tied up in knots. What makes it even worse for Martha is that her sister (who was helping Martha get everything ready for the meal) is sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to Him speak.

Jesus tells Martha, “You are all worked up over trying to make a good impression. You are worried and upset. Look at Mary: she’s sitting quietly and listening to Me.”

Sitting quietly…

We don’t do that very well, do we? Our lives are bombarded with noise. In fact, when Jesus tells Martha she is worried, the Greek word means overly-busy. That’s how too many of us try to cope with worry, but the noise and busyness just lead to more anxiety.

We closed our service on Sunday in a very unusual, very uncomfortable way. We were silent. No music, no singing, no closing prayer. Just sitting silently at Jesus’ feet and listening to Him. It was uncomfortable but so beneficial.

Listen to King David:

I’ve cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content.

It might be uncomfortable, but it is just what the Lover of your soul ordered. Find some time to switch off the radio, leave the mp3 player and cell phone behind, and get someplace where you can just sit quietly at Jesus’ feet and hear the loving words He has to say to you.

Living Free In An Anxious World (book review)

When I say that more people today are worried, or stressed-out, or suffering from anxiety attacks, I’m not saying anything that you don’t already know. But in Living Free In An Anxious World authors R. Lanny Hunter and Victor L. Hunter give us a whole new way of looking at worry and anxiety.

Many times I’m frustrated by some author’s one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with worry and anxiety. The fact is, we are complicated and we are individuals. But more than that, many authors tend to focus on just one part of the human, when in fact we are a three-part being. There is a physical component, an emotional/mental component, and a spiritual component.

The Hunter brothers are well trained to address the effects of worry in all its forms, as one brother is a medical doctor and the other is a pastor who received specialized training in both religion and psychiatry. They both bring their specialties to this book in a way that I found both informative and comforting.

One of the first concepts they address is that the key is to not eliminate worry from our lives. That, they say, is impossible. The goal is to not worry in a self-destructive way. Right from the first chapter, I found myself buying into their insights which were so real and applicable.

The Hunter brothers explore the biblical, scientific, and even philosophic origins of worry, and provide very real solutions for even a layman like me. This book wasn’t “over my head” nor did it over-simply the very real and challenging task of dealing with worry the right way.

Since 6.5 million Americans suffer from general anxiety disorder every year, chances are good that you are going to have to confront worry in your life or in the life of a loved one. So I highly recommend this book to you.

I am an Abilene Christian University Press book reviewer.

Worry Unlearned

We started a new series yesterday called The Stranglehold Of Worry. The word worry originated with shepherds. When a wild dog or a wolf had killed a sheep by grabbing it by its throat and choking it to death, the shepherds said that sheep had been worried to death.

In modern times, researchers at Purdue University found that worrying can chop 16 years off of someone’s life. Not only does worry rob your life of years, but it can also rob your years of life.

What exactly is worry? Fear is our natural response to real threats, like a car heading toward you in your lane of traffic. Worry is our response to perceived threats (to unseen things), like the car that may head toward your kids’ car when they are driving.

Get this clear: worry is being fearful of the unseen.

Compare that to the Bible’s definition of faithNow faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Worry and faith both operate in the unseen dimension.

Fear is innate, but worry is learned.

Faith is worry unlearned.

Worry tells your brain a story about bad things that may happen.

Faith tells your brain a story about good things that should happen. Based on what you’ve already experienced of God’s power, what you’ve already seen in God’s provision, or what you already know of God’s promises, your faith in God can help you unlearn your worry.

The prophet Jeremiah tended to be a worrywart. Maybe that’s why he’s been called the “weeping prophet.” But in the middle of his worrying, he unlearns his worry by using his faith to tell a different story about God’s provision, power, and promises:

I well remember [the bad things], and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.”

Did you notice that Jeremiah talked to himself? He wrote, “I say to myself.” If you have a tendency to worry, it’s time to start talking to yourself and telling yourself a different story. Instead of being fearful of the bad things you cannot see, why not be hopeful of the good things of God you can see?

Let your faith in God help you unlearn your worry. You can overcome worry and anxiety by telling yourself a new faith-filled, hope-oriented story. You can recall God’s faithfulness in the past, and apply it to your current circumstance.

What stories are you telling yourself today? Share with others how you overcame, or are in the process of overcoming worry now. Your faith story will help others overcome and unlearn their worry too.

Help! I’m Being Strangled!

I’m kicking off a new series at Calvary Assembly of God on Sunday about breaking the stranglehold of worry. The origin of worry comes from a word that means choking, strangling, hard to breathe. And isn’t that exactly what worry feels like?

I’m sure that none of you ever struggle with worry (he wrote sarcastically!). But if you know any “friends” who may benefit from an honest look at both the origins of worry and how to gain freedom from worry, please send them our way over the next few Sundays.

They will be so glad that you did!

Worrywart

“Worry indicates we’re not willing to let God handle certain things—at least not in His way, and certainly not in His time.” —Craig Groeschel, in The Christian Atheist

Worry is a control issue

…that is, I want to be in control.

Worry is a sovereignty issue

…that is, I think I know best how things should work out.

Worry is a trust issue

…that is, I trust God only when things are happening on my timeframe.

Bottom line: Worry is sin when

  • …I allow something else to be bigger than God.
  • …I allow something else to be more important than God.
  • …I allow something to limit God.
  • …I look more to myself for solutions than I look to God.

Any worry should be a call to prayer: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Any extended worry should be a call to repentance: Jesus commands us four times, “Do not worry” (Matthew 6:25-34).

Worry can be disguised in a lot of different forms, but it’s still worry. And it’s still sin. I’m working on this.