We often think of anxiety and fear being the same thing. I personally never realized the difference between fear and anxiety until I recently read an article posted by Skip Moen at www.skipmoen.com – Article 13.3% X 2. I condensed his article somewhat in order to write the main points. You can go to the actual article and look up his research into the Hebrew and Greek words that describe anxiety and fear.
1 Peter 5:7 - “casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” Fear is about past or present threats. Anxiety is about projected potential threats. Fear can produce traumas that set up the way we currently think. Anxiety is anticipated harm and dreaded powerlessness. When the Bible tells us not to fear it’s not talking about what might happen. It’s what has happened. Our declarations about not being afraid may not help with anxiety even if they help us deal with past or present trauma.
Look at Matthew 6:25. “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried (anxious) about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
How is that possible when the future is unpredictable or threatening? Get a Vax - don’t get one, social security won’t be around, food shortages, parts for my car, inflation! How can we set aside concern about what will happen to us when things are out of control? So much evil abounds!
Anxiety isn’t about being afraid. It’s about being helpless. What we don’t have is a confidence about the future. A Greek worldview focuses on thoughts in our mind-internal consciousness or the reality in our mind. The Hebrew has a different perspective. It is about God’s providence in engineering the experiences of our lives. It is not focused on our internal consciousness but rather our external operations of the sovereign God.
The rabbis prayed, “Lord, make my heart malleable so I may accept whatever You wish for me.”
Anxiety is a lack of confidence in God’s sovereignty. The Bible doesn’t have a psychological cure for anxiety. It provides a historical active resolution. God is in control. He engineers our lives. We rest in His decisions. We count on Him. His promises are true! Thanks Skip!
In His Covenant Love,
