Hope in the Night (A 30-Day Reflection on Anxiety and Fear)

Eighteenth Night: Is Anxiety the Devil's Tool?

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
- John 10:10

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Reflection:

When I was still counseled by our Pastor's wife for my anxiety and panic attacks, she told me that "it's all in the mind". Now before we criticize her for being insensitive, know that in God's character, what she said was true.

Anxiety, as much as it is an emotion, came from all our thoughts in our head. The fear, the what-ifs, only ifs, if only thoughts feed our mind and it became what we feel right in our hearts. It can have a devastating effect in our health, too.

Psychiatrists or psychologists spent their hours listening to people pour out their heartaches, problems and burdens. They listen to the same people share the same thing every week after week. But no matter how wise and well-trained they were in diagnoses and treatments, they cannot remove your anxiety.

Removing anxiety isn't going to happen without God's help and intervention. In Jeremiah 30, His chosen people were captives of Babylonians (and later on, Assyrians) and He promised to bring them back to their lands and out of captivity. One of the promises amidst their despair and cries to their God was written in verse 17(a), "For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord..."

These days, medicines will be given to you to quiet you down. But know that God created us to live an abundant life filled with joy, peace and activities - not to be silenced all the time.

Going back to when my counselor told me that it's all in my mind, she further told me that anxiety can bring my health down. But if I clear my head and change my mindset, everything will clear out. Including physical things. Because that's the way God created me. He made my body to function properly. And when I am not thinking right, and just wallow in uncertainties in life, dread, fear and frustration, it's going to really affect my body.

And I realized that she was right. Because of my own fear, I developed sudden panic attacks. Because of my own anxiety, I had so many headaches. My immune system weakened. I hardly ate and it made me weak. I get sick so easily. All rooted to my anxiety. Ignoring it just made it worst, and God made me realize that in a hard way.

There are people who run to the doctors and get prescriptions after prescriptions in hopes that these will numb their anxious thoughts and feelings. However, I found in my own experiences that there's something much easier than that:

To find out what God has to say in His Word about despair. About guilt and failures in life. About depression. About weary and burdened heart. About grieving and suffering. About pain. And how He instructs us to think and deal with these, then just put that into practice.

Before, I would have given in to anxiety. As long as I can go to a doctor and get something to calm me down and take me from the edge of the cliff even for a little time, I'll stick with that. But here's the thing:

Before you know it, you're hooked into it, locked into it, and then find yourself dependent upon something synthetic to help you get through life.

That's absolutely the opposite to the kind of life God wants a believer to live (John 10:10). That's not who we are. There's not a single verse in Scripture that in any way agrees with that. Anxiety is a devil's tool to destroy you, His beloved creation. The devil is a thief who will steal your happiness, your true joy. The devil is a robber of life that God intends to give fully and wholly. And he will use your anxiety to drag you away from God's protection.

Many of you will probably say, "easier said than done".

That is the purpose of hope. Hope in the Lord. By His grace and His power and His might, you will get through just like how I got through anxiety. Without the use of medicines that had side effects on the other parts of our body.

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Prayer:

Dear God, help me get through my anxiety. Deliver me from my fear of the future. Deliver me from the fear of things unknown. Don't let the devil use my emotion against me, to drag me away from You. I will hope in You, in Your power and wisdom, forever. In the precious Name of Christ Jesus, I pray, Amen.