Psalm 23:4
Lord even when your path takes me through
the valley of deepest darkness
fear will never conquer me, for you already have!
You remain close to me and lead me through it all the way.
Your authority is my strength and my peace.
The comfort of your love takes away my fear.
I'll never be lonely for you are near.
So many times in the Bible someone will say, "Do not be afraid." I am a very nervous person, I'm always thinking about something going wrong. So hearing "do not be afraid" so many times frustrates me. I think, ''I really, really want to not be afraid, I am not trying to be afraid. So how do I stop?'' When I read Psalm 23 in The Passion Translation, verse four really jumped out at me. Even when I am in the most trying part of my life I won't be afraid. Why? Not because I turn it off and say, "lalalalala" when fears start to trickle into my mind. No, I won't be afraid because no one can serve two masters. I can not let God occupy my mind and let Fear occupy my mind. You, Lord already told me where my path ends. My path ends in an oasis of peace, so I don't have to fear about how I will get there. If we let Fear be master of our mind, we are basically saying, "God, I'm not sure you know the best way, I'm gonna figure this one out on my own." When we give our worries to God we are saying, "God, you know best, here, I'm not gonna worry about it any more. Instead, I will listen for what You say I should do in this situation."
But remember, you are human. This will not magically flip the switch on anxiety. In fact, there is no switch to be flipped. You don't have to feel bad about your worry. Every time I'd get worried, I used to think I was so terrible because I wasn't trusting God and all sorts of ashamed thoughts went through my head. But now I realize, God isn't mad at me for being afraid, that's not why He tells me to not be afraid. No, God tells me to not be afraid because He doesn't want us to be crippled by fear. He isn't mad at us, He is just sad that we are so distressed. Instead of shaming ourselves when we are afraid, God wants us to come to Him and lay down our burdens and to confide in Him. Remember, God is our greatest confidant.
Pastor Craig Goerschel of LifeChurch says that he writes down his worries and puts them in a jar. He then prays and hands his worries over to God. Then, if he wants to worry about it, he has to take it out of the jar and say out loud something like, "Lord I'm going to take this into my own hands because I'm not sure you got this." So I challenge you, going in to the new week, to whenever you feel worries trickling into your mind, give them up to God, pray this out loud,
"God, honestly, I am worried that You won't handle _____ the way I think You should. But I know, that ultimately, You know the best path for me, so I am going to give my worries to You and allow You to work in this situation the way You see is best. Give me the strength to follow Your commandments every day. In Jesus Name, I give it to You, Amen."
It may feel good to write it down too, I like to write things that are really waying me down so that I can remind myself that I have acknowledged it, and I gave it to the Lord. Then I don't have to worry anymore. I encourage you to write down this verse and put it in a spot that you will see often. You may want to put it in your office at work or another place where you are often stressed so that whenever you get nervous there, you can remember to hand it over to God. The path God created, just for you, ends in a brook of bliss and an oasis of peace. Say that out loud, "The path God created for me ends in a brook of bliss and oasis of peace." So you can hand your worries to Him.
It is important to know if you are feeling crippled with fear or sadness or anxiety, and nothing seems to help, it is okay to seek professional help. God wants you to be able to live life to the fullest, and if your fear is crippling you so that you can not, God wants you to see someone to help you. It is okay to not feel okay, but its not okay to struggle with that on your own. You don't even have to keep it between just you and God. Professionals are trained to help you cope with the hard stuff.
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