Jesus tells us explicitly not to worry (Mt. 6:25). But we, in our boundless pride think that just a wee bit of worry is certainly allowable. “If God could only see my situation, He’d understand why my fingernails are in the condition they are,” so our “reasoning” goes.
No matter what you tell yourself, you can’t wield worry responsibly. Worry is a strong magnet, and if you pass it over the shop floor it will collect every last scrap of metal shavings, lost bolt, bent nails, and pieces of twisted metal which are from some inexplicable source. Laying awake at night and fretting over an exam, or a bill, or a meeting is a surefire way to invite other worries to come for a sleep over. But those sleepovers rarely have any sleep.
Worry convinces you that if you indulge in the exercise of fretting, you’ll be able to escape whatever consternation is facing you. Worry tries to supplant what God has commanded you to do: rest on the Lord’s Day, and then cheerfully work your tail off for the next six days. Anxiety, whatever its source, is a black hole of restlessness. It will never bring you peace, it will overwhelm you.
You see, worry is believing the lie that by worrying you can sneak in and grab hold of God’s sovereignty over all things. If you worry enough surely you can sway the events you are brooding over. AW Tozer once said, “no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.” Yet we all too often, in our worrying and bustling panics, reveal that we hold far too low a view of God. He spun the galaxies into their ordered dance. He breathed life into every living thing, upholding it all by His creative power and word. Yet we think God has overlooked this, that, or the other thing. Worry is a black sin, because it us planting a flag on some slice of God’s creation and thinking that we can assess and manage the situation better than He can. This is rank pride. Especially in the midst of a world that is in an all out panic, fleeing from every breath of wind, God’s people ought to be bastions of Christ’s peace.
Instead, God has told you to cast your cares upon Him in prayer, obey His clear commands regarding your particular circumstances, and walk in faith that whether good or evil comes You are held by Him who holds the scepter of the universe. Trusting in God’s sovereignty is the antidote to the poison of anxiety.