Fear and Anxiety

Fear and Anxiety

Fear is thought by many psychologists to be the most basic emotion. Fear is an emotion that exists in all humans and most animals. Like all emotions, fear has a specific purpose given by God. In its most basic sense, fear is designed to protect us. Think for a moment what happens when you experience fear. Your pulse quickens, your breathing increases, and adrenaline flows. Fear is literally a biological response to our environment. When an animal is confronted with a predator, it generally has two choices. It can run or it can fight. Both responses result from fear of the loss of life. Fear is a sensitive emotion. It can be stimulated through extreme circumstances that are life threatening or even seemingly harmless situations such as loud noises. Fear is much more complex with people. We have the same responses as animals when confronted with fear, but people tend to take fear much further.

People have created new, more complex emotions based on fear. Worry and anxiety are two such emotions. The distinction between worry and anxiety is subtle if not artificial so they will both be referred to interchangeably. Essentially, anxiety is the fear of what could happen. Anxiety does not have to be tied to any existing circumstances. Sometimes anxiety is created completely within one’s mind. While fear is a valid, God given human emotion, anxiety is not. Anxiety is the result of our fallen state. Before the fall, Adam and Eve worried about nothing. Their every need was provided for by God. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that anxiety is sinful, just that it can be. Anxiety did not enter the world until sin entered the world.

“ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”—Matthew 6:34.
“ So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body”—Ecclesiastes 11:10.

The Bible is consistent about God’s view of anxiety. Do not worry. Worry assumes that God is not in control of every situation. We worry about many things in our lives. Will I get the right job? How will I pay the bills this month? Will I have enough money to retire with? Will my spouse get back from her trip safely? None of those things have any eternal significance. It’s frustrating when bad things happen in our lives. It seems like God doesn’t care or understand when he lets our loved ones die or our lives be “ruined”. But our perspective is limited to our own experiences in this world. We do not see or understand our fallen state or the eternal consequences of things that happen in the physical world. “Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” –Luke 12:23. For an in-depth discussion of pain and suffering in this world read The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis.

The point is that anxiety results from a failure to realize that God provides us with all of our needs whether we are aware of it or not. It’s often easy in the United States to forget about relying on God. While we still have poverty in the United States, our poverty rate is nothing compared to many countries in the world. The vast majority of Americans who want a job have one. We do not have mass starvation or a lack of available clothing. Many people in the United States don’t give God a second thought unless they have a problem. We fail to realize that we have been tremendously blessed and that our needs are met only at God’s command and not our own. Count your blessings and stop worrying about everything! “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?–Luke 12:22-26.

Of course, it’s easy to say, “Don’t worry.” What’s not so easy is to stop worry. The first step is to become self-aware of your worry. You must first train your mind to recognize that you are worrying. Don’t try to fool yourself by saying that you are just fretting or concerned. Those are just stages of worry. You might need to ask others to help you recognize when you are worrying. If you make a conscious effort to begin recognizing your own anxiety, it will not take you long catch it before it goes too far. That’s where things get difficult.

Remember, fear is a biological response to stimuli. Because anxiety has fear at its root, anxiety also has a biological response that can be difficult to overcome. For severe anxiety, medication and psychotherapy are often the only viable alternatives. For less severe forms of anxiety, medication and psychotherapy can be overkill and expensive. So what are some ways to reduce worry and anxiety?

Once you’ve begun to recognize when you become anxious or worried, you have to make a conscious decision to stop. Without that conscious decision to stop, any technique to reduce anxiety will be useless. Start with rejecting the thoughts that cause the anxiety. If you are worried about a loved one getting into an accident, then you must start by rejecting every thought about the potential accident. If you begin to elaborate on it in your mind, then you are going the wrong direction. Stop the thought before it begins to take shape. The more you reject anxiety-provoking thoughts, the easier it will become to do so. Sometimes a verbal, “Stop!” can even help. What you are doing is retraining your brain. You must break the habit of anxiety. It’s not an easy thing to do and it will take time. It’s difficult to break your mind free from a lifetime of habit. But there are a few things you can do to help yourself along.

“ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”—Philippians 4:6. Prayer is often overlooked by people as a valid measure for dealing with stress and anxiety. Even the behavioral sciences have begun to note the importance of meditation in the reduction of anxiety. Not only is prayer communication with God, but it can have a calming, and sometimes euphoric effect, on the body. Prayer is cathartic. It is comforting to remember and practice the idea that God is in control of all aspects of our lives. Talk to God about your worries, but be careful not to use prayer as an excuse for dwelling on the worries. Remember, you are rejecting the thoughts of worry. Your prayer should include glorification of God and his control over the situation. Your prayer should also include a petition for God’s provision in the situation. Prayer is a powerful tool for God’s children and we shouldn’t neglect it.

There are other means for combating anxiety as well. Since fear has a biological basis, responses such as increased heart rate and adrenaline can be dealt with through physical activity. Exercise and controlled breathing are two ways of dealing with the physical attributes of anxiety. Cleaning the house can be an effective, not to mention productive, way to calm yourself. If you are not in a position to exercise, then try controlled breathing. Close your eyes and take long breaths in and out until your body begins to relax. While you’re doing that, pray. You will feel your body begin to relax and your mind will calm.

Anxiety and worry is not something you have to put up with or be a slave to. You will not add a single hour to your life by worrying. The only thing you will change by worrying is to decrease the quality of your life. The stress from worry can cause headaches, stomachaches, loss of appetite, fatigue, and other somatic complaints. Now that you understand what worry is, you can understand why God stressed that we should not worry. Do not be a slave to worry any longer.

-Dave

Submit an article to us at submissions at lightinthedark.org (replace the "at" after submissions with @ to get the email address. We are trying to reduce spam coming into the account.). We reserve the right to edit anything sent to us; however, we will not change the meaning of your writing.