Worry: Taking God Out of the Equation

“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (I Peter 5b-7 NIV)

I can’t count the number of times I have quoted to stressed-out students the last part of this passage.  And I have often grabbed their attention by telling them worrying is a sin.  I have found it a necessity in a culture consumed by worry and anxiety, where it is considered a normal part of life.

Yet, while reading this passage recently, something struck me that I had never before realized—that being in a state of anxiety or worry is the result of pride.  Before you dismiss this out of hand, look at the context of this passage.  Leading up to verse 7 is Peter’s call to humility, both before one another and before God.  And the result in doing both is finding God’s favor.  

In trying to explain worrying, I have often told students it is the attempt to control something (test results, job prospects, a romantic prospect, etc.) over which, in reality, we have no control.  We worry because it gives us some sense, albeit false, of control.  But I have never connected it to pride, until recently.

The biblical understanding of pride is one where humans insist on being in control, thinking of themselves as the authors of their lives, and doing what they please. God is left out of the equation (Psalm 10:4).  The opposite of pride is humility, the act of putting God back into the equation.

So when we think why we worry and are anxious, is it not because we take God out of the equation?  We instead wrest control of the situation because we can’t trust God with it.  We are too proud to release our grip on it.  

The challenge is we rarely think of worry and anxiety in this way, as I did not.  Rather, we think of it as normative to the human experience, perhaps even a sin with which we struggle, but if we begin to look at it in terms of our pride, maybe that can change our perspective when we begin to worry or become anxious.  To we as followers of Jesus, to remove God from the equation of our lives should be the last thing we ever want to do.  

Today, if you struggle with worry and anxiety, humble yourself before the Lord, confess your bent toward self-reliance, and give back control of your daily life to the Lord.  Only then will you be free of the burdens that weigh you down.  While they are too much for you to bear, He can easily carry them and He wants to.  

© Jim Musser 2016