Surrender your anxiety. Relax! Wow, this verse in Psalm 46 really challenged me! No to be more exact it hit me hard. How many times in the midst of stressful situations have I snuggled up to anxiety as if it were my best friend? When have I run into the arms of blissful uncertainty trusting in the chaos, believing it is there I can find the solace I am desperate to find? When in reality, when I wallow in that place, it feeds the beast of frenzy. I enter an active partnership with the very forces that lead me in a downward spiral.
We would all agree that running into the arms of anxiety and snuggling up with stress are really bad ideas, and yet for many of us it is our default. Without even realizing it, we have grooved a well-worn road straight into the lair of torment. I realize this sounds ominous and I am not trying to lump you in with “Anxiety Anonymous”. However, often, stress isn’t found in the crazy situations we all face, it sneaks up at night and disrupts our sleep. It masquerades as planning or responsibility or stewardship. All of which I would agree are good, even godly attributes we should all exhibit. It is when we cannot surrender our own ways to Gods’, that stress can overtake us.
Earlier in that very same Psalm, it says that God is, “more than enough and always available”. If relaxation and peace is the end game, then this is the way to achieve it. Surrender can be challenging if we feel like it only leads us to loss. However, God never requires us to give something up without exchanging it for something far better. Just think about it, God is more than enough. The idea of coming up short or lacking in some way is undoubtedly one of the things that raise our level of anxiety. No one wants to live in that place of uncertainty. The way out isn’t to find a better financial planner, although, there is wisdom in good stewardship, it is realizing that no man or woman, no matter how brilliant, can be our salvation. Only God has unlimited resources, only God can create something from nothing, only God has our best interest in mind. A future and a hope for us , those are His thoughts about us. He is not in any way anxious about fulfilling the plans He has laid out for us.
Not only is there the promise of sufficient provision, but there is also the recognition that God is always with us. No matter the time of day or night, we will never hear the answering machine of heaven pick up. He is never too busy or distracted to listen to our cry for help. While, sometimes we struggle to be present, mostly because our minds are wandering into the marshy places of anxiety, He is not thinking about nuclear standoffs or world tensions, He is sitting quietly, looking us in the eye and listening with intentionality. In that place, it is easy to surrender our anxiety. We are fully known, loved, and desired. There is no mess too big that He will not stay to see us through to the other side.
God is the one we should be running to in our times of crisis. We do not have to choose to snuggle up to anxiety. We can surrender, lay down our fears, let go of our disappointment and choose to grab onto Him. It is in that place that we find true freedom and true serenity. Let’s be honest there is is no joy and no life, there is nothing happy about anxiety. But, in God’s arms, in His presence there is fullness of joy and deep, abiding peace.
So surrender anxiety, relax and remember God is more than enough and always available.