Emotional Distress

In this post-pandemic era, as a mentor to Christian leaders, one of the most common emotional responses I’m hearing is unexplainable, and overwhelming anxiety. I’m talking about people who, in other chapters of their lives, have experienced occasional worry, but nothing like the crippling anxiety attacks that feel as if they have come out of nowhere.

Where have these anxiety episodes come from? Are they virus-related, or lockdown-induced? Has it been triggered by uncertainty and additional stress?

Anxiety is part of our human makeup. It’s as timeless as Psalms 94:17-19. The biblical poet says, When anxiety was great within me, your (Yahweh’s) consolation brought joy to my soul. So great was this anxiety attack that he felt he was about to die (v. 17) and that he was on a slippery slope (v. 18). Have you been there? I have.

Another Psalmist, one of Korah’s sons, expressed emotional discomfort this way: Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? (Psalm 42:5, 11). That sounds like depression to me. King David chimes in: My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have beset me, horror has overwhelmed me. (Psalm 55:4-5). That sounds like mental torment.

In the 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 passage we are meditating on, the way Paul puts it is: I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. There is probably a physical or relational component, as we have seen, but certainly a mental one as well.

One speculation that has some merit is that Paul’s thorn, in addition to having a Satanic element, may have had a traumatic stress disorder component too. As we’ve seen, Paul’s description of one life-threatening episode after another (2 Corinthians 11:24-33) qualifies him for PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Now whether he actually had that disorder, is another matter. When you meditate on soothing, reassuring words like Philippians 4:6-7: Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, with the promise of transcendent peace, it doesn’t sound like someone experiencing an anxiety attack. Unless, that is, Paul was reassuring, not just his readers, but himself?

The underlying theme of these devotionals is that Christ’s grace is more than enough for every aspect of life, including mental health. If you are presently in the crucible of emotional and mental distress, Jesus is right there with you. Hebrews 5:7-8 describes Jesus in Gethsemane, offering up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears… He is leaning into you today, and his strength is made perfect in your weakness. To paraphrase his gentle words from Isaiah 26:3-5. I will keep you in perfect peace, (shalom, shalom) when your mind is directed toward me, and when you trust me.

• What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this reflection on anxiety?

Excerpts from The Point of Your Thorns: Finding Purpose in Your Pain

by Rowland Forman