Pray Through Scripture: AnxietySample

Matthew 6:25–34

Today’s passage comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He begins this section with a command: do not be anxious. How often have we been told to simply stop worrying? Jesus, of course, knows the harm anxiety causes us, so he lovingly tells us to avoid it. And yet he knows our struggle, so he offers logic and rhetoric to guide our thinking to the actual remedy for anxiety: the Lord himself and his care for us.

Jesus’ logic here covers many of the sources of our anxiety: What if I don’t have enough provisions to live? What if I can’t provide for my material needs? What if my life is cut short? His answer to each is the same. 

Your fears cannot be assuaged through hard work. And your anxious strategizing and constant questions of “what about?” do nothing to provide what you need. All of these things come from God. He provides for all of his creatures, and that includes you.

This is more than a simple “don’t worry.” Jesus points us to a Person. Don’t focus on your problem. Focus on the God who loves you more than you could possibly imagine. He is not busy, he is not careless, he is not distracted. Caring for you is his joy.

Your job is simply this: seek God’s kingdom and righteousness. Make that your pursuit. And find everything else added in God’s time and in his way. 

Take the time now to pray through Matthew 6:25–34. Ask the questions in the passage to God directly. Ask them to yourself as you stand (or kneel) before God. Speak every statement in this passage to God, asking him to cement its truth into your heart and mind.