Pray Through Scripture: AnxietyShembull

Proverbs 3:5–8

Today you will pray through a portion of Proverbs 3. Here we are told to stop leaning on our own understanding. Once again, anxiety is not always the result of arrogance. But as we saw in 1 Peter 5, humility is required for true peace. Anxiety thrives when we fail to trust. 

By now, you should see the futility of trying to solve your own problems. You don’t need better strategies or increased effort. You need a Person upon whom you can cast all of your fears and cares. And so we are told to trust in the Lord, rather than our own insight. 

The statement “do not be anxious but instead trust” is nonsense, because it contains no object. Trust in whom or what? Many of our anxieties stem from misplaced trust. The object makes all the difference. 

Trust is not the solution. The Lord is. If we do not know him, trust is of no value—our best recourse is our own understanding. So we are told to acknowledge him in all our ways. In English as in Hebrew, the word contains a reference to knowing. 

You will not find the solution to your anxiety by looking within. Nor will you find it by looking outward with a view to changing your circumstances. All of this is too unsteady. Rather, the answer comes by looking up, by knowing the Lord. This is the direction we all must look at every moment. 

Take the time now to pray through Proverbs 3:5–8. Turn the statements to requests. Lay the statements before the Lord, asking him to evaluate and transform your heart line by line. Pray for the reality of each truth presented in these verses.