Blessing Through Exile
Theme of the week: Why Am I Anxious?
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
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Key Bible Verses: Whenever I feel my foot slipping, your faithful love steadies me, LORD. When my anxieties multiply, your comforting calms me down. (Psalm 94:18-19, CEB) Dig Deeper: Isaiah 35
Maybe you feel as if the plans and purposes that God has for your life are not congruent with the life you are leading. And no matter how many times someone quotes to you Jeremiah 29:11 ("'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'" NIV.), you just don't feel at peace in your heart. What many people forget to tell you is that in verse 29:10 the Lord says that Israel will go through 70 years of exile and slavery in Babylon. Talk about anxiety! But it was during this time of exile that God continually reminded his people that he was their God and that when they sought him with all their heart he would listen and deliver them out of captivity.
Anxiety beckons us to not allow our lives to get stuck in a rut. Perhaps anxiety is a paradoxical feeling offered up to us as a gift that propels us to seek after him and to continually grow in the process. Perhaps anxiety is an act of grace because it encourages us to face our fears, so that we can then choose to freely follow God where he is calling us.
—Rhett Smith in The Anxious Christian
My Response: How has anxiety caused me to draw closer to God?
Thought to Apply: Cast your cares on God; that anchor holds.—Lord Alfred Tennyson (British poet)
Adapted from The Anxious Christian (Moody, 2011) by permission. All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.
Copyright © 2012 by Christianity Today/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
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Lord, help me to view my anxiety as an opportunity for change and dependence on you, and not to let it paralyze me with fear, doubt, and inadequacy.
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