What Does Humility Have To Do With Combating Anxiety?
One Mark of a Humble Person is known by How they Deal With Anxiety!
“You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”-{1 Peter 5:5-7}.
” The apostle Peter was a worrier. He worried about drowning when he was walking on water, even though Jesus was right there with him (Matthew 14:29-31). He worried about what was going to happen to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, so he pulled out his sword and tried to take on a battalion of Roman soldiers (John 18:2-3, 10). And when he worried about Jesus being crucified, Peter ordered God Himself not to go to the cross (Matthew 16:22). Nevertheless, although Peter had ongoing trouble with anxiety, he learned how to deal with it, and he passed on the lesson to us—a lesson that shows the connection between our humility and our ability to conquer anxiety. “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:5-7, emphasis added).”-{John Mac Arthur}
He tells us how we are to deal with anxieties, and it begins with Humbling yourselves under the mighty hand of God.” -{v6}. Take your rightful low place before God and His Power, and He promises He will lift you up in His time. He tells us how we are to deal with anxieties! Humble yourselves…casting ALL of your cares {anxiety} upon Him for He cares for you.”-{1 Peter 5:6-7}. The LORD wants you and me to throw our anxieties upon Him. He will take the load and carry them for us so we do not have to! One way we exhibit humility is by giving, submitting to the LORD what causes us to be anxious!
A Humble person gives their anxieties to the LORD. A proud person won’t and doesn’t! To knowingly hold onto our anxieties is PRIDE! It is to rely upon ourselves, relating all to us and in doing so reject the LORD, His Word, and wisdom for us!
We either falsely believe we can solve the issue ourselves, by stressing over them, or ignorantly believe He does not care about us or for us!
When I continue to live worried and eaten up by anxiety, it is a Pride issue. I deny He cares for me, oh no, not verbally but internally, so I believe I have to work it out and the answer lies within me, “If it’s got to be, it’s up to me,” it is a refusal to ask Him and believe He will help because either I falsely believe I am sufficient for the problem through stressing about it and refusing to turn to God with it because by implication I believe by my behavior that God is deficient, or I don’t believe He cares for me!
It is to CHOOSE to live as though He does not care. It is to live independent of Him and discard His Word which tells me and you what to SPECIFICALLY do with “all” our anxieties, no exception, none so small, or big that He refuses to take them off us if we trust Him with them. He will take “All” of them. What comfort that should bring us!
We may acknowledge we need to cast our anxieties on Him, and say we believe we are to, we may even quote the verse, can point to it in our Bibles but failing to apply His Word to our anxieties, is also because we are not convinced “He Cares for you!” So, where do we begin when we find this is true of us at times? We Humble ourselves, confess it as sin and ask Him to forgive and begin afresh with Him…again.
So, when temptation comes to worry, we are to immediately obey the command, and the way it is written is “Do this now.”It is a verb… There is an urgency and give Him each and “All” of our anxiety by faith. Tell Him you are giving Him it and He will gladly take it “All” off you and carry it as the foal did who carried the garments in Jesus day when the people threw them over him!
HOW ?
It is so important to realize, “He cares for you,” personally, permanently, persistently, If you don’t believe He cares for you, you will end up unstable when trials and difficulties come, and like a cork in the violent storm tossed sea, with the waves heaving up and crashing to the depths you will be cast and thrown around and no stability. To know “He cares for you,” enables you to cast all of your cares upon Him, because you know, have embraced and run to Him like a child runs to a parent’s room in the middle of the night If they wake up frightened of the dark. for in the presence of the parent they find courage, comfort and perspective! You may like the child be sacred, and you tell HIM,“Lord this is such a difficult situation, I’m scared but I know You Care For me,” so I’m going to commit myself and all of these things that are stressing me, burdening me to You, thank You, You will take care of me because you Care for me.”
If we are convinced He cares for us we will cast, throw them off ourselves onto Him. Philippians 4:6 tells us HOW? One way is to pray- the word used in this passage speaks of adoration, worship, supplication, looking to Him because He is God and greater than me or you or anyone and with thanksgiving and specifically giving them over to Him. He promises to those who do by faith, He will impart “the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will GUARD your Heart and MIND, in Christ.” -{Read Phil 4:6-7}. What a Promise, What an Empathetic LORD, who loves us, cares for us and has the ability, heart to care for us, and bear all of our anxieties!
There are some times when Problems, troubles come in our lives to humble us as Paul said “… But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead…”-{2 Cor 1:9}. In 2 Corinthians 12:2-5 he spoke about his experience of been taken up into the heavens and things he had heard and he then speaks of the reason for the painful”Thorn” he was given, “…Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!“-{2 Cor 12:7}. With great privilege God kept his ego in check, he used circumstances to wean him off his self-reliance unto God dependency and humility! Jesus gives two self descriptions of Himself and one being humility! “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”-{Matthew 11:29} As we submit to His authority, “Take My yoke upon you,” we are taught by HIM and we learn what He is like, “…gentle and humble of heart…,” and as we submit to Him and His Word, we reflect His attitude and the attribute of HUMILITY! God values humility and His people are to reflect His image in our living.
Each anxious situation is an OPPORTUNITY to TURN TO THE LORD, and it can be an opportunity from something evil to develop our faith and relationship with Him and to be reminded and have our thoughts interrupted so in that moment to remind us Someone Cares for us… God Himself, Creator of Heaven and Earth. He “cares” for us and He commands us, not suggests, but commands out of love to us and for us, to “Cast ALL of your cares” upon Him. And who is He? In this passage He reveals Himself using the term “The Mighty Hand of God” which speaks of His Presence and Power. Absolute power, Sovereign Power, Creative power to deliver you, protect you, sustain, correcting you as it is used in the Old Testament. We are to COMMIT and SUBMIT ourselves to Him.
And to those who obey and trust Him by casting “All” their cares, anxieties upon Him.
He promises “and He will exalt you in due season.” “In the proper time…” Paul uses a Greek term that speaks of LIFTING US OUT OF OUR PRESENT TROUBLE. This is wonderful, as difficult, painful as your troubles are, this tells us that our troubles are TEMPORARY, There is an end, there is a time limit, and GOD HAS PROMISED, Committed Himself and His Word to you, that He will lift you out. Know that this trouble is temporary! In the meantime, keep on humbling yourself, deliverance is on its way! God has committed Himself to it and nothing or no one can stop Him fulfilling His promise! He cares for you… and He in his perfect timing will lift you up! The humble person has Hope, because they place their hope in Him and what He promises, because He is Faithful!
The Humble person has Hope and an attitude of mind convinced they are not Independent of God but dependent upon Him and He will fulfill His Promise!
To give “All” of the things that worries us, TESTIFIES something about us. It is to say “I TRUST THE LORD.”And our ACTIONS prove this is True! To choose not to give Him all of our anxieties TESTIFIES something about us, which is to say, “I DO NOT TRUST THE LORD!” And our ACTIONS Prove this is True!
Proud people carry their anxieties, Humble people CAST them on Jesus! It is a Choice!
Proud people live independent of God, yes, even Christians as times we do and the evidence? We carry our anxieties – and disobey His command to Cast All of them upon Him… for we often wrongly believe we can handle them and that He does not care for us!
Isn’t it interesting that God does not keep us from things that would cause us to be anxious, BUT He does give us His Wisdom and way and power How we may handle them so we are not overcome with anxiety but we overcome anxiety through His provision of faith and believing prayer and end with the peace of God which surpasses understanding guarding our heart and Minds in Christ. That is Glorious! He is glorious!
Don’t we all have enough personal experience to say carrying them ourselves have not brought peace but turmoil and fear fueled moments, stressed, emotional turmoil, at times physically affected…difficult for others to be around us…
When in times of great FEAR which often accompany’s anxiety it takes FAITH in Him to turn and trust Him with those anxieties. And He who commands us to do empowers us to do so.- {Read Phil 2:13}
So, we begin afresh and humble ourselves and ask Him to forgive us, cleanse us and renew our thinking {Read Rom 12:2}…that we are dependent creatures, not independent but dependent upon Him and one evidence we are trusting and relying upon Him and not ourselves is manifested in “casting ALL of your cares upon Him for He Cares for You!”
From 1 Peter 5:5-7, we can say,
Humble people Serve others. -“…clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.”
Humble People Submit to God. -“…humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, ”
Humble people have Hope in God -“…that He may exalt you… ”
Humble people Trust God’s Timing. – “…that He may exalt you at the proper time, ”
Humble People Give All of their Anxieties to God. -“…casting all your anxiety on Him,”
Humble People Believe God Cares for them. – “…because He cares for you.”
Proud people Don’t!
At times we exhibit pride as His people…and upon realizing it, we need to humble ourselves to Him, confess our sin and begin afresh..
You have anxieties, cares, worries? Now is your opportunity to express Humility of mind and give “All” of them to the LORD for He cares for you and He will carry “All” of them instead of you! Did you know in Scripture He compares us to sheep and sheep unlike horses were never meant to carry loads on their back, and neither were you or I, but we can and must cast “All” of our cares upon the LORD “for He cares for you!”
HUMILITY;
Peter shows us the connection between humility and anxieties and how instead of being overwhelmed by them we can learn to win over them. “…clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”-{ 1 Peter 5:5-7}.
FOUR REASONS FOR HUMILITY
- We are Created and God is the Creator. And as a result are dependent upon God who is the Creator.
- God made all people in His image– Therefore we are on equal footing, not above, or below others. Pride says we are Humility knows the truth and takes its rightful place before God and towards others!We know all people are scarred by sin and none of us are better or worse than others,
- We know something of our own sinfulness– ““But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”-{Luke 18:13-14}. We know something of our own sinfulness and God’s Holiness.
- Recipients of God’s Undeserved Favor – ” But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God’s unmerited favor) has surpassed it and increased the more and superabounded,”-{Romans 5:20} We know we are
The phrase, ‘clothe yourselves with humility towards one another,’ is a Greek term that was used to tie something on yourself with a knot or a bow. It came to speak of a work apron. A slave would put one on to keep his or her clothes clean. The word became the equivalent for humble service.
It was also used of a white scarf or an apron of slaves which was fastened to the belt of the vest of slaves and distinguished them from people who were freemen. They were distinguishable, identified, known and so the followers of Christ, should be increasingly be distinguishable from those without Christ. Identifiable by humility. It is a verb, a pattern of life, a new habit for those who are “New Creations in Christ.” We have new power, new perspective, new attitudes, new behavior!
Humility is to CHOOSE to lovingly, willingly serve others. They do not think they are above it. The disciples had this opportunity when they came to a home and since there was no slave there to stoop and wash their feet, and Jesus gets up and stoops to wash the feet of them all, He did not place Himself above them, but stopped to benefit and serve them through love. “… so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.“-{John 13:4-5}. Humility stoops to serve others, it is the opposite of the attitude of “I am too good to serve you, I am above that,” it is to have an over-estimated opinion of yourself and a low opinion of others, whom you deem not worthy for you to serve! Humility is not arrogance or an inflated ego that sees others purpose is they live to serve you. Humility is not too proud to stoop to serve others, willingly, lovingly! Jesus says “The greatest among you is the servant” Humility serves. Humility came to mean Humble service!
Humble people are not weak people, they are people under control. Controlled, by the love of Christ they choose to submit and obey Him, His Word. They are people who are KNOWINGLY under the loving care of the LORD, and they believe and trust Him.
Humble people are not weak people, though in the ancient world humility was not valued. Much like today “humble” people are seen as such and despised and not valued, mocked. But God values it, and He imparts Grace to the humble and as it was, stiff arms the proud! Peter quotes Proverbs 3:34, “God is opposed to the proud but gives Grace to the HUMBLE.” Grace is His favor, kindness, blessings, empowerment. He gives grace, empowerment to do as we ought!
“Humble hearts seek grace, and therefore they receive grace. Humble hearts yield to the sweet influences of grace, and so grace is bestowed on them more and more largely. Humble hearts lie in the valleys where streams of grace are flowing, and hence they drink of them. Humble hearts are grateful for grace and give the LORD (Jehovah) the glory of it, and hence it is consistent with His honor to give it to them. Come, dear reader, take a lowly place. Be little in thine own esteem, that the LORD may make much of thee. Perhaps the sigh breaks out, “I fear I am not humble.” It may be that this is the language of true humility. Some are proud of being humble, and this is one of the very worst sorts of pride.”-{Spurgeon}
Wuest writes that tapeinos… “The word is found in an early secular document where it speaks of the Nile River in its low stage in the words, “It runs low.” The word means “not rising far from the ground.” It describes the Christian who follows in the humble and lowly steps of his Lord.”
God promises a blessing to the humble!
One Mark of Humility? Humble people give “ALL”of their anxieties to the LORD!
The way we deal with anxiety reveals whether we are proud or humble!
“I cast all my cares upon You
I lay all of my burdens down at Your feet
And any time I don’t know what to do
I will cast all my cares upon You “- 🙂