A Word From the Word: Anxious

Everyone gets anxious. Some seek help and receive a diagnosis—nearly one in four adults according to some studies. Others simply experience the anxiety. Some rarely experience windows of time without anxiety, while for others, the anxiety is a rare occurrence.

But everyone gets anxious.

We may experience anxiety more today than in years past. We definitely talk about it more. We have more ways of dealing with it, though it is not clear we deal with it more successfully. In fact, people have been dealing with anxiety for thousands of years. It is even addressed in scripture.

In a passage that could be considered a foundation for the majority of modern psychotherapies, Paul told the Christians in Philippi, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6, NIV) In this passage, Paul not only encourages the Philippians to not be anxious, he tells them how.

In this passage, the word “anxious” is merimnao, to think. When we think of anxiety, we talk about it as a condition, brain chemistry, response to stimuli—and it may be these things. But it is also a pattern of thought which produces these things. And as modern counselors have discovered, we tend to be able to change thoughts more effectively than changing all these other things. Paul focuses on what we can do about anxiety—replace the thoughts with another focus: talking about the things we focus on to God. Paul offers prayer as a response to anxiety.

Understanding this makes it possible for us to respond to our own anxieties—from the little things that lurk in the back of our minds causing uneasiness like a psychological mosquito bite to obsessive thoughts on which we perseverate—constantly thinking about them. Paul tells us that when we experience these things, the spiritually healthy response is to simply talk about them—not just to one another, but to the one who can most effectively help—God Himself. This is how we actually take those thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5).

This isn’t a platitude. It is a viable, useful response. All of us get anxious. But we don’t have to see anxiety as all powerful! Scripture points us to the most powerful weapon we have in our spiritual arsenal. So simple and obvious that it is ignored—or dismissed—by the majority of us. Even those of us who say we follow Jesus.

Understanding the word merimnao shows us that Paul is saying, “Don’t let your mind keep thinking things that are troublesome but tell these things to God.” The answer to anxiety is continued and deeper conversation with God.

Know Jesus, and Be Faithful!