Pride makes worry worse#1
Sometimes our anxiety takes on a life of its own and can become even greater than the thing we are worrying about.
This is what happens when someone has a panic-attack: It is the sound of their own beating heart, the shortened breath and the increased blood pressure that dumps a load of adrenaline into the system triggering a flight or fight response that is even greater than the initial triggering event.
It's like that high pitched whine one sometimes gets when someone is using a microphone. The microphone picks up a sound from the loudspeakers, the sound system amplifies it, the microphone picks it up again, a little louder this time, and it becomes an escalating loop. A sharp tap on the microphone will stop it, but ultimately the microphone must be pointed away from the loudspeakers, or the volume must be lowered.
Sometimes we get an escalating loop in our heads...
This happens all too often when we are trying to face our challenges on our own.
This happens all too often when we are trying to face our challenges on our own.
The scattered congregations in Asia-Minor were experiencing escalating levels of persecution. It was a tense and unpredictable time. Before he advises them to cast all their anxieties on God, Peter urges them to be humble...
This humility has two facets:
Firstly, I need to recognise that I am not the "sole-proprietor" of my life. Bon Jovi sang "It's my life" but it's not true. I belong to God - and while it takes some humility to accept that, it is also a relief. I am "soul-response-able" but I don't have "sole-responsibility"!
Firstly, I need to recognise that I am not the "sole-proprietor" of my life. Bon Jovi sang "It's my life" but it's not true. I belong to God - and while it takes some humility to accept that, it is also a relief. I am "soul-response-able" but I don't have "sole-responsibility"!
The second facet of humility is that we are under God's mighty hand of Providence. This means that God may allow things to happen that I may not like, and that I may find difficult, and my life under Him may take turns that I find difficult, but God is ultimately in control and He is ultimately good.
I will have to learn to trust Him.
(Tomorrow we'll look at the second part of this passage...)
| Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1Peter5:6-7) |
