The most obvious miracle cure for anxiety is trust in God.
- “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me” (John 14:1 NLT).
- “You keep him in perfect peace … because he trusts in you (Isaiah 26:3, ESV).
- “May the God of hope fill you with … peace as you trust in him” (Romans 15:13).
Trust is one of those biblical terms that is so common that it can lose its meaning. We often “trust” God in general, but not in particular. We trust him for the big things someday but not the little things right now. We entrust our eternal destiny to him, but we have no idea what it means to trust him today from noon to three.
When you’re racked with anxiety and someone says, “Just trust the Lord,” it can sound like a platitude. Indeed, it is a platitude if they don’t complete the sentence. Trust God … to do what? To make your troubles go away? To make life easy? To do your will?
These are important questions because counting on God to do something he hasn’t promised will bring disappointment and even worse anxiety. Peace comes when you trust God to do what he has promised.
The biblical word for promise refers to any affirmation God makes about the future. God gave us his great and precious promises to tether us to future blessing. And it’s that guarantee of future grace that can replace your fear of future trouble with peace when you trust in it.
Trusting God’s promises is not only the key to overcoming anxiety; it is the key to overcoming every sin. Every one of God’s promises reflects his nature, and each time you trust one of them, you become more like God.
“By his own glory and goodness … he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world” (2 Peter 1:3-4).
His promises rise out of his glory and goodness (moral excellence), and by trusting them, you share in God’s moral nature by escaping the world’s corruption. All spiritual growth, including overcoming anxiety, comes through faith. And Peter spells out specifically what living by faith looks like. It’s trusting God’s great and precious promises. A promise has its intended effect when the person receiving it trusts it.
Even Jesus used promises to motivate himself to endure suffering and persevere in the Father’s will.
“For the joy set before him he endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2).
What was the joy set before him? It was all that the Father had promised. And we’re called to fix our eyes on him and follow his example.
Whenever you are plagued with worry or anxiety, ask yourself, “What promise am I failing to trust?” There are promises in God’s Word that counter every kind of anxiety you’ll ever face.
Think of one of your more troublesome anxieties. Which specific promise in Scripture are you striving to trust to overcome that anxiety? Until you can answer that question, it’s not likely you will find peace.
Here are some examples of promises for specific kinds of anxiety:
Anxiety Over Unfulfilled Desire
The anxiety that comes from unfulfilled desire can feel hopeless. If you never get that thing you want—a child, a spouse (or a better spouse), a better job, physical healing—you may have constant fear that a fulfilled, happy life will be out of your reach.
For the Christian, God promises that is never the case. You may never get the thing you feel you need, but you will always have access to that which will satisfy the cravings of your soul.
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).
When you fall into the error of thinking you need more than what God will give you to be happy, trust the promise in Hebrews 13:5:
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” (Heb. 13:5 NIV)
You might have to study that promise for a few months. Examine it, meditate on it, look at it from every angle, listen to some sermons on it. But somewhere in that promise lies the key that will unleash diving power to free you up from the chains of greed and give you contentment.
Worry
If you’re stressed about tomorrow or your retirement years or any time later than right now, trust Jesus’s promises in Matthew 6:24-34.
“Do not worry … Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? … And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you– you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For … your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:25).
God promises to care for you more than he cares for the trillions of animals that fill the earth because you’re more valuable to him than they are.
So if you’re afraid of tomorrow, don’t be. Tomorrow will take care of itself because God will be there. You can’t handle future trouble right now because God hasn’t provided future grace yet. But when the time arrives, so will his grace.
“My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
Do you think God might leave you high and dry in the future? Are your future needs too much to ask? Not by the logic of Romans 8:32:
“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
Whatever you might need in the future, is it bigger than the gift of God sacrificing his Son for you? Will God ever say, “I gave my Son, but this other request you have—that’s asking too much”? No. If giving up his Son wasn’t too much, no gift is. Has he not proved his generosity?
Anxiety about Your Past
Maybe you were abused, suffered a terrible loss, or made some horrible decisions you wish you could have back. But whatever went wrong in your past, whether it was sixty years ago or last night, God makes promises about that too.
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20).
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28).
Your life is not ruined. God allowed what he allowed for a wonderful reason. Trust him.
Anxiety about Aging
“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you” (Isaiah 46:4).
How about the seven promises in Isaiah 58?
“If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail” (Isaiah 58:10).
You don’t have to be afraid of old age. God will be more than enough for you now matter how many physical difficulties you face. If he is with you, you will have access to just as much happiness as you had in your twenties—and more.
Anxiety about Suffering
Have you suffered some terrible loss or heartbreak? Or maybe it’s just the daily drip of one problem after another and you can’t catch a break. None of that trouble is going to waste.
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
The troubles are like rain on farmland. They aren’t standing in the way of your well-being—they are bringing it about.
Anxiety about the Consequences of Your Sin
Do you feel you can’t ask God for relief because you’re getting what you deserve?
“Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth” (Hosea 6:1-3).
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten … my great army that I sent among you” (Joel 2:25).
Anxiety about the Ticking Clock
You’ve longed for something, and time is running out. Maybe it’s your biological clock or an issue related to your career. Sometimes when God says, “Wait,” it’s even harder than a clear “No.” But you can trust that God’s timing will ultimately be just as beautiful as his gifts.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Relationship Anxieties
“The meek will … enjoy great peace” (Psalm 37:11).
When someone hurts you and you’re tempted to retaliate with some harsh words or a cold shoulder, recall this promise. The path to peace is a meek, gentle response. Trusting that promise will give you the power you need to resist the temptation to repay evil with evil.
Anxiety about Hard Decisions
Are you worried that you might be unable to find the right path when you face a complex decision? God promises guidance. He doesn’t promise to show you which option will have the most favorable outcome. But he does promise to reveal a godly path forward, which is all you need.
“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’” (Isaiah 30:21).
Anxiety about an Ineffective Life
It may not seem like your work for the Lord is doing any good. But we don’t live by how things seem. We live by God’s promises.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).
“Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Anxiety about Loss
Has following Christ cost you something?
“No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields … and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29).
When You’re in Trouble
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
The implied promise is that when you come boldly, you will indeed receive mercy and find the form of grace you need for that time of crisis.
Is this a time when you need God to show himself strong on your behalf?
“The eyes of Yahweh roam throughout the earth to show Himself strong for those whose hearts are completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9 CSB).
This list of promises is the tip of the iceberg. You could spend the rest of your life discovering promises in God’s Word. And his promises, if you trust them, will be more than enough to free you from every trace of unhealthy anxiety.
My Favorite Promise
In my opinion, the greatest promise in the whole Bible is in Ezekiel 36:28:
“I will be your God.”
What does it mean for God to be your God? Well, what’s the difference between saying, “That man is a doctor” and “He’s my doctor”? Or “He’s a brilliant lawyer” versus “He’s my lawyer.” It means he will put his abilities to use for your benefit. So the promise “I will be your God” guarantees that whatever it means to be God, he will be that for you.
He won’t just be omnipotent; he’ll use his omnipotent for your benefit. He’ll be omnipresent and omniscient for you. His love, patience, wisdom, creativity, mercy, justice, perfection, holiness—God will put every one of his attributes to work for you. (An attribute is anything that is true about God.)
So this one promise, “I will be your God,” explodes into as many promises as there are attributes of God. It sets all of God’s attributes into motion for your benefit. Every promise is a window into God’s nature, and every attribute is a promise that God will be that way for you.
This means the search for promises related to your struggle is also a search for attributes of God. Your anxiety will fade when you trust God to exhibit his attributes in the situation you’re worried about.
If you are anxious, that is usually a sign that you have shifted your attention from God to your troubles—like Peter, who walked on water until he turned his eyes from Jesus to the storm. In that moment, he developed an instant anxiety disorder and sank (Matthew 14:30). More accurately, it was a faith disorder (verse 31) that gave the storm the power to swallow him up.
But what does it mean to fix your gaze on someone who is invisible? It means to turn your attention to God’s characteristics (attributes).
There are some who find comfort only in God’s love. Those are usually people who still struggle with anxiety, because one attribute of God is not enough to satisfy the needs of the soul. The deeper and wider our understanding of God, the greater the peace.
Would you like to know more about the other five “miracle cures” for anxiety in the Bible? You can find them in my new book, Anxiety and the Peace of God: Six Biblical Cures for Worry, Stress, and Inner Turmoil.
To go to the Amazon page, click here.
[1] I have written a daily devotional focusing on 77 of those attributes titled Deeper Knowledge of God. To this day, I refer to the material in that book to help me draw near to God.
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