God Takes Our Anxieties

by Charleen Burghardt

My Father used his well-worn wheelbarrow for many manual tasks. I can still picture him in the yard loading rocks, dirt, or sod into this piece of equipment and dumping the contents in another place. He stored his wheelbarrow in the garage beside his other tools, but it might have been his favorite. He valued how it minimized his workload by carrying heavy objects or messy things like cement. In fact, one of the first tools Dad gave my husband was a second-hand wheelbarrow.

Similarly, I often think of how I accumulate anxieties like rocks I carry around, placing them one by one in my wheelbarrow. At first, I can push that device until I add more rocks, making the wheelbarrow too weighty to move.

We accumulate anxieties

With all the concerns piled high, my wheelbarrow can’t continue, and I must discard the stones.

Too Heavy to Push

 Anxieties come in all forms and sizes. We worry about our health, our loved ones, and our jobs. We feel anxious about the world and the suffering people all over it. Distractions and confusion can lead to worry. There seems to be no end to concerns.

 Worries come in all sizes.

And after a loss, we experience grief but also other vulnerable emotions, such as fear of the future, confusion about why this happened, anxiety about finances, and even anger. We fear how we are going to manage. A widow worries about how to take care of her bills after her spouse dies. A recently divorced man worries about seeing his kids. After multiple miscarriages, a woman agonizes over her losses and wonders if she will ever be able to carry a child full term. Panic comes when someone is afraid to face a holiday without their parent.

These burdensome concerns seem too much to bear. How much can we endure? Our wheelbarrow is overflowing.

Our concerns are too much to carry.

Thankfully, we don’t have to carry the load alone or endure the weight of our cares. 1 Peter 5:7 instructs us, “ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you ( NIV).

Peter directs us to cast all our cares and worries on the Lord, who loves us deeply. Because Our Heavenly Father cares for us, he invites us to give all our worries to him. We don’t have to lift them ourselves. The Greek word for cast is epiripto, which means to throw as one would throw a baseball and once and for all. The word means to cast to leave the concern, not take it back up again.

 

As with my illustration, we can intentionally dump our wheelbarrow of worries on the Lord and leave them there. We can give to God all concerns, big or small.

God cares about our big and small concerns.

We can dump our worries.

Unfortunately, I often take back my worries and reload my wheelbarrow. But I can repeat the process of casting my concerns on the Lord. God is gracious and lets me come back with my load.

A compassionate God listens, empathizes with us, and knows our needs. We can throw each anxiety on the Lord, who will carry it.

 Challenge

Challenge: Take note of the times of day or experiences that lead to anxiety. Imagine taking them and dumping them before God. You may need to do it repeatedly, but you will take less back each time.

 

Dear Heavenly Father who cares for us,

We carry many heavy loads of anxiety, fears, and emotions that distract us from joy and peace. Please help us give you all the onerous burdens and lay them at your feet. May your peace strengthen us, your grace sustain us, and your presence bring consolation. You are bigger than all our problems. Thank you for being a God who loves and cares.

Amen

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Additional Reading about Anxiety-Matthew 6:25-34 (NLT)

That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. ³³ Seek the Kingdom of God^[a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.