Proverbs 12:25 The Bureau of Unpredictable Circumstances
Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad. Proverbs 12:25 NASB
Anxiety, fear, threat, projections of a future without hope all place the responsibility for wellbeing on something outside of my control. There are many things that do “inspire” this, including sickness, a lost job, deployment to a conflict zone, and even broken trust.
Strongs defines anxiety as: carefulness, fear, heaviness, sorrow. Dictionary.com defines it: distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune.
In the previous verse Solomon speaks of diligence. An application of effort, care, forethought. But diligence must not be confused with anxiety. Forethought may be positive or negative depending on the purpose for time-traveling to my future. Is it for doing all I can do to improve my family’s success? Or to account for the things over which I have no control in order to fret? Although it’s odd to anticipate for “fretting,” it’s actually not too surprising. Fretting is a luxury. It’s the fruit of an overactive mind whose intent is to do nothing about the perceived threat except accept the place of a victim. Personal responsibility, outsourced to the Bureau of Unpredictable Circumstances, creates a nervous and frightened man pacing back and forth in a small room with sweat beading on his forehead, a speeding heart in his chest, stuck in a cesspool moment.
For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Selections from
Matthew6:25-33NASB
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-32, 37-39NASB
Anxiety is contrasted with a good word. What I am willing to hear, see, and focus my attention upon. If I am consumed by my fear, there is little room for to be encouraged (let alone give it). But having a heart and disposition that is willing to be affected, invaded by my Father’s word to me, has the potential to make me glad. Very glad. I think of the woman at the well in Samaria who had an encounter with Jesus. Not only did Jesus speak with a Samaritan, and a woman, he told her a good word, “If you asked of me, I would have given you living water.”
That good word is now a spring bubbling up inside of believers filled with His Holy Spirit.
There is something very powerful about words. In and of themselves they are just sound waves. Yet spoken from a heart and intent that knows our Father and is filled with His Spirit, they reflect an intent and a reality. They are clothes on the truth. They allow me to see something that gives me a glimpse in a limited way into the kingdom of God. They are a gateway to a broader, deeper, glad experience.
My heart must be healthy. Anxiety is a sickness. A good word of the kingdom is the remedy.