High Anxiety

In 1977, Mel Brooks produced a movie entitled, "High Anxiety."  It was a parody of several Alfred Hitchcock movies lived out in one man's life.  The lead character, Dr Richard Thorndyke, has encounter after encounter that are bizarre and unsettling.  He lived in a state of high anxiety.  It was a typical, over-the-top, Mel Brooks movie.  However, it was not totally fiction.

The truth is that many people live in a state of high anxiety as they encounter life in ways that are unsettling, unpredictable, unanswerable and even quite bizzare at times.  We see the complexity or enormity or risk into which we are falling or is falling upon us and we fear that we cannot cope or handle or conquer what is next.  It isn't what we've been through that causes anxiety, it's the fear and  uncertainty of what we're about to face that leaves us in a state of anxiety.

As we assess what might happen or what seems certain to happen, we lack the confidence we can handle it.   We fear the results of what may happen next, knowing or fearing that we're not  up to the challenge.  The real problem, however, is not a lack of confidence in self but an over-reliance on self. And more to the point, a lack of dependence on and trust in God.

It is easy to see why uncertain times would challenge my ability to handle them, being human and lacking in power as I am.  But, if I trusted in God's love and power, why would I fear, why would I be anxious?  The answer, of course, is that I would not fear, I would  not be anxious.

So what's the problem?  The problem is that we have not "Cast all [our] anxiety upon him [believing] he cares for [us]" (1 Pet 5:7).  And the reason we resist casting our cares on him is lodged in a lack of trust that would allow us to let go of the reigns of our lives and "Humble [ourselves], therefore, under God's mighty hand, that hemay lift [us] up in due time" (v. 6).

The reason for high anxiety is a low trust factor in God.  A low trust factor in God comes from a high dependence on self.  The answer to high anxiety is to let go and let God.  Jus' Sayn.