Paul Tautges - Anxiety: Knowing Gods Peace

S IX YEARS AGO , I could not have written this book. I was a prisoner. Anxietycrippled me and held me captive. Satan took advantage of an extended season of depressionI was going through that had been triggered by the impact of a myriad of difficultiesin our church and family. Mounting pressure from every direction, along with my ownangry response to it, collided to create a swirling storm of fear. I had experiencedanxiety before, but never like this. I couldnt go on. Some days, I didnt even wantto.

Twice I went to the emergency room showing symptoms of a heart attack. After my secondtrip to the ER, my physician sent me to a cardiologist to get blood work and a stresstest. The tests determined that I hadnt had an actual heart attack (the kind thatcauses permanent damage to the heart muscle) but a stress-induced heart problem thatcauses only short-term harm.

The Mayo Clinic calls it broken heart syndrome a temporary heart condition thatis brought on by stressful situations or grievous loss. It involves a surge of stresshormones disrupting the hearts normal pumping function. This condition mimics aheart attack by causing a similar set of symptoms, including chest pain, shortnessof breath, an irregular heartbeat, and generalized weakness. When this occurs, peoplebelieve they are having a heart attack. I didtwice, in less than a year. And whatI experienced is more common than I knew.

Perhaps you can relate to one or more parts of my story. Perhaps not. Regardless,we all struggle with various forms of anxiety.

What does your anxiety look like? Is it mild worry? Or full-blown panic? Or somethingin between? Did you pick up this devotional because feelings of anxiousness comeand goor because they are constant? No matter what your anxiety looks like, theBible speaks truth and peace into your mind and heart. Scripture directly addressesthe anxious heart in helpful ways.

Anxiety is a persistent part of our human condition. Its so common that an estimated23 million Americans suffer from panic attacks, while millions more identify themselvesas having some form of anxiety disorder. It is helpful to realize how honestly theScriptures uncover this side of human experience, shed light on the effect that anxietyhas on our bodies (and vice versa), and fuel the faith that strengthens inner securityand peace.

Thousands of years ago, Jewish patriarchs recognized the impact of powerful emotionson the body. For example, Jacob feared the possibility of premature death from deepsorrow and distress (see Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29). When his son Judah pleaded forJoseph to release his youngest brother Benjamin, he specifically begged to be allowedto return Benjamin to his father. Judah said, As soon as I come to your servantmy father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boyslife, as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servantswill bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheolthatis, to the grave by premature death (Gen. 44:3031).

The Bible also contains examples of the reverse happeningof anxiety being causedby physical suffering. The author of Psalm 102 pleaded with God to listen to himin his distress, which was not connected to his sin but occurred alongside his physicalafflictions (see vv. 35). Job, too, is an example of this. As the result of immenseloss and excruciating bodily pain, he experienced deep anxiety. I have no peace,no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil ( Job 3:26 NIV). Even the apostlePaul experienced burdens that were beyond [his] strength (2 Cor. 1:8). It doesnot take much imagination to see how his mental suffering was a consequence of physicalsuffering.

Not only is our physical frame custom-made by God, but so is our emotional makeup(see Ps. 139:1314)! We are so amazingly designed by God that he should be exaltedand praisedthough the full interplay of our bodies and spirits, as well as the understandingof our beautiful and yet complicated emotions, remain mysterious to us.