SHACK NIGHT LESSON 2

Cultivating Joy: The problem of Anxiety

Introduction:
No doubt many of you throughout your week, or even on a daily basis, go through
rough times; dealing with school, work, relationships, tests, extracurricular activities,
whatever they may be. And some people will relate more than others, but it can be very
difficult on one’s emotional state to hold these responsibilities and have these stresses on
oneself and maintain a healthy, joyous mindset. And I want to speak to you on that
tonight because at our state in life where stresses and responsibility may be at a new
levels for us as we approach the time in our lives where we begin to depend on ourselves
more and more, and see the consequences of our actions more and more.

Proverbs 12:25
Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down.

It may be a simple little verse, but it holds a lot of weight. No pun intended. We
all know the feeling. Lack of sleep, too much on our minds, thoughts bouncing back and
forth as we consider things we did that day, or didn’t do, or still need to do, or FORGOT
to do. The slunkish feeling you get when you sit down in a classroom and just do not
want to be there.

Psalm 13:1-4
Here are a couple key things I want to note from this passage that I think sit the situation
of a worrying individual very well. Now these may or may not apply to you, and some of
them may very well seem familiar.
1) In verse one, the psalmist makes it clear that in times of stress, it may seem like
God is absent. There are times when our walk with God is up hill towards
awesomeness and blessings and happiness and laughter, and times when we’re
downhill, going through trial, faced with the difficulty that life presents. The
psalmist attributed the feelings of his stresses with an absent or unwatching God. I
do not believe he didn’t believe God was actually not there, or not watching, but it
may be figurative of the emotions and feelings he was going through. The
Psalmist is David, and he was very aware of God’s presence in everything.
2) Verse two is something we all go through. We store up concerns and problems in
our minds. I do this a lot when I’m going to bed at night, just tacking on issue
after issue, tossing and turning, thoughts bouncing back and forth. He also says,
“How long will my enemy dominate me?” He wasn’t saying that Satan had won
his soul for a brief period of time. He was saying that as he worries, as he chooses
to let his stresses and problems become a real part of his life, he was forfeiting the
peace of God to an enemy who wants to instill uneasiness.
3) Worry is a habitual thing. It becomes a daily activity we do to ourselves when we
let our problems become more than they are. The fact of the matter is, your
anxiety and stress is only made worse by how much you think about it. Read
verse two again. “in my mind everyday” “store up…”
Some examples of some stressful times.
Job. Everyone knows the general story behind the book of Job. Satan came and
did this and infected Job with that. Job was a man who knew what it was like to suffer. In
fact, it says his suffering was very intense in Job 2:13. We can get a clear picture of what
Job thought of his situation in chapter 3. You can read the whole thing on your own, but I
want to focus on the end when he says, “I sigh when food is put before me, and my
groans pour out like water. For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded
has happened to me. I cannot relax or be still; I have no rest, for trouble comes.” I doubt
you have ever felt this way before.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Going to be cast into a burning furnace for
not bowing down to false gods. It doesn’t say anything about how stressed they were, but
before they were to be thrown in, the guards who prepared the fire died of heat
exhaustion. They may or may not have trusted completely in the Lord, and I’d like to
think they did, but there is no doubt in my mind that they experienced a high level of
stress.
Pilate. What? Pilate? Oh yeah. Pilate had been warned by Caesar not to have
anymore bloodshed or the next time it happens it would be his own. If one more revolt
happened against the Romans, Pilate would pay for it. With Jesus in town, things got out
of hand.

Now I really didn’t want to end this here, but today’s topic was just meant to be a brief
history/summary of the topic of anxiety to lead us into cultivating joy.