Battling Anxiety Is a Blessed Struggle

00:00:00.000 | [Music]

00:00:05.000 | A few years back, I had a chance to sit down with some friends of ours at CCEF,

00:00:09.000 | the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation in Philadelphia.

00:00:13.000 | This included Ed Welch, a Bible counselor and the author of a wonderful book

00:00:17.000 | titled "Running Scared, Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest."

00:00:22.000 | Ed has called the battle against anxiety a blessed struggle,

00:00:27.000 | and I asked him how. How is this struggle against anxiety a blessed struggle?

00:00:32.000 | Here's what he said.

00:00:34.000 | The battle against fear is a blessed struggle.

00:00:37.000 | That sounds a bit odd, doesn't it?

00:00:40.000 | But I think I've said those very things and thought those very things,

00:00:44.000 | so there's something to it.

00:00:46.000 | And here's one of the ways to look at it.

00:00:49.000 | When John Wesley was dying, allegedly,

00:00:51.000 | he had a group of people around him just speaking and praying

00:00:57.000 | and reading the promises of God.

00:00:59.000 | And he said to them, "Yes, all these things are true,

00:01:02.000 | but the greatest is this, God with us."

00:01:05.000 | And in that, the struggle with fear, if you're prone to fear and anxiety,

00:01:10.000 | it is a wonderful struggle, because it seems as though

00:01:14.000 | the most beautiful things that God says are reserved to people who wrestle with fear.

00:01:20.000 | Psalm 23, it all turns on, "I am with you."

00:01:24.000 | "I am with you."

00:01:26.000 | I think for those who are interested in larger theological matters,

00:01:30.000 | there are these covenant renewal ceremonies that go through the Old Testament

00:01:36.000 | where God rehearses the covenant.

00:01:38.000 | It seems as though what's happening there is there are people who rightly should be afraid.

00:01:43.000 | I mean, the covenant with Noah.

00:01:45.000 | What's going to happen the next time a cloud comes overhead?

00:01:48.000 | And here's the Lord making promises.

00:01:51.000 | And the promises to Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac, to others throughout the Old Testament,

00:01:57.000 | they are consistently, "I know you're going to have reasons to be afraid."

00:02:02.000 | So let me say it again.

00:02:04.000 | Let me rehearse my promises to you once again.

00:02:07.000 | So in that sense, it is a blessed struggle,

00:02:10.000 | because you anticipate hearing the most beautiful things that God says to human beings.

00:02:16.000 | That was Ed Welch.

00:02:18.000 | Ed is the author of the book "Running Scared, Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest."

00:02:23.000 | He has also written books like "When People are Big and God is Small"

00:02:27.000 | and "Addictions, a Banquet in the Grave."

00:02:30.000 | We will hear from Ed again next week.

00:02:32.000 | But tomorrow we hear from another one of our friends at CCEF, Dr. David Powleson,

00:02:37.000 | on exposing the roots of sinful anger.

00:02:40.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. I'll see you tomorrow.

00:02:43.000 | [END]

00:02:45.000 | [END]

00:02:47.000 | [END]

00:02:49.000 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Battling Anxiety Is a Blessed Struggle

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