Whence Anxiety? -- Part 1

‘Whence’ is a word we rarely hear today. It means, “From what place or source”. As I write this post, the world is awash in anxiety – even more than normal. So, ‘whence anxiety’ means, “Where does all this anxiety come from?” I suppose one answer to that question is, “It has always been with us. To be human means to be anxious. Who cares where it comes from? It just is, and I need to manage it in whatever way I can”. Ok, that is one answer. But for the Christian, that answer is not good enough, because originally, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were anxious for nothing. We all know about the Fall. They sinned and as part of the consequence of their sin, pride entered mankind’s spiritual DNA. But after they disobeyed God, they experienced mankind’s first anxiety, reflected both in their realization that they were naked and their first time being afraid of God. In the same way pride entered human spiritual DNA, so did anxiety. How did this happen? And does the answer to this question give us a clue how to manage our anxiety in these uncertain and fearful times?

Anxiety is the fear that something you really need won’t be provided.  That is why during unusual or stressful times people panic-buy things like toilet paper, extra food, and gasoline.  Even in ‘normal’ times people are anxious. Three big sources of anxiety in our lives are: do I belong, do they like me (self-worth or value); do I have enough (security), and will life get hard (comfort)? If we believe that we won’t get these 3 or they might be taken away from us, we get anxious. And anxiety is a root of all human evil. If I think you have something I need, I might try to take it from you, even if ‘you’ are another nation. And if I believe you might try to take something from me that I need, I might act preemptively to protect myself in a way that might harm you. Both of these actions are wrong, according to Jesus. Jesus tells us, “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well” (Matthew 5: 40 NIV).

Anxiety is big business in America. Perhaps that is why American media continually bombard us with stories that are designed to make us worry about the condition of our country and world (e.g. the world is coming to an end in 12 years. Actually 10.5 now. Time flies). Doctors treat anxiety with benzodiazepines, like Xanax, and Valium; Buspirone; antidepressants, like Prozac and Zoloft; and other types of medicines. The market for these drugs is in the 10s of billions of dollars each year.

Anxiety and depression can be serious problems caused by underlying medical or psychiatric conditions.  For people suffering with chronic anxiety and depression, their lives can be painful and extremely difficult. This post is not about these types of anxiety. But anxiety and depression are very often spiritual, requiring emotional healing and spiritual deliverance.

Here I offer a Biblical/Christian perspective on anxiety. Perhaps a Biblical understanding will help explain the waves of anxiety sweeping over America during this corona virus pandemic; it might even help some get free from this anxiety.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, acting on the ‘advice’ of the serpent who told them, “You can be like God”, they traded their lives of value, and certain security and comfort in the Garden of Eden for an uncertain life of sorrow, struggle, and pain in the world.

As a result of their disobedience, God cursed the serpent, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and wild animals” (Genesis 3: 14). But God did not curse Adam or Eve. To Adam God said, “Cursed is the ground (but not Adam) because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life” (Genesis 3: 17); and to Eve, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children“ (Genesis 3: 16). These are not curses; at least the Bible does not say, “God cursed . . .”. Instead, God let them live (!), removed them from the Garden and His presence there, and then made their lives hard. There are consequences for disobedience, but why make their lives significantly more difficult? I am not certain, but one thought I had was that God knew these difficulties would require them to turn to Him to live, grow their food, and bear children. In other words, they would need His help; and so, the connection and relationship between God and mankind would be continued, although not optimally.  

But while God did not curse Adam and Eve, they brought a curse upon themselves – the curse of anxiety. And because of them, anxiety is a curse inherited by the whole human race, just as we inherited Adam and Eve’s propensity to “do it my way”.

Our default condition when we are born is to depend upon ‘self’ first. And mankind’s hyphenated self-sins are obvious. We are also born anxious. Why do babies cry incessantly? For various reasons, for sure (change my diaper! for example) but also because they are anxious – “Will I get what I need, when I need it?”. When Adam and Eve chose to separate themselves from the “Thou” relationship they had with God, and chose “I” to be the center of their lives, they gave up the security and comfort of a relationship with God, who was their provider, and entered into an entirely new world – one in which all of their security, value, and comfort depended upon themselves. Not a good trade. Hence anxiety, which has been the hallmark of humanity ever since.

“The story (Genesis 3) is a theological critique of anxiety. It presents a prism through which the root cause of anxiety can be understood. The man and woman are controlled by their anxiety. They seek to escape anxiety by attempting to circumvent the reality of God” (‘Genesis’, Brueggemann, pg. 53).

“Anxiety comes from doubting God’s providence, from rejecting His care and seeking to secure our own well-being. Failure to trust God with our lives is death. To trust God with our lives is to turn from the autonomous “I” to the covenanting “Thou”, from our invented well-being to God’s overriding purposes and gifts” (‘Genesis’, Brueggemann, pg. 54).

Eric Fromm captures humanities existential angst in his classic, “The Art of Loving”, although he does not acknowledge the source of the separation. He is an atheist; he calls what happened between Adam and Eve and God “a myth”. But he does accurately describe the consequence of separation (as Christians, we believe the original separation was separation from God) – anxiety. After describing humanity’s “separate disunited existence” as an “unbearable prison”, Fromm writes:

“The experience of separateness arouses anxiety; it is indeed, the source of all anxiety. Being separate means being cut off, without any capacity to use my human powers. Hence, separate means to be helpless, unable to grasp the world – things and people –actively; it means the world can invade me without my ability to react. Thus, separateness is the source of intense anxiety. Beyond that, it arouses shame and the feeling of guilt” (‘The Art of Loving’, Fromm, pg. 7).

Here is the ultimate source of all devaluing in a human’s life – rooted in separation from God – the curse of anxiety. And because of this curse, humans today struggle with shame, guilt, and fear – all the marks of a devalued life.

The curse of anxiety was the first generational or bloodline curse, affecting mankind ever since. Every human being must deal with it, and failure to deal with this curse can have devastating consequences. But why should we have to pay the price for Adam and Eve’s disobedience? I don’t know why. I only know that we do. Humans are born anxious.

But being who we are – dependent upon self – human beings try to deal with anxiety themselves, which is saying that we try to remove the curse of anxiety in our lives. As Brueggemann points out, “Our mistake is to pursue autonomous freedom. Freedom which does not discern the boundaries of human life leaves us anxious” (‘Genesis, Brueggemann, pg. 54). We medicate anxiety, not just with prescription medications, but with all kinds of substitutes like alcohol, drugs, spending and shopping, sex, food, work, self-help, etc. Anxiety is even at the root of existentialism – the idea that existence precedes essence. That is, what I do, can determine who I am. If I am anxious, I can take matters into my own hands and by acting a certain way, I can become a certain type of person – someone who is free of anxiety. And the sad reality is that existentialism is a celebration of our separation or disconnection from God. Existentialists see separation from God as a good thing, and therefore trap themselves in a life of anxiety.

Satan is a liar. One of the lies he whispers in people’s ears is “You are not good enough”. Another lie is, “But you can make yourself good enough and set yourself free from anxiety”. Together, these lies are designed to hold people in a web of hopelessness, despair, and depression.

Thanks to Adam and Eve, the human race is infected with the generational curse of anxiety. What is the antidote to an anxious life? The standard, but still amazing, answer is – Jesus. In Jesus Christ, it is possible to live a life mostly free from anxiety (I don’t think anyone is wholly free from anxiety) because Jesus is our peace; in fact, He is peace. The prophet Micah foretold the coming of Jesus and His victory over anxiety:

“He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they will live securely, for then His greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And He (Jesus) will be their peace” (Micah 5: 4, 5 NIV).

That is why the Apostle Paul tells us to be anxious for nothing.

“Do not be anxious (‘anxious’ in Greek is merimnao, also translated as ‘worried’ in Matthew 6: 25 – 32) about anything, but in everything – in every circumstance and situation – by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your requests known to God. And the peace of God, that peace which reassures the heart – that peace which transcends all understanding, which stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus is yours” (Philippians 4: 6, 7 AMP).

The best antidote to anxiety is prayer and petition with thanksgiving, which includes worship; continually crying out to God, trusting Him to meet your every need, although not always in the way you expected.  And we can know the peace of Christ. The desire for knowledge is what got Adam and Eve in trouble. The opposite of knowledge in God’s mind is not ignorance; it is trust.

But how do we get that peace? I was born anxious. How do I make the shift from anxious to peaceful? We have to first understand the dynamics of anxiety, and then believe in the work of Jesus. These are the topics of ‘Whence Anxiety? Part 2”.

Resting,

John