PRESCRIPTION FOR ANXIETY

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

PRESCRIPTION FOR ANXIETY

READ:  Psalm 55:4-23

Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you;  He shall

never permit the righteous to be moved.  Psalm 55:22

According to a Wall Street Journal report, anxiety has overtaken depression as the leading mental health problem in the United States.  Anxiety-fighting drugs are now the top-selling pharmaceutical products.  Even with a booming economy  and political stability, worry and apprehension remain part of our human condition-one that can never be adequately relieved by a pill.

When David composed Psalm 55, his mind was agitated by the same types of situations we struggle with today:  He recoiled in horror from the violence, anger, and abuse that stalked the city streets (vv. 9-11).  He suffered the anguish of being betrayed by a close friend (vv. 12-14).  He longed to leave and escape to a place of peace (vv. 4-8).  

Because David’s anxious pain mirrors our own, his prescription for relief can be ours as well.  He wrote, “I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me…Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you” (vv. 16, 22).

Anxiety is a burden we are not called to bear.  Instead, we are to lay our concerns on Christ because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7; see also Philippians 4:6-7).

If your heart is weighed down today, the Lord is ready to bear every burden you give Him.   DCM

All your anxiety, all your care,

Bring to the mercy seat, leave it there’

Never a burden He cannot bear,

Never a friend like Jesus. -Joy

God invites us to burden Him with what burdens us.