Who struggled with anxiety in the Bible?

August 7 - August 11, 2023 | Always Peachy Devotionals | Managing Anxiety Week 2

Isn’t it amazing how everyone in the Bible got everything right all the time?

Yeah, if you believe that, you haven’t read the Bible. It doesn’t take you very long when you start reading to find the first major screw-up. It’s in chapter 3 of the first book, and it only goes downhill from there.

I love the Bible for many reasons, but one of the biggest ones is that God pulls zero punches when talking about how His people fail. Every hero in Scripture fails except Jesus. Jesus is the only One who didn’t (and that’s kind of the point). The only Bible hero who came close to not screwing up was Joseph, but even he struggled with pride in his youth.

No, none of our heroes are perfect. No human is perfect. God knows that, and He lets us see how the people He used in big ways were still human. They weren’t immune to fear or pride or failure, and many of them certainly struggled with anxiety.

So that’s what we’re going to talk about this week. We’re going to focus on the big-time Bible characters who had to deal with anxiety in their lives. And these aren’t minor characters, mind you. These are important people, people most Christians look up to as heroes of Scripture.

These heroes wrestled with anxiety and worry, and you know what? God still used them to do amazing things. Their anxiety didn’t make them any less heroic. It just demonstrated how good, how powerful, and how amazing God truly is.

• Aug 7 - Martha

• Aug 8 - Job

• Aug 9 - Jonah

• Aug 10 - Elijah

• Aug 11 - Moses

See what I mean? Big names. This week we are going to get real about what they worried about, why they struggled with it, and how God redeemed their anxieties. Because if God could do it for them (and He did), He can do it for us too.

Why else do you think He included these stories in His Word? God didn’t tell the authors of Scripture under inspiration to write uncomplimentary stories about these people because He wanted to make fun of them. He didn’t do it to prove how bad they were. Not at all, my friends. God included these details because He knew you and I would be living in 2023, drowning in anxiety and desperate for living hope.

For our verse this week, we’re pulling from the New Testament. It’s something Jesus said to His disciples, and it’s a statement all of us should write on our hearts. This week’s memory verse is John 14:1.

Would you say your heart is troubled today? There’s certainly enough trouble in the world to merit it. This verse reminds us that even when we are facing troubles in life—the heavy ones that weigh us down and make it hard to breathe—that God still has a plan. Nothing happens without His say so, and He is big enough to take whatever difficult thing you’re facing right now and make it into something good.

Trust God. Trust Jesus. Turn those troubles over to Him, and let Him work out the details. He’s great at details.

Praying for each of you as you go through your week, that you will have peace and comfort and the assurance of knowing you aren’t walking this road alone.

Love,

Amy

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