When Anxiety is a Focus Issue {The Atlanta Journal-Constitution}

I will be the last person to judge someone who suffers from anxiety. Having experienced the issue before, I know the dreadful results of chronic stress if not appropriately addressed through medication and sometimes therapy.

You follow them on social media or sit beside them at church. They may be your best friend or a close relative. They may proclaim their faith in God boldly, write beautiful, faith-filled posts and even teach Sunday school. But truth be told, those who know them intimately find them wavering between faith and fear, peace and worry, in a dance that does not translate the firm beliefs they so brazenly proclaim. Indeed, their anxiety is not a reflection of circumstances or a medical issue, but rather, it is a matter of focus.

We live at a focus-challenging time. Our brains are constantly bombarded with information intended to distract us and anchor our hearts on anything but God.

Let’s think about a typical morning routine: We get up, and our brains are barely awake before we pick up our phones to browse social media. We come across articles or posts that incite division, fear and confusion: Take the vaccine or lose your job. Take the vaccine, and you may die. Trust the government. Mistrust the government. And below the comments on every post, we find people’s arguments, often blurted out with obscenities.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters of the book of 1 Kings, we come across a story in the Old Testament that depicts one of Israel’s greatest prophet’s struggles with anxiety and fear.

It’s a long account, filled with twists and turns and marked with beautiful displays of God’s presence and provision to Elijah, the prophet.

In summary, after a challenge between the prophets of Baal and Elijah, the God of Israel powerfully displayed his glory, giving Elijah a supernatural victory. As a result, the prophet killed 450 prophets of Baal, thus causing rage from Jezebel, Israel’s evil, idolatrous queen. She then vowed to kill Elijah, who fled in fear into the wilderness.

As we read the account, it becomes evident that the prophet was under extreme stress and anxiety. Even though he had just experienced God’s omnipotence and sovereignty over evil, he became so distressed by fear that he even begged to die. As he continued his fleeing journey, stress and anxiety prevented him from resting or hearing from God.

Finally, after walking for 40 days and 40 nights, Elijah found himself at the foot of Horeb, the “mountain of God,” hiding in a cave. It was there that the Lord told him to stand on the mountain, for he would meet him there. Scriptures tell what happened next:

“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks (…), but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.”

It was that gentle whisper (or a still small voice in some translations) that quietened Elijah’s spirit and instructed him in the way he should go.

In a world filled with threats, unrest and fear, this is a story that should give us pause.

Like Elijah, we may be so focused on circumstances that we have no control over that we forget God’s promise never to leave us or forsake us. We may keep our hearts so anchored in the “earthquakes, wind and fire” around us that we ignore God’s gentle voice, nudging us in the right direction.

Indeed, peace and quietness of spirit are sometimes a matter of deliberate focus. May we refuse to give in to the noise of this world and instead center on that still, small voice, whose faithfulness and power sustained us in the past and promises to continue to guide our future.

“Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Sons of Korah, Psalm 46.

This article was originally published in Patricia’s column for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday, October 9th, 2021. Click HERE to see it on the AJC’s website.