This afternoon, we'll begin our scripture reading in the Book of Psalms, Psalm 94. We'll read verse 8 through 19, and then turn to the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians and read three passages from that letter, beginning at chapter 1, verse 1. anticipate hearing the word this afternoon. The reason for the multiple passages is I want you to have a broader understanding of a theology of suffering, even as we focus in on one verse from Psalm 94. So we're understanding what other passages of scripture can teach us also about this topic. Hear God's word then, 1st Psalm 94, beginning verse 8. Understand, ye brutish among the people and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, Shall he not see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall he not know? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, but they are vanity. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law. that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity until the pit be digged for the wicked. For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. But judgment shall return unto righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers, Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, my foot slippeth, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul. And then turning to 2 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning at verse 1, we'll read the first 11 verses of chapter 1, and then turn to chapter 4. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, Unto the Church of God, which is at Corinth, with all the saints, which are in all Achaia, grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. For whether we be comforted, It is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. He also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf. And then chapter four, verse seven, and we'll read through chapter five, verse five. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then, death worketh in us. but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes. That the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the spirit. And then turning to chapter 12, just a few more verses, as Paul continues to commend them to faithfulness, he turns in chapter 12 to personal confession. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. We'll end our reading there this afternoon. just sung about casting your burdens on the Lord. This afternoon, I want us to zoom in, as it were, onto one specific burden that undoubtedly at least some of us here carry. And while it may not be everybody, We all ought to be aware, and we all ought to be sympathetic, and we all ought to be caring to such an extent that we would pray for them. The burden specifically is that of anxiety. Like all suffering, there's reasons for anxiety. And I don't intend, it's not the place to get into the reasons for it. But we do have to understand the reason God allows suffering if we were to understand this. And by way of introduction, I just want to highlight a few ways that God allows suffering. We very quickly think that the reason someone is suffering is because of sin. That may be true. It is one of the ways or it's one of the reasons God allows suffering so that we would see this is the result of sin. Sin doesn't bring blessing. Sin brings negative consequence. When it comes to anxiety, that's also possible. Say someone is living in sin. let's say substance abuse. They may develop an anxious response to their own sin and their original sin then is compounded by the anxiety. So we might say anxiety could be a result of sin in someone's life. But that's only one of the reasons God allows sin, or in this case, it's only one of the possible reasons for anxiety. And so we can't assume because someone is anxious, they are living in other sins and their anxiety is because they're trying to cope or cover it up. Anxiety may also be because of just the God given response, like fear. We ought to be anxious about some things, right? Fear is the response to danger right now. Anxiety is the mind's response to danger that's possible, impending in the future. It hasn't happened, but the mind is anticipating it. It could be also a disordered physiological response that's clinical we would say the body's not functioning properly and Then yes, we could say it's because of The fall in the garden it's because there's sin in the world But the person has not done anything specific to to trigger that in their own life Anxiety could also be because of a sinful response or forgetting of God's care And this afternoon, I want us to have that grid kind of in our minds as we approach this topic, because we can't just label everybody the same. We have to be wise and discerning. And yet what I want to show to you is God's word addresses anxiety and God's word addresses the remedy for anxiety. And so we turn to Psalm 94, verse 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul." The multitude of thoughts is really the word for anxiety as we would understand it today. It's the mind racing in circles. And what our text makes clear is that this is very real. It's not a new thing. You can go back thousands of years, you can go back to the psalmist who admitted it himself. And these multitude of anxieties become a burden. A burden that's hard to understand, a burden that's seemingly unique, seemingly just you, And it's not just one, it's a multitude. It's like a snowball. The longer it rolls, the bigger it gets. And God's word is clear about it. We don't have to hide from it. Now, anxiety is different than so many other things. It's different than stress. Stress is the pressure that comes from outside a person But anxiety is what lives within the mind. It's what the psalmist says. It's the multitude of my thoughts within me, inside of me. And yes, it's a physical response and there are symptoms that get attached to it. Again, outside of this scope. But I do want to address one thing. As it relates to symptoms. Because we often think of anxiety as the nervous person. Or we know someone who's always biting their fingernails kind of anxiety and that may be the case. But men? Anxiety in men displays differently. You may not be biting your fingernails. But anxiety in men tends to come out as irritability and trouble sleeping and aggressive behavior. You don't want to deal with it. You've never thought of yourself as an anxious person because you know Aunt Nellie and she's the anxious person. Let's be careful. Anxiety is within a person and it comes out in all kinds of ways. And yet even as we admit that, it doesn't define the person. We would never say the psalmist is not to be listened to because he was just an anxious person. We would never say that. And so today, if you wrestle with anxiety or if you know this burden of anxiety in your life and you recognize some of the symptoms in yourself, you can't dismiss yourself as an anxious person and say, I'm not able to serve or I'm not able to do or I'm not able to. You see, anxiety doesn't define a person. Yes, it's a set of symptoms. God's word admits it. But it doesn't define you. We want to understand the reality of this burden, but looking towards the remedy. Because even as we live in a culture that's increasingly describing anxiety and maybe struggling with it, and it seems especially in the younger people, there's so many stuck in anxiety and terrors and they don't know where to go. Let's be very clear. We have a foundation and we have a direction to go. And part of it as those in a congregation who know each other. The challenge is to sideline somebody. But you are to understand them in order to help not take over, but to point them back to God's word. And yes, as we will see shortly, the remedies that he does provide. Because those people who are suffering from anxiety don't need someone coming beside them and pointing the finger at them or saying, you shouldn't do this. They need someone coming and pointing to the word and to the Lord who has given us this word and saying, remember. Because the person going through anxiety finds the burden to be crushing. It weighs heavily. It's like Psalm 55. This is a burden I wish I could release. I wish I could just give it up. But instead it's weighing me down and it's breaking me down. And healthy people, men and women, boys and girls, lose sleep, lose rest, lose their joy. Everything's too much. Everything's a nightmare. All they see is the worst case scenario. And I want you, if you don't understand anxiety, I want you to understand it this way then. It's as if this person is seeing a great big ball rolling towards them, and as it's rolling towards them, it's just getting bigger, and it's a ball that's going to crush them, and it's going to crush them, and they're just going to feel shame and awkwardness, and they don't feel brave, they just want to run away. They don't see themselves as strong, but weak. They're not functional, they're crushed, and they just see that this ball that's there is going to crush them even more. And if we as a church come alongside with callous comments, we're just bringing that ball closer to them and proving that this ball is real. And the person who is terrified of this multitude of thoughts that's within them, can be paralyzed in a sense. It's life changing. The boy doesn't want to go to soccer practice anymore even though he loves soccer. The mother can't go to the grocery store to get groceries even though she wants to get groceries. This terror of mind is looming right in front of them. And the multitude of anxieties changes life patterns. And those life patterns end up being avoidance with the reality and the focus on simply surviving. And when you're stuck, because this looming ball is rolling towards you and it's growing bigger, and you're focused on surviving, It becomes crushing because it's not just everything else, it's also paralyzed spirituality. The believer can be stuck, as it were, rooted on the floor with this impending disaster in their minds, the multitude of the thoughts within them. And as they think about it, there's no reason for it. They believe God's on the throne. They can't answer the question that some ask, why is this happening? And so what do they do? They think of themselves as unspiritual. And what does that do? That just increases the burden. Increases the guilt. Because what happens if you're feeling anxious, and you tell yourself, don't be anxious, and then you even think of scriptures about anxiety, what's the first one that comes to mind? Philippians 4, be anxious for nothing. And as the mind remembers that, what does it do? It just sees the ball in front of them and it's just getting bigger and it's, yes, be anxious for nothing, except I am anxious and I can't help it. And the guilt just gets larger. And notice how the psalmist says these Anxieties are not just out there. I know that there's anxiety out there. No, these are within me. And the picture is that they're going around and around me. They're tying me up. They're wrapping me tight. They're slowing down my life. And I don't really tell anybody. But you see, here's the burden then of anxiety. It's crushing. Right. Anxiety is crushing, it's crushing the person, it's crushing the life, it's crushing the spirituality. And what can you do? When that's you. Or your spouse. Or your child. Or your best friend. as problem solvers we want to say. Find out why you're anxious, get rid of the cause, get rid of the symptoms, get rid of the label, and then you're going to be free. Then you can go. But you see, the person who's stuck there and is seeing this impending disaster all around them isn't able even to answer those questions and work through the steps. And asking them the question, why does that bother you, doesn't take away their physical response. So the remedy is not figure it out. The remedy is as God's word says in our text. Thy comforts delight my soul. God provides comfort. Now obviously there's secondary remedies. God created us as body souls and we need to trust his creation. And we need to realize there are physical things that we can do that don't help. Right? Too much caffeine doesn't help. Too much sugar doesn't help. Not enough exercise doesn't help. Not enough sleep doesn't help. Improper hormone balance doesn't help. Chemical issues doesn't help. You may need medication. But behind all these secondary remedies is the comfort that God gives and that's what we want to focus on this afternoon. Because the call then of friends is to come back to the word and say, do you remember what God said? This is not an accusation. But let me encourage you with what God said. Four comforts I want to give to you as part of the remedy to crushing anxiety. The first one is this. The comfort that God gives is relationship and communion. The ball of disasters coming large. But here's the comfort. God is above and He sees this. And God the Father wants communion. He doesn't want us where we are most comfortable. He wants us to be closer to Him. He wants communion with us. And the comfort then of recognizing communion with God begins with this. God communicates. He's told us things about Himself. And what does the Lord require of you but to walk humbly with your God? Right? Some of us have flown through life so fast that we've never stopped. And we've stopped paying attention to the right things. And God uses things in our lives to get our attention so that we would look up again to Him, remember that He's there. And yes, He's even allowing this unwanted guest of anxiety to build communication between us. And yes, He sends then this burden down in our lives, not with a desire to destroy, but with a desire that you would look up. One person described it like this way, like this, said, anxiety that God sends is like a thief. God sends the thief. And the thief breaks into your life and he's not like a normal thief where he just steals one thing and runs away. No, he breaks in and then he stays. And it doesn't mean you shouldn't ask this thief to leave. And it doesn't mean that God won't take this thief out and throw him out in his own time. That may very well happen and we should pray it does. But this thief becomes a long-term guest who's occupying a part of our soul and he brings all kinds of unpleasantries and disruptions so that you would look up more than you have been. And you see, that's the comfort. God is there. God is aware. And the second comfort is this. The God who is there and the God who is aware is good. Now, it may not feel like it in the moment. But all of our suffering and all suffering that God gives to his people, including anxiety, is sent to us for spiritual lessons. Right, what do we read? In one of the forums, God averts all evil or turns it to our profit. Now, if God doesn't avert anxiety but allows it to break into your life, what is he going to do? He's going to turn it to your prophet. You see, he's there and he's aware, and as he sends it, he's still good. But are you seeing him as good? And you see, then there's what those in the church have to tell each other, point to. He's still good. Because like a bad house guest who breaks into your house and stays too long, the trials are real. Right? The multitude of anxieties becomes like a house full of unwanted guests. And what happens when guests overstay their welcome? It's the noise and the selfishness and the messiness impacts the rest of the house. But here's the question then, do you see that God's good? Even as you have this unwanted house guest, do you see that God's there and he's still good? Because what gets drawn out of the anxious life is this, it's a God honoring response or it's a God dishonoring response, which is Sin, we may not choose our anxieties, but but we are responsible for our responses. And you can't just survive and withdraw. Because what the comforts of God's word are exactly this. Look up. Realize he sees this impending disaster. And remember, he's still good. And he's calling you in this moment, even as you're terrorized by this multitude of anxieties. Do you trust me? Right, the question that should come from every anxious heart then is. What are thou teaching me, Lord? And the short answer may be trust. But then the follow-up question should be, how am I being taught to trust? What do I need to do differently, Lord? Is this momentary affliction? What's it preparing me for? Is it preparing me for what Paul described as an eternal weight of glory? You see, the comforts that God's word brings. Is this his grace will allow you to persevere, his grace will use it. To prepare you. And just because you're suffering these things doesn't mean that the crown's not for you. And the third comfort, then, is the comfort of God's provision. He's there and he's good even as he allows this to happen in our lives. But he also provides. Now, that's a challenge for some of us. Because what do we do? We think God provides for our souls and we need to take care of our bodies. But have you read the catechism so closely that you recognize he is a good and willing father, able to provide everything we need for body and soul, for this life and the next? You see, God's provision comes down and it applies to our anxieties as well. Yes, anxiety might seem like a personal problem, but here's, God knows it. And He's good in allowing it, and He will provide what you need to get through it. And He knows it seems personal to you, but He tells you this in His Word, you need the right person who hears you and speaks with you, who wants to communicate with you, who wants to commune with you. And if you have this burden of anxiety, you don't need to run away. You need to bring these anxieties to Jesus Christ whom God has sent. You can't solve them on your own. If there's one takeaway from this afternoon, I want you to remember this. The Savior cares and redeems people including their mental health. He cares about mental health, and he's going to redeem mental health. Luke 12, you read of Jesus reminding people, why are you worrying? You're of much more value than many birds. Whoever confesses me will be spoken of in glory and God will take care of you. And therefore, Jesus says, do not have an anxious mind. And you might. If you're suffering, see that as a command you're not following. But hear what Jesus is saying to the people, to His disciples. You're of much more value than many birds. You will be spoken of well in glory if you confess Me and trust Me. It's not condemnation. It's the word of encouragement. Yes, it's not the harsh command to be fearless. It's to look for Jesus Christ for comfort and strength in all areas of life. Your God will take care of you. That doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't use the means. Use the means. but use them to such a point that you are able to intentionally still look to Him, confess that He's good and trust His provision, that in the middle of your weakness and in the middle of your terror of this thing that's approaching you, you still see that God is able to intervene. Because fourthly, there's the comfort of God's mercies. Right? He's in heaven. He's there. He sees. He allows it. He's still good. He promises provision. And what's the provision that He gives? Mercy. And what's mercy? and compassion towards those that are broken and unable. We understand that in a sin and salvation sense, but you see that mercy is broad. The comfort of God's mercies is His pity and compassion towards those that are broken and unable. And here's the reality, this ball of Multitude of anxieties might be rolling towards you at full steam ahead. And you're unable to do anything to stop it or change it or take it away. But He has mercy. Because you're unable. That's why we read from 2 Corinthians 1. Blessed be the Father of mercies. and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble with the comfort that we ourselves have been comforted with by God. Go back to Psalm 94. Look up a few verses to verse 14. The Lord will not cast off His people. He will not forsake His inheritance. You see, He looks down, yes, and He's good, and He's promising provision, and He's saying, I will give you the pity and compassion you need. You can't crush anxiety by yourself. You're weak. It's okay to be weak. You don't just need a removal of symptoms. You need to realize that God's the only one who can intervene Paul asked three times that his crushing burden would be lifted. I'm not saying it's anxiety, but it was something that plagued him and burdened him. What was God's reply? My grace is sufficient for you. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. And Paul says, therefore, I'm going to boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I actually take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. Because when I'm weak, I'm strong. We could add anxiety to that list. And every time you see that ball of impending disaster coming at you and you realize you're unable to stop it and you confess, Lord, I'm weak. In Christ, there's strength. I don't know about you, but there's so many other things I wish that verse said. It would be so much easier. When I'm loving, I'm strong. Or when I'm serving, I'm strong. Or when I'm busy, I'm strong. But no, we take pleasure in those things, right? We take pleasure in busyness and service and love. But when does God's mercy and grace appear? When I'm weak and admit I can't stop this. then I am strong because it's not my power, it's not my ability, it's God. His purpose, His strength in my weakness. And so what's the psalmist saying? What's Psalm 55, 94, others that you know, and saying, it's pour out your hearts before Him, you people. He is the one who's able to intervene. But if you're going to pour out your heart before him, you have to be honest. Honest with your own recognition of what's going on in your life. Because you see, we tend to hide it because we think we can get through it ourselves. And it's better if nobody knows. But God isn't honored then. Remember, he's there. He's good. He provides. He provides mercy. It doesn't mean in the moment of looking up in prayer, it's instant remedy. Anxiety plus trust doesn't equal instant peace. But you see, anxiety and prayer to God brings continual reliance on God. And then, yes, communion with Him and united to Christ, the Spirit can fill. And then, yes, there's grace even for moments of failure. So that you recognize, I didn't look up in that moment. I was staring at this huge ball of anxieties instead. BCS, just another reminder to confess that and go back to God. One person with anxiety described it this way. Years ago, their spouse asked them to go to the store with them one night, 20-minute drive. Everyday requests for some people. This person wrestled with it for an hour, wanted to go, but saw all kinds of impending disasters if they went. They decided they'd stay home. Spouse went alone. And he says, that errand to the store ended up breaking my spirit because I came to realize I had stared at, my metaphor now, the ball of impending disasters far too long and I never looked up beyond the ball. I had kept my feet in the land of familiarity and I had not looked to my Lord. But you see other times that recognition can lead to prayer and prayer leads to strength and strength to, yes, even recognizing God's grace in the moment. The same author talked about a successful moment where they were stuck in a traffic jam, something that would usually bring anxiety, panic attack. He remembered, gotta look to God who's good. He got through the whole traffic jam, three hours of it. And a lot of books would have said to him, you did it, you did it. He said, I know, I knew it wasn't me. It was God who had done it for me. God was the reason I was still able to drive through that traffic jam. Seem too practical for you? What's faith but looking beyond the here and the now and looking to the Savior? Christ who will crush anxieties. Yes, one day, glory, He will crush all the anxieties, take them all away. But you see, part of His promise of redemption is He is beginning His work now and you can look to Him He's the only one who can stop that ball of impending disaster. He's the only one who can actually lift it out of place so that it never returns. Do these things, delight your soul. This almost doesn't just say these things are real. No, he says the multitude of anxieties within me are real and they're just circling, they're uncontrollable. But your comforts are not just real. Your comforts delight my soul. Even the anxious person in that moment is able to experience a degree Maybe a sliver only, but you see there's a degree of delight because this is God. How do you know if you're delighting in this? By remembering our catechism. That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own. but I belong to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins and delivers me from the power of the devil and so preserves me that without the will of my Father, not even a hair can fall from my head. You see, he's stopping, able to stop the impending disasters. And yes, what's your comfort then? that all these things are subservient to my salvation. Your life might not be easy. Recognize this. You can still delight. This is being worked out for a believer's salvation. God's the one lifting your gaze saying, come to me, look to me, I will give you rest. Cast all your cares on me for I care for you. If you're suffering from anxiety today, it's not a mistake. God's using it to call you closer to himself and to find peace and joy in looking to him. And as those may be around anxious people, Remember this text. In the multitude of my thoughts, anxieties within me, thy comforts, Lord, delight. It's real living faith. There's grace for mistakes, but it's the same looking to the same God. And if you're suffering from anxiety and have never looked to him, he's calling you even louder than ever. Look to me and be saved all the ends of the earth. And yes, it's not complete here, but you see, that's faith too in the resurrected Lord who's coming again. You will make all things new. including this. Let's pray. Lord, we give Thee thanks that Thy Word contains not only descriptions of life, but remedies for life and promises for life. We pray for grace and help in time of need. Help us to see the reality of living faith. Not because we can work this in ourselves, but Lord, thy spirit putting seeds there so that in spite of remaining sin, in spite of remaining weakness, there are those who look to Thee and can look to Thee and must look to Thee. Please bless us all through this week. Provide what we need for body and soul for this life and the next. And may it be, even this week, Thy word, Thy comforts that delight our souls. Please forgive the sins of worship today. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.