Cancer Blog #58
By Brian Zimmerman
Begun on July 31, 2021
Email: dyingman1@yahoo.com
My Dying Words
Entry #58– The Cure for Anxiety
October 20, 2022
[Psalm 139:23-24 NASB95] 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
This psalm repeatedly speaks of God’s omniscience. Asking God to search us is a brave and bold request. The Father (and Jesus when He was on earth) always knows our innermost thoughts and desires. So, why ask? I believe the psalmist asks for such scrutiny to communicate his sincerity and openness to God’s judgment of him. He is letting his heavenly Father know that he has nothing to hide, but is coming before his King in sincerity and humility.
The psalmist then points us to a problem we cannot solve that even today as modern disciples we need help with: worry. There seems to me to be no one on earth more afraid than our culture, our entire country. I recently saw that there are calls to screen everyone for anxiety when they come for medical problems. But how will the anxiety disclosed by the screening be helped? Most likely by medication. Yet, our worries may have actual roots, serious problems that need attention, or, they maybe be an overreaction to the stresses and strains of everyday life. How can any MD or any medical professional know which it is, or fix either one? The MD is not omnipotent and is unable to change our circumstances that we may have good reason to worry about. Nor can any medical professional calm our hearts, reassuring us that the problem is only minor. And, they could do so only briefly at most.
Further, the psalmist asks for God’s look to find any hurtful or wicked way in him. Again, I believe that though the psalmist may be asking for help, it is more likely that he is assuring God of his confidence before Him, his obedience in following God’s laws, having no fear of the Lord’s omniscience.
But, where does this humble second request for scrutiny lead? To a desire for the Lord’s help to increase his obedience. Note the psalmist‘s phrase for characterizing the path of keeping God’s laws. He requests that God lead him “in the everlasting way.” I don’t believe he is making out his innocence or obedience to be the cause of finding an everlasting path. Rather, as elsewhere in the OT, and obviously in the NT as well, everlasting life, and the path that leads to it, is at the end of the road of submission and obedience to God’s law. The gospel is not just a proclamation to believe, but rather Jesus defined the gospel differently in Mark 1:15: “…”The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Our hope for heaven lies along a way ending in everlasting life, and that path is characterized by taking up our cross daily and following Jesus in His way. Eternal life, then, comes at a great cost, but it is worth every bit of that cost, isn’t it? Like the merchant in the parable of the great pearl, we must sell everything to make that purchase, and it is cheap even at that price. You are following Christ, you are walking in an everlasting path, a path of hardship and discipline, but ending in eternal peace and joy.
Next: Come Sweet Death