The negative emotions we feel are meant to cause us to reflect on self and circumstance to consider changing what we are doing or where we are.
The current cultural moment is amplifying emotions.
That amplification could manifest as an increase in generalised anxiety.
The situation does not create the generalised anxiety, so much as it reveals an inherent fragility in our spiritual formation.
Zack Eswine continues to unpack Psalm 91 as a demonstration of the principal of self-reflection that seeks to use the experiences of life to direct us to deeper trust in God.
OVERCOME YOUR ANXIETY BY NOTICING YOUR DWELLING PLACES
But maybe you struggle to take hold of this shade. It would make sense if you did. Maybe anxiety agitates and fidgets you. You can’t feel the shade. God and your world are fragmented.
Anxieties have crawled over my life for years. When anxious I search for dwelling places. Certain dwelling places only inflame my worries. Like a two-day-old mosquito bite. Scratch it once and the itch reignites. Sometimes we are tossed about by everything we dread but cannot find anchor, partly because of where we are choosing to dwell. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High” says the Psalmist (vs. 1). “Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place,” says the Lord (vs. 9). Sure, you might say, but how can you hold an anchor when your hands shake and your grip fails you? I’m trying to say, “exactly!” That’s the whole grace of it.
You don’t steady an anchor. An anchor steadies you.
So, pause today. Notice your dwelling places. Ask yourself this question: “Do the dwelling places I choose anxious me or anchor me?” Perhaps you’ve made the news your dwelling place. Perhaps you are scrolling, scrolling, scrolling to find dwelling places that in the end aren’t steadying you at all. What would it be like for you to let this Psalmist invite you to a different dwelling place? What would it be like for God and His promises to be your dwelling place today?
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