God Calls Us to Have Hope Instead of Anxiety

Anxiety comes from expecting bad things to happen. 

Hope come from expecting good things to happen. 

I’ve struggled with anxiety most of my life, many times without even realizing it. But I don’t want to be anxious anymore. I want to hope and leave it at that.

The Bible says that hope will remain (1 Corinthians 13:13). It doesn’t say that anxiety will. The Bible says that love hopes all things (1 Corinthians 13:7). It doesn’t say that it fears all things. The Bible says that faith is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1), not what we’re worried about. And it also says that without faith, we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6). 

“Why worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough trouble of its own” (Jesus, Matthew 6:34). 

Why do I worry about tomorrow? Because I’m afraid of being hurt. I’m afraid of the pain I’d feel if things don’t go the way I’d want them to. The problem is, why do I believe that my way is the only good way? And why do I believe I’ll feel pain if it’s different?

For example, hoping after my mother’s cancer diagnosis could have looked like expecting either her to live or for my family to be transformed for the better through her passing, instead of wanting only one outcome and being devastated when I didn’t get it. I guess where faith is believing God will do something specific, hope is trusting that, regardless of the outcome, it will turn out for my good because God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

I wonder if that’s the mindset Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had in Daniel 3 when King Nebuchadnezzar demanded they bow down and worshiped him or else they’d be thrown into the fiery furnace. They said they would not even if God did not rescue them in that moment. I wonder if they had hope and believed that God would either rescue them from the furnace right then and there or He’d be with them in the furnace or, even, at the end of the day, they would be with Him in their deaths. Good outcomes all the way around. 

Is this why God says that hope remains, because no matter the circumstance, there will always be a good outcome, even in our death, an eternity spent with Him, so we can always hope for good things?   

Now, the question is, how can I completely switch my brain from defaulting to anxiety to defaulting to hope? How can I trust that it’s better to hope for the good things instead of fear for the worst? Is it wise to expect the good outcomes instead of the bad? Maybe it’s wise to prepare my life for the bad, like having an emergency fund or buying a generator or getting insurance, but is it wise to prepare my heart for the bad, where I only expect the worst so that I’m never disappointed? It doesn’t sound like a peaceful way to live.    

“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” (1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬).

God’s two greatest commandments: love God and love people (Matthew 22:37-39). So if I’m called to love, am I called to hope as well, to always hope, to be exact? It seems so. It seems so.

God, I ask that You would help me hope instead of fear, for all my days, in Jesus’ name, amen. 

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