Anxiety in Evidence: Confusion

I suppose we find anxiety to be a synonym with other words because they simply go hand in hand. Stress certainly does. Confusion is the other that I think is that way. When we don’t have clarity on things, it is hard to make a decision. So, our anxiety level goes through the roof.

God of Order

I usually read the NIV version of the Bible, and recently I’ve been reading the ESV. Each translates this verse, 1 Corinthians 14:33, a little differently. The ESV says, ‘God is not a God of confusion but of peace.’ And the NIV says, ‘For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.’ Not disorder. Not confusion. The opposites are order. Our God is of order. Why do we sense confusion, then? Maybe a better question is where does it come from? The logical conclusion (Afterall God has made us rational 😊), is that it comes from man and the enemy.

Samuel Chadwick said it so well, I’ll just put it here. ‘Confusion and impotence are the inevitable results when the wisdom and resources of the world are substituted for the presence and power of the Spirit.’ Sounds so familiar. We looked away, and confusion came. Nowadays we can also say that we were bombarded by news, by social media, by neighbors, influencers, and followers.

I just don’t Know What to Do

He does.

I know that I am weak and easily confused. God too knows this and has told us and shown us how to overcome this. He says (Proverbs 3:5-6) to lean on him, not to lean on our own understanding. He says he will make our path straight. The creator of the universe, the One who laid out our steps and formed us in our mother’s womb, he knows what to do and what will happen.

Jesus Banishes Confusion

In Mark 5:38-39, Jesus arrives at the home of a synagogue leader and finds total confusion. Verse 40 says that ‘he put them out’ of the place. He sends away those who make confusion. With mere words. Well, why say ‘mere’? It was by word that the earth was created, the void separated, the waters divided from the land. Mere words are much more powerful than we give them credit. Words hold the power of life and death. We too can banish the confusion from our lives.

David goes a step further in Psalm 40:2 (ISV) and says, ‘He plucked me out of a pit of confusion, even out of the quicksand; he placed my feet on a rock and established my steps.’ The words that are used in Hebrew for the description of this pit that David is in leave an image of roar, revelry, destruction, and muck. That seems to be a pretty accurate reflection of confusion. Things roaring around in my head, making no sense but lots of noise, unable to sort themselves in the muck. But God lifts us from that.

Lean on God

So, we return to the central point of all these verses: God drives the confusion away and sets us on the right path. The question then is: Have we been looking to Him? Have we invited Jesus to come to our house and shoo away the confusion and the bombardment of noise?

The synagogue leader asked Jesus to come. David cried out to God (Ps 40:1). Acknowledge him and he will make straight our paths. The first step to banishing the confusion that ramps up our anxiety is calling out to him, recognizing that He is the only answer in this muddle.

Surrender

Usually when we get to this point, when we realize how confused and how little we know about what to do, we are ready to surrender. That is what this is. It is calling out and throwing it all on Him. In Jeremiah 3:27, we affirm ‘I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?’ He is able. Nothing is too hard for Him. He can clear out the fog and the cobwebs. He can set us upon the rock, pull us from the quicksand.

I will not say this is an easy thing. It is not easy to come out of anxiety and confusion. But He accompanies us and will continue to accompany us, and the Lord will give us the clarity we need. The focus has to be on Him.

The anxiety and fear that build within us must bow down to the King of Kings. Often our physical bodies and our minds must do that first, as a deliberate choice. David says he waited patiently on the Lord (Psalm 40:1), and we too must do so. Where does our help come from? It comes from above. We need to lift our eyes to Jesus, to the cross. We have to focus on Him, and the other things will fall away.