to fend off these demons.
While we keep our minds open to the supernatural, let’s also keep our minds open to see God’s goodness in the natural, as shown through others. One of my friends, when he was going through a dark time with work and with family, told me that complete strangers were being very nice to him – holding doors, saying hello, even waving to him and smiling. “They’re not even smiling like normal friends would smile,” he said, “they are smiling at me like I’m their best friend, like they are totally overjoyed to see me.” He was confused by all of this, but I told him, “That’s God’s way of telling you that you are not alone in all this darkness. Those smiles, those waves, are signs that God is watching over you.”
The psalm also shows us that we will come to conquer these terrors that threaten us, not just withstand their onslaught. The imagery in the psalm is rich with creatures that inspire terror: “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder . . . and the dragon shalt thou trample” (Psalm 91:13, KJV). What could be more terrifying than the deadly trio of a lion, snake, and dragon? Significantly, a dragon is a supernatural being. But God tells us that he and his angels will enable us to trample all attackers, no matter how vicious, and even those that are otherworldly. The ferociousness of the lion, with its teeth and claws; the deceptiveness of the snake, with its sting and venom; and the seeming inescapability of a flying, fire-breathing dragon – all are feeble when we have God on our side. As the Lord says in the final verses,
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him:
I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him:
I will be with him in trouble.
(Psalm 91:14–15, KJV)
“O God, be not far from me:
O my God, make haste for my help.”
(Psalm 71:12, KJV)
God is always with us. He is everywhere, though at times it can seem that he is light-years away. That suffering, that adversity that we are experiencing, that lack of peace that we feel inside – these are the times when we call for God’s help. And when it doesn’t arrive with the speed that matches our urgency, we begin to panic, and jump to conclusions that God isn’t listening or that he does not want to help.
I discuss why God waits – why he does not seem to “make haste” – in my chapter on Psalm 27:14, but I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about feelings of anxiety and panic, and how we can control them. These feelings are the arch-enemies of inner peace, and cause us to imagine such things as God being distant from us. The speed of modern work culture, which causes us to believe that every decision is a life-or-death matter, intensifies our tendency to panic. Sadly, anxiety has now become a standard part of life for millions of people.
Anxiety walks hand-in-hand with its companion, Overthinking. Negative thoughts can enter the mind with incredible stealth, like a thief in the night, and that’s when anxiety and overthinking go to work. The first negative thought that you have will likely set off a chain reaction, and then your brain talks itself into an anxiety attack or a depressed mood. Let’s say that a colleague annoys you at the office; you dwell on this, and it reminds you of that shop assistant who wasn’t very helpful several days ago; then you are thinking about that frustrating situation with your car, the expensive repairs, the unhelpful customer service representative on the phone, the bad conversation you had with a friend a few weeks back . . . and suddenly, you have this rushing river of negative thoughts going on in your head, all because of that one thought that started it.
So how do we stop this? As soon as you recognize a negative thought, take action. A monk once advised me to go straight to focusing on my breathing when I find myself in a state of anxiety. Become conscious of your breathing, and start to take regular breaths: one second in, one second out; two seconds in, two seconds out; and so on, up to five seconds for each. Meanwhile, in your mind, say to yourself, “Breathing in, I am calm; breathing out, I am at peace.” Concentrating on your breathing brings your energy out of the mind; it reconnects you with your body, and thereby brings you back to the present, rather than the future. The future is the realm of anxiety. While your thoughts may stray to the future, never let them dwell in it.
In contrast, breathing is the ultimate “present” activity. You can only breathe in the Present. You cannot expect the past to breathe for you, or the future. So when you want to return to the present, focus on your breathing. It connects you directly to where you are. While the mind can live in the past or future, the body and breathing cannot.
I like to refer to another strategy as, “Don’t open the floodgates.” Think of your thoughts as water in a stream. They are all connected. And as illustrated above, negative thoughts about unrelated subjects like to connect with each other. Your awareness of your thoughts is the dam, or floodgate, preventing those thoughts from taking over your mind and mood. Once you perceive that you have a negative thought, say to yourself quietly but audibly, “Don’t open the floodgates!” When you say this, it reminds your brain of the simple fact that negative thought follows negative thought. The brain then prepares itself for the attack. Then, you must deliberately change what you are thinking about. Don’t stay “on topic.” Think of the happiest, funniest, or most peaceful thing that you can. If the mind is resistant to changing the topic, put on some music, turn on the TV, or go for a walk. Create a diversion. If you cannot distract yourself mentally, distract yourself physically. One way or the other, you have to dam that rushing stream of negativity.
Be mindful of the importance of stopping the floodgates from opening. The enemy loves it when the dam is broken, causing that rushing stream of negative thoughts that ruin your day. Keep telling yourself, “Don’t open the floodgates.” And when the anxiety attack has been repelled, congratulate yourself. These are the small victories that you win each day.
Prayer is also a very effective defense against negative thoughts. These thoughts may have such a hold on us at times that we find it difficult to focus on praying, but one tactic I have used is recording myself reading aloud my favorite Psalm verses (all of which are in this book). I keep this recording on my phone, and simply hit “play” when I find myself encountering anxiety and overthinking. When I hear these soothing verses from the most powerful book of joy and hope ever written, my mind is calmed, and is redirected towards inner peace.
“For thou wilt light my candle;
The Lord my God will
enlighten my darkness.”
(Psalm 18:28, KJV)
Life unfortunately involves periods of darkness that we must go through. Suffering, hardship, struggle, adversity – and simply, pain – are all part of the texture of life. But we are blessed, for there is light that comes to us from God in these periods of darkness.
The speaker says, “Thou wilt light my candle,” reminding us that we all have a “candle” that we carry around with us. That candle is the potential to receive the light and warmth of the Lord. It is our faith, our hope. When we stay in faith, we allow ourselves to experience the Lord’s light: his guidance and his joy. This can come in many forms: a realization of how to end our difficulty, acceptance of a tragedy, or just simple relief and inner peace.
