Right away I’ll make this quite personal: For the last few years now I often wake up in the middle of the night sweating with anxiety. I’ve tried to track a possible cause in something I’ve eaten, when I’ve eaten, having had a conversation about things I’m anxious before I go to sleep, etc. But I haven’t found an answer. The anxiety comes and goes.
The reasons why I feel anxious vary, too. It can be a topic that makes a lot of sense—a fear which I was nervous about the day before or have struggled with in the past. Yet other times it’s a topic that the next day I laugh about—something that when I’m sober minded would never cause me sweating anxiety. But either way, the anxiety is there, an unwelcomed feeling.
Fighting by Reciting
So what do I do? I wish I could say because I’m a Christian (even a pastor) that when I wake up anxious I just recite a quick prayer and then fall easily asleep, that those moments pass swiftly by my superior trust in Jesus.
But they don’t.
It takes work. As the years of this have gone by, I’m learning more how it takes intentionality. It’s a fight.
So that’s what I’ve been doing recently: fighting in my anxious sweats. Specifically, I’ve been battling with my Spirit-sword (Ephesians 6:17 is a reality!) using a specific verse.
Each morning I’ve been trying to memorize Bible verses with this iPhone app called Verses (which I recommend highly), and one day about two months ago the verse was Isaiah 26:3:
“You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
The verse is simple to memorize, but it has been full of life-giving beauty and help for when I’m anxious. It’s comforted me on many nights now.
What It Looks Like Around 2 A.M.
I’ve holstered this verse in a way I’ve never done with a verse before. Here’s what it’s been looking like in those moments of sweating anxiety. (And as a disclaimer: Please don’t think that by writing this post I’m insinuating I’ve figured out how to handle well these sweating anxieties. I can’t handle my anxiety; and I often don’t do this well. Instead, I’m writing this [as with most of my posts on this site!] primarily for myself: to meditate on why this has been helping and to bring God glory for the comfort he’s given me through this verse.)
What do I do? Simply, I repeat and repeat the verse. Not like a mindless chant, but like I’m falling and crying out for help over and over. This takes intentionality because in those moments what I mainly want to do is focus on the anxiety itself (isn’t it amazing that we want to do things that are hurtful to us at times?). But I resolve to repeat Isaiah 26:3: “You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Over. And over. And over again.
And each time I repeat it, I catch myself thinking about an encouraging aspect of the verse. To use the biblical word, I “meditate” (or simpler said, “chew”) on the verse in this way (Psalm 1:2).
Such mental chewing is nothing fancy; it’s repeating the verse over and over for my comfort and noticing different things as I repeat it.
Four main ideas from this verse have comforted me in these anxious sweats. (And I hope they are able to do so for you as well.)
1. God’s Perfect Peace is Available
I usually first take comfort in how God promises that a “perfect peace” is available. Now, in this fallen world—especially in my anxiety-laden, sweating body—I know I will never have flawless, sinless peace. But I don’t think that’s what’s referenced in Isaiah 26:3. “Perfect” can also mean “complete.” That, I think, is what is being offered here. Throughout the Bible we hear about a peace that God is able to give to his people—a peace not like other sources of peace (John 14:27), a peace complete enough to give us “peace at all times and in every way” (2 Thessalonians 3:16).
So as I’m sweating and repeating the verse over and over usually the first thing I notice in my anxiety is that a special peace is available, at that moment, promised from the lips of God himself.
2. Mind Stayed On God
Second, the middle phrase also sticks out, that the perfect peace is available to the one “whose mind is stayed on you.” My anxiety floods, but I take from this a call to focus on God (instead of my anxiety).
On this, here’s a crucial help I’ve learned: This phrase, “whose mind stayed on you,” is extremely beneficial because I used to try to find peace by arguing against my anxiety. Don’t we all do this? I would feel anxious, and my main battle against the anxious thoughts would be to rationalize in my mind why I don’t need to be anxious about them: “It’s not that big of a deal,” “It’ll work out,” “I’ll get on that first thing tomorrow,” etc.
But now, I don’t go there (or I try not to). Instead, through repeating this verse, specifically the “whose mind is stayed on you,” I aim to fix my mind on God. I’m learning that this may seem counterintuitive; we may think that rationalizing the anxiety away is most helpful. But it’s not. We all know it’s not. God didn’t make us to work that way. He made us to look to him, to find peace in him—in who he is for us—and not in how cleverly we can rationalize our anxiety away.
So, as I seek this peace, I also aim to have my mind stayed on God. Which leads to the third helpful insight from the verse.
3. He Trusts in You
The phrase “he trusts in you” orients me to the central issue at stake, to the reality that will give me peace: relying on God.
With this phrase I’m able to take hold of the clear logic in the verse: There’s a perfect peace for the one who focuses on God “because he trusts in you.” In other words, the verse shows that the reason for the peace isn’t a mysterious peace-exchange from God. It’s through trusting in God. That’s my way to peace.
So as I’m repeating this over and over, I’m acknowledging my need for peace; I’m knowing that God can give it as I look to him; but also, I’m crying out to Jesus like the father of the child with the unclean spirit in the famous Gospel story, “I trust; help my lack of trust!” (Mark 9:24).
4. You Keep Him
Finally (and as a reminder, in my anxious sweating moments, this isn’t a logical one, two, three, four argumentation; rather it’s that these four things often come to mind as I repeat the verse), I notice the precious way the verse starts: “You keep him…”
As I repeat the verse again and again, I know that God is able to not only give this complete peace to me, but to keep me in such peace. As my loving Father he is able to hold me in his arms and “give to his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2).
Praise You, God
Praise Christ for Isaiah 26:3. That’s my anxious-sweat journey I’m on right now. Again, I share it in this post mainly for myself and to bring God glory, because, as him as my witness, this verse has been immense help to me. But I pray that Isaiah 26:3 may bring comfort in anxiety to anyone reading this, too.
But one final note of encouragement to us all. We have a Bible with 31,000+ verses from our God to mine for similar help. Praise God for not only Isaiah 26:3, but for each verse in his encouraging word (Romans 15:4). In all things and at all times, especially in our anxiety, let us be people of this precious, peace-giving Book.
