Humility Combats Anxiety—Part 2

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬-‭7,‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

We looked at these verses last week, and I have been pondering them ever since—and an illustration came to mind that I’d like to share.

Have you ever stood on top of a mountain where you could quite literally see for miles? 

If so, then you know that in these moments we come face to face with our smallness. However, you also know that the awareness of our smallness in these moments does not cause us to feel negative emotions, but rather, positive ones—because we simultaneously come face to face with the bigness of our God.

It’s a revelation of our smallness juxtaposed with a revelation of God’s bigness. 

Usually, when we say that something made us “feel small,” we mean that it made us feel negative emotions. It made us feel insignificant, anxious, hopeless, or powerless. 

However, when we “feel small” on a mountaintop, we feel positive emotions. We feel significant. We feel peace and hope and life. We even feel empowered. All because God created nature to display His power and His nature (Romans 1:20).

This is a picture of the humility which brings peace to anxiety—embracing our smallness because we understand the bigness of our loving God.