8 Bible Verses About Worrying

What if it doesn’t work out? What if we fail? What if our worst nightmare comes true? These are the questions that can hold us captive. Worry is mental distress or agitation about something anticipated. Anxiety, trouble, concern, doubt, fear, and apprehension are other words for worry. Worrying can hold our thoughts captive and rob us of today’s tasks before us and the people who cross our paths.

“Worry is like a rocking chair; it’ll give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.” – Unknown

Worry is rarely tied to productive action. It replays possible outcomes when we experience tough times and face uncertain outcomes. It is ineffective and it takes its toll. We lose sleep and are less productive. Our focus switches to imagined scenarios rather than on our actual life. It can make us feel out of control or fearful for the future. Fear and worry are the opposite of faith. We can read Bible verses about worrying and learn to exchange our worry for trust in God.

8 Bible Verses about Worrying

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. – Exodus 14:10, ESV

Can you imagine the tension in the people of Israel as each one worried about what would happen next? The Red Sea lay before them, and Pharaoh’s army came behind them. What an impossible situation. Their thoughts had to run wild and in fact, they declared that Moses led them to their death.

One thing we can learn from this Bible verse about worrying is to call out to the Lord. We can stop our frantic thoughts and accusations that God has forgotten us and instead, lift our voices to Him for help.

Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. – Matthew 6:34, ESV

This verse is part of a larger section that instructs us not to be anxious or worried. Jesus uses the examples of food and clothes to drive home His point that worry, and anxiety reveal a lack of faith in God’s care and love.

Worry clouds the mind and focuses our thoughts on ourselves rather than on God. There are many cares in this life that war with the truth that God sees our needs and calls us to trust Him with the unknowns of life. Jesus does not say that we shouldn’t work, He says that we shouldn’t worry. God will provide.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7, ESV

A cure for worry is prayer. Prayer takes the focus off the what-if scenarios we play repeatedly in our minds. Through prayer, we renew our trust in God’s faithfulness because we release the worries that hold us captive.

When we release our worries, God gives us His peace. When we pray, God can reassure us that he is with us all the time and he can work for our good. These Bible verses about worrying show us that through prayer, God strengthens us and gives us mercy, grace, and help in our times of need.

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to His span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all His glory was not arrayed like one of these. – Luke 12:22-27, ESV

Worry can consume too much time. How many nights’ sleep have been lost because we spin a situation round and round in our minds? Worry can immobilize us because we obsess over “what if this happens or what if that happens?” Then, we lose sight of God’s ability to work in our circumstances. God can handle our small worries and our big worries, but we need to trust Him with them.

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. – 1 Timothy 1:7, ESV

Worry wars with trust in God. God gives us the gift of power, love, and self-control so that we can set aside our worrying. His power gives us the strength of character and confidence to say no to the worries that seek to control our thoughts.

God’s love helps us deal graciously with difficult people that cause us anxiety. His gift of self-control helps us exercise self-discipline with our thoughts. Worry is an activity of the mind. It leads to anxiety, which leads to behavior that reveals a lack of trust in God. What we think about, we act on.

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. – 1 Peter 5:6-7, ESV

Throughout the Word of God, we see that He deeply cares for the troubles of His children. He provides and intervenes on our behalf. Worry takes responsibility for something God doesn’t intend for us to handle.

It can reveal our attempts to take care of a situation in a way that is different than what He intends. Daily, we can decide to turn all our concerns and anxieties over to God and trust Him to handle them in His way and time.

If you say in your heart, “These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?” you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. – Deuteronomy 7:17-18, ESV

The Israelites faced another impossible situation when they faced the nations who lived in the Promised Land. They must have wondered how they could succeed. There are times when we will face insurmountable problems. We will wonder how we could ever make it through.

We will face people who seek to destroy our reputation and relationships. These Bible verses about worrying hold a key truth for us to act on. When we remember what the Lord has done and His faithfulness, our worries grow quiet.

For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions and under His wings, you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. – Psalm 91:3-6, ESV

Psalm 91 expresses the security we can have when we place complete trust in God. Trust is the antidote to worry, but it’s not an easy journey. It takes courage to retrain our thoughts to trust instead of worrying.

We can do this when we remember that God is our refuge and that His faithfulness doesn’t fail. Even when we suffer and experience unmet expectations, we do not need to fear or worry. God is our protection, and we can find refuge in Him.

Worry is a sense of uneasiness and anxiety about the future. These Bible verses about worrying indicate that such anxiety reveals a lack of trust in God and His purposes in our lives. Worry grows when we live world-centered instead of God-centered. It reveals a lack of confidence in God and can lead us away from Him. But God provides a way for us to break free from the cycle of worrying.

We can center our thoughts on God and turn to Him in prayer. He longs to comfort you. He desires to be who you trust. He can take unwanted circumstances and use them for good in your life when you lay your worries down and trust Him instead.

If you need additional support beyond these Bible verses about worrying to deal with your anxiety, please reach out to the reception team to schedule an appointment with a counselor. To journey with you as you seek to trust God would be an honor.