I’ve battled with anxiety most of my life. But my anxiety levels from work intensified the years since COVID. The expectations and demands at work seemed far worse than previous years. My anxiety spiked very time I received a text from one of the admins. And the anxiety wouldn’t decrease when I left work for the day. I would wake up in the wee hours of the morning filled with dread, unable to go back to sleep. Last year, I was experiencing mild panic attacks while driving to work almost every day.

I know a lot of people deal with anxiety, so I know I’m not unique. Some simple breathing techniques would help in the moment. But telling yourself not to worry didn’t usually help. Ultimately, my bouts of anxiety last year forced me to look at the underlying causes. A helpful story in Mark’s Gospel provided a good starting place for what I learned.

In Mark 4, the disciples find themselves on a boat with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee during a windstorm. The waves were beating the boat so much that it began to fill. The disciples were panicked. But Jesus was asleep. He was being blown by the same wind as the disciples. He was being drenched by the same crashing waves as the disciples. And yet he was able to sleep peacefully. The disciples woke Jesus, who then quieted the wind and waves. Turning to them, he asked, “Why are you scared? Don’t you believe yet?”

Here’s what I learned from this story, with the help of Dallas Willard. There’s a difference between “faith in Jesus” and “Jesus’ faith.” The panicked disciples had faith in Jesus. They immediately went to him, knowing that he could do something. Faith in Jesus is good and essential. But the disciples didn’t have Jesus’ faith, which is why he asked them, “Why are you scared? Don’t you believe yet?”

So what is Jesus’ faith? What did he know as real that the disciples still hadn’t learned yet? Here are three foundational components:

First, Jesus knew that this world is God’s good world. The Father created this world and declared it to be good. Of all of the ways God could have created this world, this was the best and optimal way. This world is truly good.

Second, Jesus knew that the One he called “Abba” permeates this good world. This world is filled with the loving and good Father.

Third, this means that those who seek and live in the Father’s kingdom have everything they need and are absolutely safe in God’s good world.

The disciples didn’t understand this, so they panicked. Like them, I didn’t understand this, so I would panic. 

So I started praying through and reflecting upon the Shepherd’s Psalm (Psalm 23) in an effort to renew my mind around the true Reality that Jesus knew:

God is my Shepherd and I truly lack nothing in Him.

My Shepherd is training me to have full confidence in him by being my very sustenance. Any need is met by his inexhaustible resources. And this growing confidence in him restores my life.

As he trains me to have full confidence in him, my Shepherd personally guides me on paths of vocation — being his representative and image-bearer for the good of others.

As he guides me, those vocational paths will take me through dark and despairing times. But my Shepherd is teaching me that I don’t have to fear evil because since he personally guides me, he is always with me. So I don’t need to be anxious, upset, angry, manipulative, controlling, afraid, reclusive, or selfish.

My Shepherd’s rod and staff comfort me. He demonstrates this in tangible expressions of abundant protection and provision so that I can even share all I have with my those who mean me harm.

I am not flanked by enemies, but always pursued by God’s own goodness and mercy.

And my ultimate destiny is to dwell intimately with my Shepherd forever.

But any realist will observe that this world is filled with pain and evil. That is true. God created his good world to be governed by human beings. And he hasn’t altered that even when human beings choose to rebel against him and hurt each other. So in this broken, yet still good world, we will experience pain, sickness, loss, tragedy, betrayal, brokenness, and even death. But in all of those painful circumstance, no harm will befall you. Even in death, those who seek God are safe. Jesus said that those who trust him will never die. Your life and everything about you will continue into the safe and loving presence of God, even when others on this side will see your body as no longer functioning.

So as we pursue and live in our Father’s kingdom, we can see the world as Jesus did. Like him, we can confidently know that we are safe in our Father’s good world.