The Fire-Breathing Dragon

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

- 1 Peter 5:7

I’ve heard anxiety described as a 3-headed, fire-breathing dragon, with long claws and sharp teeth. This fierce dragon is behind a closed door, and our fear of the danger looming just a few feet away leaves us paralyzed. But when you open the door, the loud sounds you thought were certainly a fire breathing dragon, were simply the ferocious barks of a small puppy. The anticipation was infinitely worse than the reality of what was behind the door.

Peter directs us to cast all of our anxieties on the Lord because I think he knew how debilitating anticipation can be. That’s all anxiety is - anticipating the worst. Fearing what hasn’t come yet. World War II Survivor Corrie Ten Boom writes,

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength - carrying two days at once. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

I used to read verses like 1 Peter 5:7 and get defensive. There are instances where anxiety is chronic, medical, and needs professional intervention. We can acknowledge those tough examples, while also acknowledging that in other cases, anxiety can be an idol. And for me, it is.

Have you been there? We spend all of our energy terrified of that fire breathing dragon, all of our time and mental power carrying tomorrow’s load (that might not even exist), that we’re suddenly zapped of all the energy we would need for God to do something powerful through us.

I think the enemy was so pleased with the levels of anxiety he caused in 2020. He kept us up at night, analyzing, wondering, terrified. And while being afraid isn’t wrong, letting that fear fester into obsessive, anxious thoughts zaps our trust in God and puts the fire-breathing dragon on the throne of our hearts.

That’s why Peter tells us to cast our anxiety on God. He cares, He sees us in the dark of the night, He will provide peace.

But we have to choose to see that fire-breathing dragon for what it really is, and train our brains to choose faith over fear. It takes hard work, discipline, and a continual practice of casting our anxiety on Him, every day, every hour, maybe even every minute.

In Romans 8:31, Paul writes, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” This is the anthem we sing over our anxiety. This is our fight song against the fire breathing dragon. Even if you opened the door and it was just as scary as you thought, with God, nothing can truly be against us.

Every day is a battle to choose to believe that God’s got us, and the dragon isn’t as scary as we think. Every day is a choice to trust, instead of fester in fear. But the more we train our brain to give God the anxiety and silence the lies of the enemy, the more work He can do in us and through us. Let’s sing together this week - If God is for us, who can be against us?

The Creator of the Universe is bigger than our fears, let Him fight the battle for you.

Cristina Schmitter

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