While you're thinking on that one, here's another: Did God make being anxious our responsibility? Not according to Philippians!
Philippians 4:4-7.
Rejoice in the Lord alway: [and] again I say, Rejoice.
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord [is] at hand.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Clearly God does not want us to be careful, or anxious, about anything. God did not make worry one of the fruit of the spirit!
God has the perfect antidote for worry.
Matt 6:27-33.
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, [shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
God's solution is for us not to make the things we need our priority, but instead to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. If we do this, God promises to take care of the things that we didn't make our priority when we put Him first.
We have a choice: we can handle things God's way, or we can handle them God's way. But be forewarned: calamity results when we try to take things into our own hands.
Matthew 6:34.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof.
Since God didn't make being anxious our responsibility, he must have given us something to do in place of being anxious. In Luke 10 we find an incident in Jesus' life that teaches us an important lesson about getting our priorities straight.
Luke 10:38.
Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
Martha must have felt tremendously blessed and excited to have Jesus coming to her house to visit. Imagine how you would feel if Jesus came to visit at your home! Wouldn't you want to treat him like royalty? Wouldn't you want to have everything just right for him?
Luke 10:39-42.
And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
Martha's sister Mary turned out to be no help at all! While Martha was busy working her fingers to the bone to see to it that Jesus got blessed while he was visiting them, Mary was sitting on her behind, listening to Jesus, leaving Martha to do everything by herself.
Finally, Martha couldn't stand it any more. She stormed into the room and, ignoring Mary, asked Jesus if he would please ask Martha to help her.
Instead of announcing, "Let's all go help Martha; then we can all sit down and relax," which would seem perfectly logical to us, Jesus got right to the heart of the situation. Martha, Jesus said, was "careful and troubled about many things." Martha was worried, distracted, hurried and disturbed in her mind. Jesus's solution was not to get Martha more help, but to remind Martha that she, too, needed to put first things first. The priority here was not serving the Lord, but sitting at the Lord's feet in order to be instructed by him.
I have another question for you: Is there joy in believing God? God's Word gives us the answer: Yes!
Romans 15:13
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
We get our needs met when we put things in God's hands and refuse to take them back.
Philippians 4:4.
Rejoice in the Lord alway: [and] again I say, Rejoice.
To rejoice means to have repeated joy. Our attitude is determined by what we focus our attention on. We need to look at God and what He has done for us, and thank Him for it.
Philippians 4:5-6.
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord [is] at hand.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
This is God's solution for anxiety: Pray about what you're tempted to worry about, and give it to God. What happens when you obey God and do this?
Philippians 4:7.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
This kind of peace is only available when we do what God says. We take our problem, whatever's eating at us, to God; He takes care of it, in His own time (always the right time!) and in His own way (always the best way!). In the meantime, He gives us peace.
Did you notice that two of the fruit of the spirit are involved here? Joy and peace!
Philippians 4:8-9.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.
Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
What is the norm for a believer? Joy and peace! Being abnormal for a child of God is worrying about a lot of stuff you can't control. Cast all your care on Him. He cares for you.