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Anxiety
The word “anxiety” does not appear in the KJV, and is found only seven times in the RSV, although the words derived from it, “anxious” and “anxiously,” appear twenty-seven times. The related terms, “care,” “careful,” and “carefulness,” occur quite frequently. The most frequently occurring Hebrew words which convey the idea of anxiety are דְּאָגָה, H1796, dread, anxiety; דָּאַג, H1793, to be anxious about. The most commonly-used Gr. words conveying the same idea are μεριμνάω, G3534, to be anxious; and μέριμνα, G3533, care, anxiety.
In both Testaments it is made unambiguously clear that the child of God has a heavenly Father who loves and cares for His own. God will allow nothing to befall His followers except what is for their good; they need not be anxious or fearful about circumstances, whether present or future. The man who trusts God is compared to a tree which does not fear heat and is not anxious in the year of drought, whose leaves always remain green, and does not cease to bear fruit (
In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount He said that His disciples were not to be anxious about food and raiment, because God, who looks after the birds of the air and the grass of the field, will certainly look after His children; He also said that they are not to be anxious about the morrow (