A particular Bible verse stands out as the one that has helped the most people during 2019: It’s Philippians 4:6. That’s according to the YouVersion Bible, which has seen 400-million app downloads in the past 11 years.
The verse goes like this in the New Living Translation: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” And if you add on verse 7, it’s even more reassuring: “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
The man who pioneered the YouVersion Bible is a pastor, Bobby Gruenewald. We asked him why Philippians 4:6 rose to the top worldwide as the most read verse for 2019. “For one reason, I think this is we have a culture increasingly dealing with anxiety, with worries. That’s something we see commonly as a church; we encounter that quite a bit. I’m encouraged by the fact they’re actually using the Bible as a source to turn to for that. “
When it comes to using the wisdom from the Bible to become reality in peoples’ lives, how does that work? “I’m certainly not an expert, but I definitely feel like taking the truth that we find in scripture and having that repeated in our life, reminding ourselves of that truth on a regular basis, is one way that can help us. I think sometimes we tend to get anxious and fearful and we might forget some of God’s truth that relates to that.”
Gruenewald reminds us that inside the YouVersion app there are thousands of Bible plans for daily devotionals, many of them dealing directly with overcoming worry, fear, and anxiety.
Clearly there are times when medical professionals may be needed to help a person who is challenged by depression and mental health.
