It was King Solomon, the wisest king, that said “…there is nothing new under the sun” Ecclesiastes 1:9 ESV. 

That realization becomes clearer and clearer to me the more I study the Bible. 

You see, just yesterday I was given a recommendation to listen to a podcast on the “Let Them” theory. This particular podcast was a self-help episode for those individuals constantly concerned with things out of their control.

Being quite the control freak myself and learning the hard art of humility, I thought it might be interesting and helpful.

The podcaster began her episode with an example of her anxieties with control. She was with her son at his prom picture get-together, and it started raining hard. The kids had not made a reservation for dinner before prom and so were deciding where they should go. Someone suggested a local favorite which was a counter-service restaurant with an exceptionally small dining room. The podcaster explained her outrage with the idea because it was raining and she didn’t want anyone’s outfits to be ruined, or have their night ruined due to a less than fancy dining experience. She was about to intervene in the situation and start calling places for reservations and take the whole matter into her own control when her daughter told her to chill and “let them” do what they wanted. This was how the podcaster introduced the “Let Them” theory.

In this theory one begins to relinquish control of things outside of their authority. The podcaster gave examples like, if friends don’t invite you out for lunch, “let them” or if your partner doesn’t want to take out the trash “let them”. Basically, it is a simple statement to make for when you’re anxious about things out of your control.

This anxiety has become a real problem in our generations today. So many of us feel anxious over what others think about us. We have anxieties about the future, about money, about what other people are doing that might affect our financial situations. We get anxiety when we think others might be talking about us, or even when they’re not talking about us, and we wonder why not. It’s an exhausting cycle to always be worried about things that we can’t control. This “Let Them” theory seems to be a good way to combat these anxieties. 

But the Bible gives us an even better way to grapple with anxiety and it puts the “Let Them” theory to shame. 

Jesus himself tells us not to be anxious about our life. He says, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his life span…Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Matthew 6:26-27 ESV.

Essentially Jesus is saying that nothing positive comes from worrying or being anxious and that God takes care of even the birds. And if God takes care of birds, then why would we think he wouldn’t be able to take care of us. 

God cares about the struggles we face each day. He cares that we get worried about our children making what we think are mistakes on their prom dinners. He cares that we get sad when a group of friends excludes us from an event. He cares that we get frustrated when our partners won’t help with the chores. But he tells us not to be anxious about it because he will take care of it. Probably in ways we wouldn’t even think of. 

And this is where God’s way is far more advanced than the “Let Them” theory. The “Let Them” theory suggests that you cut off your feelings about the situation you can’t control and just let it be. Well, that seems like a lonely plan because it requires you to do all the letting go yourself. And most of the time we aren’t very good at letting go of our emotions ourselves.

But if we follow Jesus’ teaching about God taking care of us and helping us deal with our anxieties then we’re not going at it alone. We have the God of all things good working on our behalf, taking care of our needs, even the smallest ones. Suddenly, when you know that you have God on your side, all those anxieties don’t seem worthy of your time to worry, and you can go about your day knowing you have the love of God and the help of your Heavenly Father in all things that come your way.

King Solomon was right, there are no new ideas when it comes to humans trying to solve our everyday kind of issues. Most of the time we just try to distort God’s way by forcing it our way which doesn’t ever seem to work well. I’m sure some people will try to make good use of the “Let Them” theory and it might even work for a while, but eventually trying to shrug off anxieties without God’s help will start to feel very heavy and lonely. Why do these things alone when our creator knows the best ways to help? If you’re in a situation where anxieties are getting the best of you and overrunning your life, turn your worry on Jesus and he will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). 

You can “let them” have these trivial self-help theories and instead stand strong that the word of God is truth. God will take care of you. He gave his only son because he loves us so much. Accept him and accept the truth that he will be with you through every storm and every sunny day.

“So the last will be first, and the first last.” Matthew 20:16 ESV