Be Anxious for Nothing? Really?
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
“Oh, be quiet. Go away!”
Those were the words I heard recently when I was trying to help someone–someone I love very dearly. I try not to talk too much when helping people. People do not like to be preached to in private conversation. In fact, I was trying to say as little as possible to move the situation forward in the right direction. It’s just that what I was doing at that moment was not what that person wanted me to do.
I hate to admit it, but sometimes I feel exactly this way when reading Philippians 4:7-8.
“Really? You have to be kidding. Just stop being anxious? I don’t want to hear it.”
It’s how I feel, but I dare not say it, even in my heart, because I know that God is speaking these words to me. So, I am dealing with this Grand Canyon-like expanse between what I know (and should accept by faith) and how I feel.
However, this verse has more to it than saying “Don’t be anxious.”
The context is a series of commands to the Philippian church and there does seem to be a progression or relationship between the commands in the series. The command to not be anxious follows a command to “let your gentleness be known to all men.”
Gentleness here is a term that communicates an attitude of non-retaliation. It is Romans 12 in not repaying evil for evil. Jesus called it turning the other cheek. It takes a tremendous amount of self-control not to retaliate in anger or discouragement when facing hardship. Of course, being anxious and fearful is often the root of retaliatory behavior. So discarding anxiety is essential as a foundation for obeying other commands.
“Just stop it?” –well, not exactly.
This is what we tell people to do. Stop being anxious. Don’t worry, be happy! This verse has more than that. It gives us an alternative behavior.
Pray and ask. Our alternative to being anxious is to lay it at the feet of our Lord. He wants to bring our anxieties and fears to Him and ask Him for His help. One of the foundational aspects of prayer is asking for help, blessing, guidance, strength, wisdom, and so much more. God wants us—even commands us—to ask.
And He wants us to do this in everything. There is no matter how big or small that He does not want us to bring to Him. He is not annoyed by trivialities (although I think at times He might be amused by them). He knows who we are. He remembers our frame. He knows that we are dust. He knows how much these things matter to us. He is the omniscient God of the universe. His divine mind cannot be distracted or overloaded. He can give us each attention as if we are the only ones in the universe.
He wants us to come to Him with a sense of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in itself helps with the symptoms of anxiousness. We forget how much He has actually given us. The God who has given us His Son will not withhold any other necessary thing from us (Romans 8:32). The habit of giving thanks is intended by God to be a daily part of our meditation and conversation with Him.
Think purposefully.
Philippians 4:8 follows. In the anxious dark moments of the night when sleep fails, His command is to purposefully think about worthy things—righteous, noble, just, pure, lovely, good things. The spirit of thanksgiving lays the foundation for the things that we should think about. The Bible gives us so much—Christ, heaven, salvation, the work of God in the lives of others, His provision, the beauty of creation.
I was on a hunting trip recently in Colorado. We rode horses two hours into the mountains in the dark, in the snow, with temperatures dipping near zero. For this Arizona person, I was beginning to doubt why I think this is fun. While I love being out in nature, I really do not enjoy being in the woods in the dark, especially when it is cold. After tying up the horse and hiking to my makeshift ground blind, I spent the next 45 minutes or so shivering and jumping up and down to try to keep warm.
Then the sun began to peak over the mountain top. The wind stopped and the forest became perfectly still. As the light began to move across the trees and brilliantly white snow toward me, individual snow crystals began to sparkle in the sunlight. It was not just beautiful, it was magical. Then the sunlight began to fall on my back and warm me. In just a few minutes I had transitioned from shivering anxiousness to wonder and peace.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
These things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:7, 9).
Yes. He will turn anxiousness to peace, but it does not happen by just choosing not to worry.