Anxiety

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 ESV

I was recently asked to speak at a women’s event on this passage. My first thoughts were, “How appropriate, considering what the past several months have held for me and for my family!” God has a sense of humor.

Do not be anxious about anything . . . is this humanly possible? According to Christ, it is.

”Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life . . . which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? . . . O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious . . . your heavenly Father knows . . . seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness . . . Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:25-34 ESV

How do we maintain an anxiety free attitude when everything around us screams, “Worry!”? When our health is deteriorating or we lose a loved one or our children are ill or unruly or running from the Lord? When our finances are out of order or our marriage is falling apart? How do our brothers and sisters in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and China remain at peace in their hearts? Our Western problems seem petty in comparison to what they are experiencing every single day, yet Christ’s commandment is the same to them as it is to us: do not be anxious.

There are several keys that unlock this door to peace. The first, I believe is understanding and accepting that God loves us. This sounds simple, but it isn’t. He loves us so much that he became like us so that he could empathize with our weaknesses. He knows what it feels like to be human. No matter what we are going through, he gets it.

George MacDonald said it best:

“I fear you will never arrive at an understanding of God so long as you cannot bring yourself to see the good that often comes as a result of pain. For there is nothing, from the lowest, weakest tone of suffering to the loftiest acme of pain, to which God does not respond. There is nothing in all the universe which does not in some way vibrate within the heart of God. No creature suffers alone; He suffers with His creatures and through it is in the process of bringing His sons and daughters through the cleansing and glorifying fires, without which the created cannot be made the very children of God, partakers of the divine nature and peace.”

God walks with us through every valley, and he carries us when we don’t have the strength to walk anymore. Thinking about this reminds me of when Jesus wept over Jerusalem:

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” Luke 19:41-42 ESV

Christ came to offer life and peace to the world but his own people just couldn’t see it. Distracted by the trouble surrounding them—the political, social, and economic unrest—they couldn’t see that if they would look to God and trust him with their lives, they would find true peace.

The second key, I believe, is repentance.

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

To repent means to change our mind and purpose. We have to constantly re-focus ourselves. If our number one priority is making ourselves, our family or our friends comfortable on earth, we will never know peace. We were not called to be comfortable here. This world is not our home; we are waiting for something better.

The third key is found at the end of Paul’s letter to Phillip:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

The reason Paul encouraged his fellow believers to focus on what is lovely is the same reason we must focus on what is lovely: life is hard. As much as I’d love for my life to look like the Sunday School picnic scene from Anne of Green Gables, it’s just not reality. Things happen. People get sick. Loved ones die. In other parts of the world, people are persecuted for their faith. How do we handle it all without becoming anxious? We focus on what is true—God loves us and is preparing a place for us. We focus on what is honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Sometimes it may be hard to even think of something lovely . . . but we must.

There is one other key that I believe is essential for us if we want to maintain an anxiety free attitude:

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NASB

We must run to Jesus. Anytime we feel anxious or overwhelmed, we must turn to him for strength.

These keys do not mean we will never FEEL anxiety; even Christ felt anxiety—remember when he sweat drops of blood before he was taken to the cross? But they will help us in our quest to walk in peace. Our feelings do not have to dictate our overall attitude. We can feel pain and weakness and even sometimes anxiety but we do not have to let those feelings dictate the course of our lives. We can remain at peace in our hearts.

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
Isaiah 30:18 ESV

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