Do You Need This?

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Phil. 4:6

In these strange and unsettling times, who has not experienced an anxious moment or a fearful thought? When we turned over our calendar to 2020, could we have imagined what the New Year had in store?

However, the kind of anxiety that is used in this verse isn’t the odd moment of worry. It is the kind of anxiety that is so pervasive and distracting that it crowds out all other thoughts. The circumstances brought on by this year’s events have certainly created that kind of anxiety for many. That is why Paul’s prescription for anxiety is especially valuable.

First he says, “do not be anxious.” Don’t let anxiety and worry take your thought life captive. Instead, pray about it and thank God that He hears and has the ultimate solution in place. From our limited perspective, we see our problems as roadblocks, whereas, God sees them as building blocks. The sticking point is that He is working off a different set of blueprints. All the way back to Adam and Eve, humanity has had an itch to be in charge. Like your average two year-old, many of us attempt to talk God into doing things our way. Too, often, we label that activity prayer.

What Paul is saying here is that the answer to our anxious prayers isn’t an outcome. It is a different vantage point. He sees what we cannot see, He knows what we cannot possibly comprehend and He has all the time in the world to bring His plan for your situation to a good conclusion.    

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12). 

Nancy Shirah