Philippians 4:6-7 - 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.
There are many things in this world that give us reason to be anxious. Illness, conflict, parenting, employment, travel, relationships; it seems that just about anything and everything can create anxiety if we let it. One of the problems with anxiety is that it is inherently negative in its outlook. We look to the future and we allow future outcomes to become more terrible than they could be wonderful.
The reality is, bad things do happen. Life is incredibly difficult and painful at times. Thankfully, Jesus is as painfully aware of this as anyone, which is why we can trust he understands what we are going through. Yet, at the same time, Jesus did not worry. He may have sweat drops of blood because of the reality of what he would experience on the cross, but he was not anxious about it. Why is that? How can we combat the temptation to be anxious the way that Jesus did?
Jesus trusted the Father, even with the cross, and his total dependence on the faithfulness of the Father was what kept Jesus hoping and trusting rather than worrying and faltering. Paul writes here that we shouldn’t be anxious about anything, and the way that we accomplish that is by prayerfully taking our requests to God. Like Jesus in the garden, we may not be able to change the future, but we can trust God in it, and we can ask for his help in doing so.
When we go to God, we are choosing to believe that God can do something about our concerns and fears and we are choosing to believe that God is capable of meeting our future head-on, and helping us to stand in the face of whatever happens. In a sense, taking our concerns to God in prayer may do more to change us than it does change our circumstances. What Paul writes is that when we go to him, his peace guards our hearts and minds. This peace that is beyond our understanding, actually provides us with a defense.
You see, anxiety is a matter of the mind and heart, and God meets us with a shield of strength in Christ. He is the faithful answer to our worry about the future. He is the one who makes all things new and who will be with us to the end of the age. We ask so many what if questions about our circumstances, but with Christ those what ifs can be changed from negative outcomes of despair to hopeful outcomes of faith.
Find your strength and hope in Christ the king. The world will not go easy on any of us, but we can have a defense through prayer. Don’t neglect this great privilege and this great tool for our needs. God is with us, will never forsake us, and the future is brighter because we can trust in him.
