If you’re just now reading this blog series, here’s a quick intro: I am working my way through Philippians 4:4-9 with particular application to trusting the Lord with our circumstances, my particular circumstance being the end of the World Race, the upcoming transition back to home, and not knowing much of what is next for my life.
So welcome. 🙂 I hope you are challenged and encouraged by reading!
Philippians 4:4-9:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! Let everyone see your gentleness. The Lord is near! Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things. And what you learned and received and heard and saw in me, do these things. And the God of peace will be with you.”
Step 1 in trusting the Lord is to rejoice.
Step 2 in trusting the Lord is to live in godly community.
Step 3 in trusting the Lord is to pray and be thankful!
Last Christmas season my pastor had people from the church read a passage each Sunday morning for Advent, and I had the privilege to read these verses from Philippians. I remember that as I read it aloud to my church family, the Holy Spirit ministered the truth therein to my heart: I was weeks away from setting out on the World Race, feeling a mixture of readiness, excitement, uncertainty, and the pain of leaving home, and the Lord was so faithful to comfort me with this passage. Don’t be anxious. Keep praying and telling Me your requests. Keep being thankful. You can be at peace about the next 11 months because I’m your heavenly father and I am the sovereign ruler of the universe, and I’ve got you.
In that moment, I trusted God and was wrapped in a warm, fuzzy blanket of his inexplicable peace!
That Sunday morning was a sweet gift of assurance from the Lord, and sometimes he gives us such instantaneous comfort. But it seems most of the time, he has required me to make a proactive effort in obeying this passage and receiving its benefits. So let’s look more closely:
“Do not be anxious about anything.”
What a life we would be living if we always perfectly lived this out! Any time that we feel anxious about something, unsettled, unsure, or worried, it is a sign that some part of our hearts and minds are not fully trusting in God’s sovereignty and good character. We fear what might happen either to us or to others, which can actually be rightly motivated by caring concern for them (the heart can be a deep well of multi-intentioned motivations and desires). Often we are desiring security, comfort, stability, safety, or pleasure. If our situation poses a threat to those things, we feel a sense of being threatened, i.e. anxious. This internal state often works its way out into our actions and our words: We try to find ways to control our situation and we jump at the chance to talk about it to someone else, seeking comfort from them or their advice…
Not to be anxious about *anything* seems like a hefty command – how can we ever live up to that standard? The truth is, we will continually battling against the sin of anxiety and distrust in the Lord for our whole pilgrimage as believers, but God gives us both the tools and the power or energy to wage that war.
As we recognize anxiety in our lives and repent of it, Paul calls us to replace it with prayer and thanksgiving. He says that in *every* situation, we should pray. We should be in constant communication with God, seeking to depend on him, and making him our primary confidant for the situations we face in life on a daily basis.
Paul says to petition the Lord, to tell him our requests. Not only is God listening to us share our concerns with him, but he invites us to ask him for solutions. He is the only one who has the power to change our circumstance, so he is the one we should be asking! When we are feeling anxious, we should be asking God for the things we need and want because he is the one who is able to answer! Tell him your requests – He wants to hear them!
Of course, the attitude that should prevail in our prayers is thankfulness. We do not get to demand things from God. He is not obligated to give us anything and everything we desire. When we pray and tell our requests to God, we should be asking in thankfulness. Thankfulness for Christ, thankfulness for our salvation, thankfulness for all the ways God has already blessed us (no matter how dire our circumstances, we *always* have cause to be thankful). We should also be telling him our requests with a heart that will be thankful when we receive his answer. We should be thankful that we are able to share our requests with him!
How are we able to do this? Because we are indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit. He helps us believe and obey the truth of God’s word. He helps us to pray. He gives us wisdom to pray. He enables us to be thankful in the midst of circumstances that are not naturally drawing out thankfulness in us.
This passage gives us a sweet promise for our obedience: If we are striving against an anxious heart, praying, asking God for what we need, and doing so with a thankful heart, he will give us his peace that surpasses all understanding! That peace will serve to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus! Did you get that? Combat anxiety with prayer, petition, and thanksgiving, and we will have God’s peace! The very thing we were desiring in the first place was peace found in something other than the Lord, but when we look to him for it, it will be ours! And it will be given to us by the same Holy Spirit who empowered us to obey these instructions in the first place. What a deal. 🙂
I’m not saying any of this is easy. The sin nature that remains in us wages war against the Spirit all day long, and it can be exhausting to keep striving for biblical responses to the daily pressures of life! It requires discipline and practice. But over time, we will build spiritual muscle, we do get stronger, and it does become easier. Some day, when Jesus returns, we won’t have to strive anymore at all, so until then we keep looking forward to that day.
I only have a few questions for us today:
Thinking about a situation where we struggle to trust the Lord…
1. Have I felt anxiety over that situation? What has that caused me to do or to say?
2. Where have I been seeking to find peace about the situation? Have I tried to control the situation?
3. Have I prayed about the situation? Have I expressed to God the things that I desire? Have I shared my thoughts, struggles, and concerns with him, my Heavenly Father?
4. Have I pursued a thankful attitude, both in my prayers and in my circumstance? What can I thank God for today?
5. Am I asking God to help me by his Holy Spirit to obey these instructions? To help me be thankful, to help me pray, to help me be wise in my requests?
If we are not at peace, feeling anxious, and struggling to trust in the Lord with our situation, we should pray, petition, and give thanks. He promises us his peace when we do. So let’s get to it! Don’t wait another day!
