Peace & Anxiety

Devotion 14  - Peace vs Anxiety

Phil.4:6-8 – “Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus.”

A family puts grandma on her first plane flight, to which she reluctantly complied. When they met her at the airport on her return, one of the family members kiddingly asked, “Well, did the plane hold you up okay?” She grudgingly replied, “Well, yes,” but quickly added, “But I never did put my full weight down on it!”

Many Christians are like that grandma. The truth is, we are being sustained completely by God, but we are afraid to put our full weight down on Him. As a result, we are often plagued with anxiety and fear and are not able to fully enjoy the flight.

Anxiety and fear are some of the greatest thieves of peace and joy!

Vanity of Anxiety

Anxiety is a fruitless activity. Jesus asked, "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” (Matt.6:27). Worry is wasted energy; it leads to nowhere. It distorts our thinking. When we worry, we tend to look at situations through a magnifying glass which makes the challenges bigger than they really are. Molehills become mountains and they cause us to lose sight of who we belong to.

Matt.6:25-33 – “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

God cares for the birds, the flowers, and the animals. When we worry, it shows that we think that we are less important to God than these things.

Peace of God our Sentry

“…the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

This is not just some psychological peace we gain through coping techniques but a promise from God that His peace stands like a sentry that garrisons over our inner person, our hearts.  As we draw near to God in prayer in times of trial, pouring our heart to Him, fully surrendering our anxiety and fear to His sovereignty, His peace stands guard over our heart and mind. The problem is that many of us are not able to put our full weight down on Him. Thus, we are robbed of the abundant life that He comes to give us.

Isa.26:3 – “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.”

 

As we look at Isaiah, we can see that this wonderful promise was given in the darkest period of Israel’s history. This book was filled with judgment upon the immoral and idolatrous men. Judah had sinned; the surrounding nations had sinned; in fact, the whole earth was living in sin. Regardless, if only we learn how to keep our trust and mind focused on our sovereign, powerful and loving God, we can always experience perfect peace!

Power of Full Surrender

The peace promised is the by-product of our total trust and surrender to God. If we are still anxious after our prayer, we should seriously examine our faith in the sovereign God as clearly, anxiety stems from our lack of faith in the loving and omnipotent God. The truth that helps me personally to deal with anxiety is to recognize that Worry is sin. When we are anxious, it shows that we really don't trust God. It means that either I believe God is not capable or that God does not care. But biblically, neither is true. We are told to cast all our cares on Him “for He cares for you…” (1Pet.5:7).

Give Thanks

“…with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God…”

To give thanks is to exercise our faith deliberately and submitting to God’s sovereignty. We thank God not only in good times when we feel like it but also in bad times when we don’t feel like it. If we continue to have an attitude of gratitude amid great crisis or trial, we are saying, ‘Lord, I don’t understand, but I submit to Your sovereign purpose in this situation. I rest in your love and wisdom’. A thankful heart rests upon the all-sufficient God, knowing that even though we don’t see how He is going to do it, we trust that He will meet our every need as we cast ourselves on Him. True peace is not the absence of conflict, crisis or trial, but the presence of God. Until and unless we learn to lay down our life and fully surrender to His sovereignty, we will not be able to be empowered and strengthened by His peace.

As child of God, we are to be salt and light, to be an effective witness of Jesus Christ. If a non-believer sees us as always weighed down with anxiety and care, they are not going to be asking how they can have what we have. Anxiety and peace are mutually exclusive. So, it is imperative that we learn to experience the peace of God.