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Verse: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. —Philippians 4:6, 7, NKJV
When I have faced crises on previous occasions, being free of anxiety was definitely not on my list of things to accomplish that day! If someone told me that I should not be anxious, I would quickly say with just a hint of frustration, “That’s impossible!” When God says that we should “be anxious for nothing,” is He just giving us a helpful suggestion, or is it actually a command? I reflected that in addition to the “be anxious for nothing” command, God has given us other commands that He will enable us to follow. For example, we have the Ten Commandments, and not one of them is impossible to obey (at least some of the time). After all, what kind of parent would tell a little child to do something that was impossible for the child to accomplish? One day in my Bible study time, I came across a very encouraging text from the words of Jesus: “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27, NKJV).
The important word in this text is with.
The word with generally means to have an association or connection with someone or something. If we only have an association or connection with other human beings, when someone suggests that we not worry or be anxious, it would be quite easy to say, “That’s impossible!” Yet if we are daily walking and talking with God, nothing that He asks us to do will be impossible. After the apostle Paul exhorted us not to be anxious about anything (Philippians 4:6), he gives us this reassurance: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (verse 7, NKJV). How encouraging that the peace of God will watch over and defend our hearts and minds! This same peace will also preserve and protect our hearts and minds in a relationship of rest and quietude in Christ Jesus.
When we are greatly upset about something, there is little possibility of keeping our hearts and minds from anxiety —without God.
Only His peace can do that in us. I want to be able to say, “God, by Your grace, I choose not to be anxious about this situation. Your Word says that if I make that choice, then You will keep my heart and mind at peace.”
Terry Wilson Robinson