Holocaust survivor, Corrie ten Boom said, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” Thankfully, most of us won’t experience the horrors ten Boom faced in the Holocaust, but we will all encounter problems that tempt us to worry. As I write this, I’m in such a season. I’ve been dealing with a family situation that has caused me a great deal of stress. In fact, it’s been the last thing I think about when I doze off at night and the first thought in my mind when I wake up in the morning. For the last couple of weeks, it’s not been uncommon for me to wake up at 3 am and mull the problem over backward and forwards, ruminating about every possible scenario.
These things have driven me back to Paul’s prescription for worry.
“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.” (Phil 4:6-7)
There are at least three points Paul makes in this passage to help us with our struggle with worry.
- Prayer is to be our first and repetitive response to worry. Most of us know this, but how many of us pray at length over the problems that overwhelm us? For reasons I don’t fully understand, most of us are more prone to worry than to pray. Author and theologian D.A. Carson wrote, “I have yet to meet a chronic worrier who enjoys an excellent prayer life.”[1] According to Paul, the way to not be anxious about anything is to pray about everything. Every time we start to worry, we need to take that as our cue to pray and ask God to intervene on the situation that is prompting us to worry. Worry produces stress while prayer produces peace. It really is a no-brainer.
- Give thanks to God. Offering thanksgiving shifts our eyes back to the ways God has already blessed us. When we worry, it’s tempting to focus solely on what we lack. Paul instructs his readers to give thanks for all the ways God continues to bless us. Thanksgiving builds our faith, shifts our focus, and is the only appropriate response to God.
- Live in His Peace. Paul says that if we pray and offer thanksgiving in the midst of our problems, God will provide us with the peace which surpasses understanding. Often we are looking for “an answer.” But God doesn’t always give us an answer. He gives us a Person. Eph 2:14 says, “For he himself will be our peace.”
I don’t know how my problems will pan out. You probably don’t know how yours will either. But we can know the One who does, and He will bring us peace regardless of the outcome.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work with us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Eph 3:20)
[1] D.A. Carson, Basics For Believers: An Exposition of Philippians, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1996), p.112.
