Verse by Verse Devotional on Philippians by Pastor Jack #219

Be Anxious for Nothing

4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Before we focus in on how we are supposed to go about resisting anxiety, it is worth noting two things:

1- that being anxious for nothing is indeed the command of God,

2- that God has put things in place in such a way that it is very possible for every one of us to obey this command.

The Command of God
It is not merely a nice thing when God’s people rest in the Lord. It is something God requires us to do, because He loves us. He knows that we thrive in His arms, but shrivel up when we go on our own. He is jealous for our trust. He often removes or at least threatens our earthly securities in order to drive us to trust in Him:

"We do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead." (2Cor.1:8-9)

What He’s after is not our freedom from discomfort, but our connection with Him. He knows that that is what makes us come alive and what fills us up and what makes us prosper.

Reason for Resting
Our trust is not based on wishful thinking. Our trust is based on truth. God calls us simply to act upon what is true. He has established a firm foundation for our trust. It may seem hard to rid our lives of anxiety, but this isn’t because there is so much reason to be anxious. Rather, it is because of our sin, it is because we are "foolish and slow of heart to believe." Objectively, if we lived according to what is real, if we had the most reasonable response to what we face in our lives, we would not be anxious, we would trust in the Lord. Those are the facts, next we will talk about how to go about living by them.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He has said
To You who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

"Fear not, I am with you, O be not dismayed.
For I am your God and will still give you aid.
I’ll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand."

Father, please help me to trust. Forgive me for my little faith. You have given me the power of the Holy Spirit so I can stand up to Goliaths. And yet I cower before grasshoppers. Please Father, teach me to walk by faith, not by worry and fear and timidity. Help me go forth in the mighty power of the One who conquered the grave for me. Help me to rest in Your good will.