Grace and peace.

This morning, my three-year-old daughter woke me up around 3:00 a.m. asking for milk. So, after getting her some milk, changing her diaper, and making sure she was all comfy, I laid back down and tried to go back to sleep. But, for the life of me, I couldn’t. All kinds of thoughts started entering my mind: ideas for an article, things I have to get done, and, of course, problems.

It was the problems that really kept me from going back to sleep; and, the more I tried not to think about them, the more I thought about them. By this time, it wasn’t so much that I couldn’t go back to sleep that bothered me, but the fact that with all my thinking, I couldn’t solve one single problem. I hate to waste time; and there’s nothing that wastes time more than worrying about problems you can’t solve. I was in the mud. Then it hit me: Philippians 4:6:

“Be careful for nothing, but in every thing through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.”

Let’s take a closer look at this verse:
1. Be careful for nothing. (Don’t worry about anything…)

2. But…(instead…)

3. Through prayer and supplication (Pray…)

4. With thanksgiving (Thanking God for everything, including your
problems…)

5. Let your request be made known unto God. (Tell God about it.)

6. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. (God will give you peace in the midst of these problems, and you will not be able to understand how that happened.

This is important because, as humans, we are going to worry. We worry about things because we feel out of control. God understands this. He is telling us that rather than worry about those things that are out of our control, we are to instead take those things to Him, because they are well within His control.

The Lord Jesus said without Him we can do nothing. So, it is fruitless for us to worry, because worrying won’t change our situation for better or worse. But the Bible also says we can do all things through Christ (Philippians 4:13). When we have problems, therefore, we need to take those problems to the Lord Jesus, because though we are powerless, He has all power. Though we are weak, He is strong.

Jesus said that we should come to him in prayer with our problems, thanking Him for whatever we are going through, because if it is happening to us, then He allowed it to happen to us; and, if He allowed it to happen to us, then it is ultimately for our good; and we should thank Him for that.

Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for good for those of us who love God and are the called according to His purpose. Did you hear that? Everything—but everything—that you and I are going through serves God’s purpose for our life, even though we can’t always see it. I don’t know about you, but that is good news to me. The Lord Jesus said that if we do this thing, then he will give us His peace: peace of heart and peace of mind—total peace.

So, this Christmas, when you start to worry about things you can’t control, take a minute and remember Philippians 4:6, and God will give you peace.

Be encouraged and look up; for your redemption draweth nigh.

The Still Man