Do you struggle with anxiety? Do your life circumstances contribute to a heaviness of your soul? Do you regularly experience a sorrow or grief that leads (intermittently) to a complaining heart? The Bible acknowledges that the struggle is real. “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad” (Prov. 12:25).
Philippians 4:6 instructs you not to be anxious about anything, but it’s not quite that easy. It’s not particularly helpful to be told to just stop being anxious because a verse says so. Anxiety is tied to legitimate hardships in one’s life so telling a person to just stop is asking more than most can bear. However, the Bible doesn’t just say “Do not be anxious about anything.” It is an instruction that has context.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Phil 4:4). A commitment to rejoicing in the Lord is possible under any circumstance. There is much to be thankful for while simultaneously grappling with how to cope with particular challenges. When you start with gratitude, others will see your integrity as they watch how a Christian endures hardships. To that end Philippians 4:5 reads, “Let your gentleness be known to everyone.” It’s with the backdrop of joy and gentleness that it continues, “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Take note, then, of where the “be anxious for nothing” is situated. You can be assured that God is near you in your trials—therefore you need not be consumed with anxiety—and instead can take your requests and your thankfulness to the throne of the King that can do all things. When this attitude and these actions describe the struggling child of God, the promise of Philippians 4:7 is in effect. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
God does not promise to remove the trial, but He guarantees something better—the experience of peace in the middle of it. I say that it is better to have peace in hardship than no hardship at all because there is purpose in adversity. The three verses of Psalm 131 confirm that there is a worthwhile education to be gained in the School of Hard Knocks.
O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 131)
In this psalm David describes how he has calmed and quieted his soul. He goes directly to God in prayer and does not charge Him with wrongdoing. While he takes his concerns to God, David does not presume to know everything that He is doing in His sovereign plan, things that are “too great and too marvelous.” Instead he has “calmed and quieted [his] soul like a weaned child.”
When a mother discontinues providing direct nourishment to her child it leads to discomfort, alarm or even panic. The child is accustomed to a routine that includes being held, hearing the mother’s voice and having skin-to-skin contact. While that is important at the child’s earliest age, at some point it must stop. At some point the child must mature enough to sit at the table and enjoy a grown-up meal with the rest of the family.
Ideally the screaming, anxious child could be soothed when the mother whispers, “Shhhh, cast all your cares on God for He cares for you.” Instead it must be learned through the difficult, yet caring actions of the mother—actions she takes because she knows a weaned child is a maturing child. That child is being prepared to accomplish much more than any nursing child ever could.
When your heart is weighed down, commit to being thankful so that the watching world can see the joy and gentleness of your witness. Take your requests to the One that can do something about it, but bring them bathed in gratitude. Remember that “the Lord is at hand” and that He will give you the peace to endure it. Additionally, take courage, knowing that it is through this process that you are being matured in the faith. Having quieted your soul, like David, you will be able to exhort other struggling Christians to learn the lesson you have learned, to “hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.”