I was recently watching some videos on the dismal state of the world, and it got me thinking about all that’s happening in the world and how it could affect my future. I started worrying and obsessing over it, and it honestly wasn’t good for my mental state.
After forcing myself to stop trying to solve every problem out there and dwelling on hopelessness, I realized that in my moments of worry, it was purely me dwelling on the bad and not focusing on God in this. I was remindered of the parable of the sower, and how
“The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.”
– Matthew 13:22
Why is that? I find that when you are worried, panicking, and/or obsessing over something, it pushes practically all thoughts out of your head except that one thing you’re worried about. That includes anything to do with the Lord!
So, how do we not let the worries of life choke out our fruitfulness? Philippians 4:6-7 has some advice for dealing with worry:
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Something I noticed while reading these verses was that it never says that God will grant your requests, whatever they may be. It simply says that the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Peace, then, is not the absence of trouble and conflict, where everything is as it should be, and you are in a good place in life. That is a utopia. Even when everything is going great, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have peace. However, when prayers are not answered and life is difficult, that typically makes it harder to have peace. Why and how would you be at peace when your world is falling apart in front of you? Maybe that’s why Paul describes it as “the peace of God which surpasses all understanding”. It defies logic!
One my experiences of this happened last year at the Family Weekend. I was running the children’s program with our kids helpers, and while we were setting up, one of the helpers was really nervous about running the lesson, so I prayed for the program and for God’s peace to be on all of us, especially her. As the afternoon went on, the kids were their usual energetic, somewhat disruptive selves, and we were all pretty tired by the end of it.
However, upon reflecting on how it went, I realized that I was pretty calm throughout all of it. Yes, it was chaotic, but compared to how I dealt with the chaos of the previous year’s children’s program, I was not anxiously looking at the clock waiting for parents to arrive, nor was I frantically running back and forth trying to hold down the fort. (Well, maybe a little bit.) I was at peace, and so was that children’s helper. In spite of circumstances, we had that peace from God.
Having peace does not mean our troubles go away or that we ignore our problems. If peace is based on our circumstances, it’s more of a reflection of our environment than what’s happening inside us. However, if our peace is from the Lord, guarding our hearts and minds, then no matter what happens in or around us, we will not be not anxious about it, but unshaken and rooted in the peace that only God can give.
Why not take your worries and requests to God and see how much peace you find from Him?