“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” [Phil 4:6 NIV]
How often I have heard this verse used as a text for thanksgiving. I’ve even used it myself. Perhaps I have even used it without giving much thought to its depth?
It begins with a decisive statement. “Do not be anxious about anything.” Have you read the paper or online news lately? Watched any broadcasts? How can we be living in these times and not be anxious? Everything around us seems to be working to promote anxiety, not lessen it. Let me list just a few words of anxiety that have been in the news recently.
Floods. Fires. Terrorism. Death tolls. Wars. Elections, Taxes. Those are national words. What about personal words? Cancer. Heart Attacks. Strokes. Accidents. Job Loss. Taxes (we’ll throw that one in twice.)
Yet, Paul clearly commands us in the middle of such things TO NOT BE anxious. About ANYTHING! Instead, we are to take all those sources of worldly and personal anxiety and present them to God in prayer, wrapped in thanksgiving.
That isn’t easy, yet it is so needful. Because if we will follow this command, God has made a promise to us.
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” [Phil 4:7 NIV]
