No Problem
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6 NASB
Anxious – We have a common reply: “You’ve got nothing to worry about.” When you hear that, how does it really make you feel? I don’t know about you, but when someone assures me that I don’t have to worry, I find myself worrying that they’re not telling me the whole story. It’s as if the attempt to relieve my stress only exacerbates it. So, when I read Paul’s statement, “Don’t be anxious about anything,” I wonder how in the world he could be so passive. Life is full of things to worry about, isn’t it? Ah, but before you answer that question, read something I wrote about this verse a few years ago. CLICK HERE I’ll wait while you review. Pause.
Frederick Buechner’s thoughts are significant, aren’t they? The Greek text is mēdĕis merimnate, literally, “nothing be anxious for.” The important word comes first. Not one single solitary thing is worth fretting about. Why? Because God cares. At least that’s what Paul says. But is it true? You know God cares! How do you know? Well, you woke up today. Remember that prayer upon waking?
Mo-deh ani le-fa-ne-ka
Melek chai be-ka-yam
She-he-che-zar-ta bee nish-ma-ti be-chem-la
Ra-ba e-mu-na-te-cha
I give thanks before you, King living and eternal, for You have returned within me my soul with compassion; abundant is Your faithfulness!
This first-thing prayer thanks God that He provided you with life again. You woke up. That’s confirmation that He cares. If just being alive is the absolute assurance that God cares about you, what else could you possibly be anxious about? Nothing in life is more important than life itself, and because you are reading this, you have already been granted today that which is the most important thing in the world. What else do you really, really need?
Ah, but it’s difficult to maintain this perspective, isn’t it? There are so many things that transport us to the world of worry—and so easily. We take life for granted. I don’t mean we take all the things about living for granted. We do that too, but the more serious mistake is to take life itself for granted.
There’s a silverfish racing across my bathroom floor. I reach out a finger and extinguish its life—so easily. Do I feel a pang of remorse that some creature, totally oblivious that its environment is my bathroom, has just stopped being because of me? Did it worry about being alive? It was, then it wasn’t. I am. One day I will not be. But not now. Now I am. It’s amazing, isn’t it? The universe could just as easily reach out its finger and extinguish me. But here I am—God be praised—saved for another day. What else could I possibly worry about?
Topical Index: worry, anxiety, mēdĕis merimnate, nothing, Philippians 4:6
