Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Today, as I led our small Tour of Duty group, I had a knot in my stomach and I just couldn't get my hands to stop shaking. Anxiety was ruling my flesh. And, despite the fact that I sat in front of a room of women explaining how the God given detours of our lives were a blessing, I could not shake the anxiety. On the way home, I must have repeated to myself about 20 times, "Be anxious for nothing...." I knew this was what God wanted for me. Anxiety isn't of Him. It is of our enemy. Yet, still I couldn't shake it. I started to think, "God, You must not understand what life down here is like. To be anxious for nothing. Surely, He couldn't know what strained relationships were like. What it is like to be married to the military." How very naive and short sighted of me.
Hebrews 4:15 says: "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. ..." He's been there. He lived it. Strained relationships...I'm thinking God gets that better than anyone else. His chosen people walked away from Him time after time, no matter how often He showed His mercy, power and faithfulness. And, then, He sends His Son, the Redeemer for all mankind. And, he is questioned, persecuted and eventually crucified. Yet, as Jesus hung on the cross, He cried out for those who were to be His executors to be forgiven, for they knew not what they were doing. Strained relationships...yeah I think He gets it. He chose to take on skin and humanity so He would get it. So we would always have a Savior to run to and to cling to, who has "been there" and "done that", but done it without sin. As for being married to the military...with all the ups, downs and detours that brings, well God gets that too. He experienced His very creation choosing knowledge over Him. He watched His people build altars to false gods. He sent His own Son to earth, knowing what would happen. As we watch our men deploy, we can rest assured that God knows what it means to let someone go. I am so thankful that my Jesus is one who "gets me." And when Paul records the words "Do not be anxious for anything..." they are the very words of the Father who well knows my anxieties, but asks me instead to cast them on Him, to pray, to petition and to be thankful.
Therefore, as much as my flesh is warring against my spirit, and wants to succumb to the anxiety, I choose instead to be anxious for nothing, and to run to Him, petitioning Him for peace, for the ability to forgive, for more faith, more love....to become more like His Son.
6-7Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.(The Message, Phil 4:6-7)
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