Do not be anxious about anything … Philippians 4:6
Oh Please! Get Real! Are you serious? Just a few of the tamer responses I can imagine to this command from God’s word.
How can I …
- “not be anxious” (NIV) or
- “not worry” (several other translations) or
- “be careful for nothing” (KJV)?
Is that even humanly possible? Even more challenging, the command is, “do not worry about ANYTHING.” Granted, I worry about many inconsequential things … but surely there are some exceptions to this rule. Does God expect me to face financial ruin, my loved one’s fatal diagnosis, my child’s disintegrating life or my culture’s headlong spiral toward oblivion … without being anxious?
Consider an infant girl … surprised suddenly by the appearance of her father’s face from behind a blanket. Can you picture it? Her eyes blink rapidly, her chin tucks, her head trembles, her hands jerk … her first response is involuntary. But what comes next … does the child descend into a fit or wailing or burst into sweet laughter? Our first response to trials is no more voluntary. God understands; He wired us to respond to our surroundings and to act. Even the fear response is part of God’s good provision for preserving our lives.
The secret to understanding this command is in the second response. Built into the Greek phrase translated “do not be anxious” is the idea of prolonged apprehension. An English word that communicates this well would be “brooding.” In His kindness, our Creator bids us not carry our first response of shock, fear or anger … into brooding anxiousness. Do not continue in anxiousness, “but in everything” or “rather in all situations …”
Sorry to keep you in suspense … but tune in next week. 🙂
