PHILIPPIANS 4:6

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Anxiety can wreck your life. It’s defined as “a common emotion characterized by feelings of fear, worry, unease, and apprehension.” At Drugs.com you can find a list of 53 anxiety medications to compare. And then there are all the “natural” remedies out there. Anxiety is a very profitable disorder, one which the drug companies aren’t too concerned about healing. This common problem is a true gold mine for drug companies.

It’s too bad for them that the Bible has the cure for this. It’s found in today’s verse. Paul tells us, “Do not be anxious about anything,…” The literal Greek reads, “Nothing be anxious about.” The word for “nothing” means absolutely nothing. My late brother-in-law, Wayne Barber, said this word meant a zero with the lid kicked off. In other words, let nothing bring you anxiety. And this is written as a command in the Present Tense. Continue all the time not being anxious.

APPLICATION

Oh, but Carl, you don’t know my life. I have every reason to be anxious. True, I don’t know your life, but I know the One who does. And He says through Paul to not be anxious about anything. For us to do otherwise is to disobey the Lord. In the previous verse, Paul had just told them, “The Lord is near.” If that is true, and I think we all believe He is, then we can get rid of our anxiety.

In 1 Peter 5:7 we read this, “having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you.” Do you believe He cares for you? Then give Him your anxious thoughts. Give Him all those things that keep you up at night and rob you of sleep. Do you need another reminder of His care for you? Read Luke 12:22-32. That’s the passage where Jesus told his disciples not to worry (same word as used in today’s verse for anxious) about what they would eat or what they would wear.

Paul goes on in the verse to tell us to pray about everything. That word means each and every thing, every single part. Nothing is left out. Well, I think that about covers it all, right? If we are praying to the Creator of the universe, why should we worry about a thing? Let’s be honest. We can all get anxious from time to time. But let’s covenant together to give all that to Jesus. He can handle it.

I will lay my anxious thoughts at Your feet today, O Lord.