Rob here ...
Everyone responds to stress differently. Some people like to talk about it, share the joy ;), others turn inward and become quiet. When I get stressed I fidget, and start to drive everyone around me crazy. I get antsy and feel a real sense of restlessness.
That's why Philippians 4:6-7 are so comforting and challenging!
First, Paul says "Don't be anxious about anything..." Seriously!? This initially strikes me as really unhelpful. I like how The Message translates it "Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers." These prayers can be petitions, or an invitation to beg and call on God for the very thing we are struggling over. This is how Jesus himself invited us to pray.
Finally, I love how Paul ends this passage. The Message translates it this way "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."
So, if I am hearing Paul correctly he is saying:
1) Don't let your first response to a situation be anxiety
2) Bundle everything you are feeling and petition (beg, pester, call out to) God
3) God's peace, which will not make sense given your circumstances, will displace your worry
I am guessing that Paul had used this little formula many times in his own life. When he was getting beaten. When he was shipwrecked. And now, in prison, he once again was putting into practise this ancient discipline.
Does this strike you as trite or "Sunday School answer-ish"?
Have you ever experienced God's peace displacing your worry?
What struck you about these verses?
9 comments:
Wow.....
How He knows. Stress is something that we all handle....good or bad, but mostly badly...
Just send it to Him. I keep doing this. It has helped and hope / know it continues.
Thanks for the posting.
Again - how He knows what we need. Amazing
B
I will be reading these words each day all week to see me through...
I love how Paul talks about God's peace more than once in this chapter. If you had of asked me a few months ago about God's peace, I'm afraid that I might've given some of those "Sunday Schoolish" answers that Rob was talking about-yes- God's peace is always there for us, he calms our anxiousness...
Then, there is that moment in life when you realize that all you can do is cling to Him and cry out to Him and know that He is enough.
I love how you said it Rob- God's peace- which will not make sense given your circumstances-will displace your worry!
I thank God every day for this amazing truth!
Thanks, Rob and Renee, for sharing with us over the past few weeks- it's been great!!
Wow, I'm at work and feeling the pressure of an impossible day's workload on top of a meeting and a co-worker who just went home ill. My sister is having a CT scan and awaiting results..."stress" seemed like too small a word to describe how I was feeling. I just your blog Rob....thank you! As I was reading the last paragraph, "Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down." I literally felt a warmth spreading from the top of my head, to my heart then to the rest of my body. The day is possible now. I don't understand it...but I just experienced how God gives peace. Wow....
Thanks for all these great insight and personal sharing, it is so encouraging to hear how these verses are connecting and mInistering to people in different ways,
Thanks,
Rob
A little different beginning...new to the congregation (well, under a year) not yet in a life group...
My children are grown and I am a Nanna! I am living as a single person...but not by choice. A friend visited recently and asked me about my father. He commented that the father "model" is our first notion of what God is like. He asked me if my God was a "stern God". It made me think back.
When stress comes, I have used Philippines 4 6:8 many times! It has calmed me down.
Sometimes life is so RAW I have to think fast. Think God..think peace. This works in the battle of the mind. If it doesn't bring peace, God's not in it.
I am very grateful for the opportunity I have for my grandchild to see a kinder, gentler God than her Nanna saw or her Mom.
Their challenges (& mine) are great, but not greater than Pauls' and each of us has a cross to bare.
Proactively and with students, I do subscribe to "HALT"... checking in with myself...am I hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. If so, I satisfy those first and thank God for bringing it to mind. I love the recipe Rob gives here as well.
My tool box is filling up at Main Street. With God, it's never too late for a happy childhood!
Thank you Rob, Renee, and all the bloggers!
Jane
Great post, great comments!
Just thought I'd add...I love the word "guard" in these verses. It says peace with "guard" our hearts. I love that image. I can picture God putting a seal, a protective barrier over our hearts that insulate us from stress, right smack dap in the middle of our crazy circumstances. And God's guard is strong and mighty.
This post is 'in theory' very encouraging. Having believed all of my life, I do know it is supposed to be true, the peace and protected after surrendering part. However, I do find myself in the 'one step forward, two back' situation often. I am still waiting to feel that peace, instead of numb from all of lifes little overwhelming burdens. Maybe I'm doing something wrong...
Thanks for this honest reflection. This is not an "answer" to your comment, rather a further reflection on this common experience you have touched on.
I don't know if there is a way that guarantees specific results. For me peace comes from acknowledging that even in the midst of lifes MANY challenges, I have many blessings, gifts and signs of God's grace. Even just remembering that God has not given up on me is a source of peace. If I'm honest it is much easier to focus on the problems and to let them overwhelm me. this is a discipline that we learn over time. Again, thanks for sharing.
Rob
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