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ANXIETY AND PEACE Philippians 4:6-9
By Ted Schroder,
October 6, 2013
"Anxiety is now the number one emotional problem of our day. Panic anxiety is the number one mental health problem for women in the United States, and it is second in men only to substance abuse... Most of us are living at too fast a pace... you, like many others, are too hurried, hassled, and overextended. The pace of modern life is stretching all of us beyond our limits.... If you suffer from high anxiety, there is only one long-term answer to your problem: You have to make some significant life changes." (Dr. Archibald D. Hart, The Anxiety Cure, pp.v-vii)
"When I think of pain - of anxiety that gnaws like fire and loneliness that spread out like a desert, and the heartbreaking routine of monotonous misery, or again of dull aches that blacken our whole landscape or sudden nauseating pains that knock a man's heart out at one blow, of pains that seem already intolerable and then are suddenly increased, of infuriating scorpion-stinging pains that startle into maniacal movement a man who seemed half dead with his previous tortures - it 'quite o'ercrows my spirit.' (Hamlet) If I knew any escape I would crawl through sewers to find it. But what is the good of telling you about my feelings? You know them already: they are the same as yours. I am not arguing that pain is not painful. Pain hurts. That is what the word means." (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, p.105)
How do we deal with this emotional pain? Phil.4:6-9 is St. Paul's prescription to cope with anxiety. First of all, in the midst of whatever troubles us, pray with thanksgiving. The story of Jonah illustrates this. From inside the fish that swallowed him Jonah prayed (2:1-9) "But I, with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you."
Prayer with thanksgiving is our chief means of coping with anxiety. It allows God to help us carry our burdens. "Cast all your anxiety on God because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7) Present your requests to God. Write them out. Tell God about what troubles you. What are you anxious about: people you love? Lift them up to God and ask him to take care of them. Is it about finances? Give them to God and ask him to show you the way forward and provide for you. Is it about yourself - some failure in your life, some sense of inadequacy or secret sorrow? Tell God about it and let him deal with it. Is it about your health? Present it to God and ask for healing and comfort. God cares for you. He has given you life. He has given you life eternal. He has given you salvation. He numbers the hairs on your head. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without him knowing it. Are you not worth more than they. (Matt.10:29)
Make a determined effort to focus your attention on God's blessings in your life. List them all: your birth, your home, your education, your friends, your Savior, your health, your value, your dignity, your affluence, your family, your gifts, the world around you, truth, beauty and goodness.
"Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them they would be too many to declare." (Ps.40:5) When you become depressed and worried you should take a piece of paper and literally force yourself to write out every blessing that comes to mind. Concentrate. Think hard. Be thankful.
"If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness they would tell you to make it a rule to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you. For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity befalls you, if you can thank and praise God for it you turn it into a blessing." (William Law 1616-1673, A Serious and Devout Call to a Holy Life)
"If, when you find yourself becoming anxious, you make your requests known to God and turn them into thanksgiving you will find that the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. The peace of God, his wholeness, will stand guard and repel from you any further anxiety. 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)
Secondly, discipline your mind. Anxiety is the emotional pain of our consciousness. It is the awareness of dread, of what can go wrong, of fear of the future. It can possess our mind and control our thoughts. We can obsess over our concerns. They can rob us of any peace and joy. So St. Paul prescribes a mental discipline. "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." As a man thinks in his heart, so he is. Paul is taking the classical philosophical teaching of his day and interpreting it through the Gospel lens. This is not just self-help teaching like that of James Allen (1864-1912, author of popular As A Man Thinketh). It is rooted in the redemption of the heart and mind by the Spirit of Jesus.
So, Paul exhorts, fill your mind with the good, the true and the beautiful. Cultivate role models. Elevate your standards. Focus on the positive. Paul invites his readers to learn from him. "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice." It might appear the height of presumption and egotism on the part of Paul to set down, without apology, his own character and conduct as a standard of behavior for others. But he had earned that right to say "follow my example as I follow the example of Christ." What he had received, he passed on to his disciples. We all learn from someone, for good or ill. We learn from our mentors, our role models. We learn either virtue or vice. Whoever we keep company with in life, or in the life of the mind, will influence our thoughts, our values, our behavior. They will encourage our relationship with Christ, or they will discourage it. If we discipline our minds and fill our consciousness with these virtues, we will find that the God of peace will be with us.
Do we want our hearts and minds to be filled with anxiety or the God of peace? What is your visual image of the God of peace? Is it an image from the Bible: the good shepherd, the healer, the comforter, the rock? Is it an image from nature: a sunset, a calm lake, a waterfall, a tranquil scene? "Keep God at the center of your life, and you will remain at the center of the power you need to live. And you will also achieve freedom from the anxiety that destroys your tranquility." (Archibald Hart)
Subscribe to Ted's blog at www.ameliachapel..com/blog. His new book, ENCOURAGEMENT IN A WORLD OF HURT, The Message of the book of Revelation, is now available on www.amazon.com.
