“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6

Beloved,

Have you ever gone through a difficult season of life and someone handed you a cliché like, “Don’t worry about it, just trust in God?” In moments of sorrow and sadness, Christian clichés are not balm for the soul, but salt in the wounds. Clichés rarely produce their desired effect, but that does not mean there is not powerful truth tied to their message.

God says that we should not be anxious about anything, but to share everything with God in prayer with thanksgiving.  Philippians 4:6 is a profound verse, because of the totality of space it covers. We are not to be anxious in anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  How can God tell us not to be anxious about anything? Aren’t there things that we have the right to worry about?  Doesn’t a lack of anxiety often show a lack of love? 

God is not asking us to live without anxiety, but rather to take our anxiety to God in prayer. Prayer is an act of love and trust in our God. God loves us and He is in control. Spurgeon says, “If I cannot trace his hand, I can always trust his heart.” We may not always understand the situations in our lives, but we can always trust that God will work in the midst of it for our good and for His glory (Romans 8:28). 

Prayer is a gift we must preserver to pursue.  Persevering prayer allows us to refocus our hearts off of our problems and on to the God who is bigger than our problems. Prayer helps us notice the sparrows who are not forgotten by God and reminds us that we are much more valuable than they (Luke 12:31).  In moments of sorrow and sadness, God does not give us clichés, but He gives us Himself.  Let us go to Him with love, perseverance and gratitude.

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