Good Tuesday morning! We have one whole degree of temperature this morning. We enjoyed a little time off from work and/or school, but are the troubles and cares of the world jumping on you once more? Not jumping like a small bird alighting on your shoulder, but jumping up and down like that fat kid with the amazing stamina wearing out the neighborhood trampoline? Perhaps even more like a stampeding herd of cape buffalo that you thought had gone over the horizon? Yes, those troubles and cares. Some days we get some time away from the herd; other times the stampede is going right over the top of our prostrate body. God gave Paul an answer for us and Paul mailed it to the Philippians.
Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men, the Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing. But by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
"Rejoice in the Lord always..." Many is the time that we do not feel like rejoicing. But Paul encourages us to rejoice in the Lord always. This does not mean that we should run through a funeral dancing about and making merry, but that even at a sorrowful time like that we can rejoice in the Lord. Some events in life will test your rejoicing. You and I may suffer a season when rejoicing seems far away. The key is that Paul doesn't say that we should celebrate all the time, but that we should rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoice is to be full of joy. We are going to need help with that. Joy and happiness are often spoken of as the same thing, but I think we need to look at them differently.
For a moment, and try not to cause yourself anxiety in this, imagine that you are at the bottom of a deep well. A cold, dank, dark, and deep well with only a small dot of sky above you. As you look around, you spot a series of iron rungs firmly attached to one side of the well. You climb out and experience "happy". You have a temporary feeling of relief and gladness that comes from finding a way to escape the trap. You might say a prayer of thanks to God, and then you are on your way. Now, imagine there are no rungs on the side of that well, and no way to climb out. Your shouts are heard by no one because the well is remote. You will probably starve to death slowly in the bottom of a well. Suddenly... you receive a vision. Looking up, you see not only the blue sky, but God himself looking down on you. Jesus is by your side, and the Holy Spirit you see in your very own heart of hearts. No immediate solution to your dilemma presents itself. But with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit with you, you know that there is nothing to fear. That turning away from your circumstance to looking at your savior is what we know as joy: the knowledge that whatever happens in this world, God will give us the strength to endure, the power to overcome, and the grace to come home to Him. Jesus reminded the disciples, and we quote this saying often, that, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." That reminder is for us too, even in the bottom of what seems like a permanent situation.
"Be anxious for nothing." That sounds like a mighty fine way to live. That does not prevent us from shedding extra ballast in our lives, but does relieve us of that constant gnawing worry. God will take care of your needs! God already knows what you need, but Paul goes on to remind us to let our needs be known to God in prayer and supplication. We bow before our Lord and offer up our needs to Him in prayer. Don't forget that bit about thanksgiving though. We wouldn't like it if our children were ungrateful all of their lives, and our Heavenly Father likes His children to be grateful too. Gratitude is the grateful attitude that reminds us every day of how much God has provided to us. Some folks use a list to help remember their needs. Not all of us have that perfect memory we hear about. A list also helps us to remember the needs of those we love. Needs that may not immediately occur to us at prayer time when the person we love is far away or simply not in our house. Jesus himself reminded us to be persistent in bringing our needs before God, just as he reminded us to not worry.
Finally, after all of that, God gives us once more His peace. His peace is always there in us, but sometimes we need a reminder, such as looking up to the sky and knowing in your heart that God is looking down right at you, the child of His own.
Have a great day in Christ!
Bucky
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