Daily Java: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.- Philippians 4:6-7.
Peace is not a readily available commodity today. People do almost anything to get it, from seminars to excessive drinking to just about everything. People want peace.
And it is natural to want peace. No one thinks it is normal to be in a constant state of fear and worry. That is because it isn’t.
We are designed to live in the love of God and to feel his presence, not to sit around wringing our hands in worry.
The Word says over and over to not worry. That isn’t an admonition to just “don’t worry, be happy.” Only an idiot would be able to do that. Only someone with very little brainpower would be able to just put everything aside and “snap out of it.”
It is not possible to just “snap out of it.”
That is because we are not able to do stuff ourselves. If we could, we would be fine in all parts of our lives.
The problem is that we cannot snap out of it. We cannot rearrange our own minds in any positive way. We can sure do it negatively, of course. We can worry ourselves into an early grave, into a massive bout of depression, into suicide.
But we cannot think our way to happiness. Only God can bring us into that state.
It isn’t magical or anything like that. It is just that we will not be happy, really happy, really content, until we have God in control of our lives.
Adam and Eve were fine in the garden until they took matters into their own hands. When they did, they ceased being happy and became worried and afraid. And we have never stopped.
The Christ follower has a peace that comes from knowing he is loved. And that peace is hard to explain because it comes from inside. It is the knowledge that God loves you.
That knowledge only comes from having God in your heart. It is not necessarily sudden or overwhelming. Sometimes it is just knowing he loves you. Sometimes it is knowing you are not alone, that someone greater than you cares about what is happening in your life.
He does care. Even when the storm rages, he cares. Someone once said, God never promised a smooth sea, just a good strong boat. You’ll get wet, but you will not drown.
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