Today I want to address a PROBLEM we all face: stress and anxiety.i This year, 2020 has been a stressful year. The pandemic has affected the whole world. Economic pressures have increased for families and businesses. Social distancing and isolation have interfered with normal human interaction. Governmental efforts to manage the coronavirus may be producing more problems than the virus itself. People need people. They need the touch of a loved one. They need a smile from the stranger. They need the comfort of love and acceptance from others. They can endure the absence of that for brief periods of time. But extended deprivation of normal human interaction has a psychological impact. The negative affect is worse for some than others. But we are all affected by it.
The contentious political divide in our country is producing a lot of stress for Americans. Rather than prompting meaningful conversation, it has degenerated into name-calling, mud-throwing, rock-throwing, and even deadly riots. Everyone knows the outcome of the coming election will put the country on one of two very different courses. It will affect every one of us financially. It will affect our children’s financial future. It will affect our liberties. It will affect the moral course of the nation. It will affect the judgment of God on America. This is a high-stakes election! Added to that are concerns about election fraud. Will we even have a valid election? Will the loser concede, or will there be more contention over the validity of the results? We have never faced this level of uncertainty. And that uncertainty is causing a lot of anxiety in our society.
A recent Harris poll conducted for the American Psychological Association found about 70% of American adults are stressed over the political climate and the uncertainty we face. About the same numbers say the danger of getting the coronavirus is significant source of stress for them.ii All that is added on top of the changes people are experiencing in the way they do their jobs, educate their children, and conduct their shopping.
The efforts people are making to cope with all this can be humorous. I saw an article yesterday revealing the latest coping strategy. It began in Europe and has arrived in America. It is cow-hugging. The article says, “Tree-hugging is out. Cow-hugging is in.” Proponents of the movement say cows are calm animals and hugging them has a calming effect on the person.iii I haven’t tried it. Perhaps I shouldn’t criticize it too much. People need relief from all the stress.
Another article talks about people turning to pinball machines for relief. The article is entitled, “Coronavirus leads to spike in pinball popularity.”iv It is natural for human being to seek relief from anxiety.
The way we manage stress has a powerful impact on our wellbeing. What strategies do you use to manage your anxieties and stress? If it is not managed well, it can cause us to behave in aggressive or passive-aggressive ways. And that can undermine our relationships. It can cause us to say things we later regret. It can ruin our careers and sabotage the quality of our lives. Many people today are living in a sad, despondent state because of the choices made under stress.
Mishandling stress often leads to addiction. We find something that sooths the soul. Like a laboratory rat, we keep going back to that drug or activity for relief.v The drug of choice might be cocaine. It might be alcohol. It could be pornography. It could be social media or video games. It could be eating or shopping. It might even turn out to be cow-hugging. It is anything that people get hooked on as a source of relief from anxiety and stress. Not all addictions serve to reduce tension and anxiety, but many do.vi
We live in a high stress culture. Earlier civilization had the stress of getting the basics of food and shelter. Our advancements in technology have increased our standard of living and resolved some of those stress factors. However, the technology itself has become a source of stress. Has anyone been stressed out over your phone or computer in recent months? Has the bombardment of robo calls and scammers produced any stress in your life? Archibald Hart discusses the stress we encounter in his book, Healing Life’s Hidden Addictions. He writes, “Just driving five miles on a modern freeway provides as much stimulation as our ancient ancestors got in a whole year.”vii When you’re driving 75 miles per hour bumper to bumper on the freeway, one wrong move can lead to disaster. It is stressful to be in that environment.
When I was a kid, we raised chicken for our food. At first, we only had a few in a large pen. It was a fairly natural environment for them with lots of grass to scratch around in for insects and seeds. Those chickens were very healthy in that environment. Then we dramatically increased their numbers. We squeezed more and more chickens in the limited space. We put some in wire cages. We also learned how to feed them in a way that maximized egg production. Those changes put the chickens under more and more stress.
The more we departed from their natural environment, the more stressed they became. And under that stress they began to behave badly. Crammed in together they began to peck one another obsessively. The ones at the bottom of the pecking order had all the feather on their backs plucked out. Their backs and sometimes their heads were bleeding from the abuse they received from the other chickens. None of that obsessive behavior happened when they had plenty of space and grass to scratch around in. It all began when we put them under the stress of close, unnatural conditions and pressed them for maximum production. We’re not chickens, but when we are put in unnatural, high-stress conditions we tend to respond in unhealthy ways. We tend to seek out ways to reduce the tension.
There is something inherently deceptive about many of these stress-reducers. They bring some much-needed temporary relief. That keeps us coming back to them. But at the same time, they slowly undermine our quality of life. They offer less and less relief. They consume more and more of our time and attention. The workaholic may find psychological relief in his work. But his marriage is undermined in the process. Think about the way drugs and alcohol destroy people’s health and capacity to function in life. Think about the impact of smoking or compulsive eating. When we use these artificial means of relief to manage our stress there can be serious spiritual, psychological, and physical consequences.
This is not something that just happens to unbelievers. The problem is common among God’s people. In Jeremiah 2:13 God addressed the issue. There He said, “'For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns — broken cisterns that can hold no water.”viii Cisterns were man-made tanks built into the ground to hold water. It was a lot of work to make them, and a lot of work to keep them full. The water tended to stagnate, and stonework tended to leak.ix Therefore, these cisterns were a poor, inadequate substitute compared to the clean, easy supply from a natural spring. God Himself is likened to a source of living water for His people—freely given, clean, and refreshing.
There were two sides to Israel’s error in Jeremiah 2:13. On the one hand, they forsook the Lord as their source of sustenance and refreshing.x They stopped going to Him to comfort, strengthen and refresh them. On the other hand, they made their own cisterns as a substitute. Since the need was not being met in the Lord, they devised their own means for satisfying the need.
There is always the danger that we would do the same thing. If we don’t find our joy and delight in the Lord, we are tempted to substitute something else in its place. It is a form of idolatry. And it leads to addictions and all kinds of other problems.
God has provided everything we need to live happy lives and deal with the stress we experience. “His divine power,” 2 Peter 1:3 says, “has given us everything we need for life and godliness” (NIV). He is the fountain of life we can drink from on a daily basis.xi When we are drinking at His fountain our spiritual and emotional needs are met. When we neglect that, we tend to find other sources of comfort and consolation.xii
That is why our text today is so important. If you have not already done so, turn with me to Philippians 4:6-7. I am reading from the New King James Version. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Notice the first instruction in that passage: “Be anxious for nothing.” We have talked about the many sources of anxiety we deal with in life. Now we’re told to not be anxious. How do we do that? We have been given instruction on that all through this epistle.xiii Christ’s submissive trust of the Father portrayed in chapter 2 exemplifies the answer. The exhortation in 4:4 toward a lifestyle of thanksgiving and praise keeps the strains of life in perspective: “Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice.” In 4:5 we are taught to exercise gentleness and consideration in our relationships. That minimizes conflicts and relational tension in our lives. If we’re difficult toward other people, they are likely to respond in like kind and be difficult toward us. Gentleness leads to peace and reduced stress. This epistle has a lot to say about dealing with stress and anxiety.
However, verse 6 gives us the primary SOLUTION: “but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” That is the primary cure for care and anxiety. We must develop the habitual pattern of going to God with the cares of life. We must drink of His everlasting source of life and provision. We must cast all our cares on him through prayer.
Some people have a habit of worrying. They never stop to think how little good it does. Jesus told us to not live in a state of worry and anxiety. In Matthew 6:27 He asks, “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” Nothing gets accomplished by worrying. It is altogether counterproductive. It is an expression of unbelief. It drains our energy and undermines the solution to the problem. Jesus taught on this subject in Matthew 6:25-34:
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
As human beings we have been given a capacity for foresight. It enables us to plan and prepare like the ant that stores up food in the summer in anticipation of the winter.xiv Sometimes God even gives supernatural insight on the future the way He did in Genesis 41. But He does not show us these things so we can worry about it. It shows us so we can seek Him for wisdom and prepare appropriately. How did Joseph respond to Pharaoh’s dream about the seven plentiful years and seven lean years? It did not cause him to worry. It inspired him to save grain in the abundant years to be used during the lean years.xv The future was revealed so the appropriate action could be taken.
In recent months there have been a lot of prophetic words given about the coming months.xvi If your response to all that is to worry, you’re not responding correctly. If your response is to pray and seek God for guidance, you’re on the right track. Jesus’s command in Matthew 6:25 is very straight forward: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life.” Three times in that teaching He says, “Do not worry.” Our text in Philippians 4:6 says the same thing: ““Be anxious for nothing.” The New Living Translation simply says, “Don't worry about anything.” Are you worrying about anything? Stop it! You may say, “That’s easier said than done.” It can be difficult. But we are given the cure in our text: “but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
The two words translated prayer and supplication are often found together in Scripture. xvii The word translated prayer (proseuche) is the more general term. Supplication (deesis) is more specific.xviii But the idea is that we take the problem to the Lord in prayer. When something is worrying you, make a specific request to God about it. That way when God gives a specific answer to the request you can recognize it give Him praise. I will build your faith as you do that.
Notice Paul says “in everything” let your request be made known to God. Nothing is too big, and nothing is too small. If it concerns you, He wants to hear about it. He cares about it because He cares for you.
God already knows our needs and problems. Prayer is not informing Him of something He doesn’t know. Prayer is a process in which we invite Him to partner with us in life’s journey. It is asking God to engage in our daily lives. It is an expression of our dependence on Him. It doesn’t remind Him of that dependence; it reminds us to trust Him for the answer. This process of prayer should enable us to roll our burdens onto the Lord. That’s what Peter had in mind when he instructed believers to cast all their care on the Lord “for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7). If there is anything bothering you, large or small, take it to the Lord in prayer.
If we mix our request “with thanksgiving,” we will be more effective. Telling God a long list of things you want can get dry and laborious. But when you interact with Him in conversation, thanking Him for blessings already received, thanking Him for promises to meet your needs, sharing your concerns, and listening to Him for instruction and encouragement, then prayer flows more naturally.xix Thanksgiving reinforces our faith and enables us to pray with confidence.
The promise in verse 7 relates to all the instruction Paul has given, but particularly this exhortation to pray. Verse 7 adds this promise: “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” The word translated “guard” is a military term like a garrison of soldiers stationed to guard and protect a city.xx If we will pray instead of worry, God will send a peace that will protect our minds from the anxiety.
It is a peace supplied by God. It is a peace from God. It is a peace which surpasses all understanding. The world cannot understand it because it is not dependent on external circumstances. It is the same kind of peace Paul had as he wrote this letter from a prison in Rome. It is the same kind of peace Jesus had as he stood before Pontius Pilate. It is the same peace Stephen had when addressing the Sanhedrin. Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” The peace the world has to offer is fragile and temporary. Because it is dependent on external circumstances, it can easily be disturbed. It is not an abiding peace but is there one day and gone the next. The peace Jesus gives is rooted and grounded in His love and faithfulness. It comes as a result of putting our trust in Him. It brings tranquility to the soul no matter what is going on around us. That peace keeps our minds healthy and our hearts at rest.
Prayer is a duty. Our text is more than a suggestion; it is a command. But God made it a duty only because of the benefits we receive in the process.
Three things happen when you take your cares and anxieties to God in prayer. First, if you pray in faith you roll those cares off your own shoulders onto God. That’s what Peter indicates when he says, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7).
Faith is essential to this process. We must take God at His word when we pray. God has promised to hear us when we pray. And we must believe that.xxi Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:7-8). If Jesus promises the answer, then we will receive the answer We can trust Him to take care of it. In John 14:13-14 He made His commitment to us very clear. “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” So, in prayer we take our cares and concerns and hand them over to the Lord. Be very certain that you do not take them back out of His hands. Give your burdens to the Lord and leave them there.
Secondly, when we obey our text and take our needs to God in prayer, we draw upon His strength. As we interact with Him in the process of prayer, we drink at the fountain of living waters. We feed on the words He speaks to us. Our needs and desires are met through our communion with Him. The promise in Isaiah 12:3 is “Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation.”
That fortifies us against temptation. If you are succumbing to temptation, understand that victory is not just a matter of willpower. The strength to say “no” comes when we are drawing upon God’s grace in prayer.xxii As we open our hearts to Him in prayer, He supplies our needs. Then we don’t need broken cisterns to meet the need. No one is tempted to scramble for food when he has just eaten a steak dinner with all the trimmings.
Finally, obedience to Philippians 4:6 produces the peace promised in 4:7. That peace will guard your mind from temptation. It will counter the worries and anxieties that try to come on us in life. It all happens as a result of pray! That is God’s chosen context for our cares and anxieties to be resolved.
Prayer is not just a duty. It is an invitation to abundant living in God. It is an invitation to cast your cares and anxieties onto the Lord. It is an invitation to a peace that passes all understanding. I encourage you to take full advantage of the invitation.
ENDNOTES:
i In this message I am not making the fine distinctions between stress, anxiety, fears, worry, and cares. Instead I am speaking in general terms since these concepts are highly interrelated. The Greek word, merimnao, in Philippians 4:6 is variously translated as being anxious, careful, or worrying. Thayer defines it: “to be anxious; to be troubled with cares.” In his discussion of the word’s use in classical Greek literature, Goetzmann writes, “. . . merimnao can mean being anxious, worried, and care, take responsibility for someone or something. In keeping with this meaning, the words [including merimna] are usually concerned with objects in the future. . . .” In the Philippians 4:6 context the word would be properly understood as being anxious, troubled, or worried. Colin Brown, ed, The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 2, 1967 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986) s. v. “Care, Anxiety,” by J. Goetzmann, 276-277.
ii “Stress in America 2020: Stress in the Time of COVID-19, Volume Three,” American Psychological Association.
Accessed 10-17-20 at https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/report-july.
iii Alexandra Deabler, “Cow-hugging, an alleged wellness fad, has people cuddling farm animals to relieve stress,” Fox News. Accessed 10-17-20 at https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/cow-hugging-wellness-fad.
iv Sumner Park, “Coronavirus leads to spike in pinball popularity,” Fox Business. Accessed 10-17-20 at https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/coronavirus-leads-to-spike-in-pinball-popularity.
v “The ‘hook’ of the addiction—the thing that keeps people coming back to it—is that it gives people feelings and gratifying sensations that they are not able to get in other ways. It may block out sensations of pain, uncertainty, or
discomfort. It may create powerfully distracting sensations that focus and absorb attention. It may enable a person to forget, or feel ‘okay’ about, insurmountable problems. It may provide artificial, temporary feelings of security or calm, of self-worth or accomplishment, of power or control, of intimacy or belonging. These benefits explain why a person keeps coming back to the addictive experience—an addiction accomplishes something for that person, or the person anticipates that it will do so, however illusory these benefits may actually be.” Stanton Peele and Archie Brodsky, The Truth About Addiction And Recovery: The Life Process Program for Outgrowing Destructive Habits (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991) 43.
vi Archibald D. Hart, Healing Life’s Hidden Addictions: Overcoming the Closet Compulsions that Waste Your Time and Control Your Life (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, 1990) 12-21.
vii Hart, 97.
viii All Scripture quotes, unless indicated otherwise, are from the New King James Version.
ix Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, s. v. Jeremiah 2:13, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997-2014 by Biblesoft, Inc.
x Jesus’s invitation in Matthew 11:28 is: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Cf. Heb. 4:9.
xi Cf. John 4:10-14; Ps. 1:3; Ezek. 47.
xii He is the God of all comfort (2 Cor. 1:3).
xiii There are many dynamics involved in dealing with our anxieties including attitudes of hear and lifestyle. It would take a whole book to address these. However, the most important cure is the one give in Philippians 4:6: prayer. If we do everything else, but fail to prayerfully integrate God in our life journey, we will not enjoy the peace promised in Philippians 4:7.
xiv Prov. 6:6-8.
xv Gen. 41.
xvi These prophetic words should be properly judged (1 Thess. 5:19-21; 1 Cor. 14:29). When managed according to biblical guidelines such words can be beneficial, as was the case in Acts 11:27-30. A full teaching on New Testament prophesy is beyond the scope of this message but is important for the current times in which we live.
xvii The two terms are stated together Eph. 6:18; 1 Tim. 2:1; 5:5, as well as our text.
xviii BDAG p. 213 and Vincent. Charles H. Surgeon, “Prayer Perfumed with Praise,” sermon preached April 20, 1879. Accessed at The C. H. Spurgeon Collection on CD-ROM (AGES Software, Inc., 1998).
xix Paul’s use of both proseuche and deesis in addition to the insertion of “with thanksgiving” clarifies his intent that the prayer process be more dynamic than merely listing to God one’s concerns. The dynamic of “praying in the spirit” as discussed by Paul in 1 Cor. 14 (esp. verses 4, 15, and 18 that indicate the personal advantages) offers an additional avenue of personal edification/refreshing. Romans 8:26 speaks of a dynamic in prayer that often brings spiritual breakthrough and personal assurance of victory.
xx Strong’s
xxi Cf. James 1:5-7; Heb. 4:2; Mark 11:24; John 14:1; Rom. 14:23.
xxii Cf. Matthew 26:41. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Eph. 6:10).
