In the game of “Tug of War”, two teams of people try to pull a rope in their respective directions, and the team who pulls the rope sufficiently to their side (often resulting in both teams falling down) wins the contest. (I’m not sure where “war” comes in to play, though.) You can’t play Tug of War, though, if both teams are pulling on the same rope in the same direction: the two teams must pull in opposite directions, and (even if the rope breaks) both sides cannot simultaneously win.
As we continue a study of Philippians 4, the following passage appears at the top of my electronic prayer list. It’s a reminder to me to not worry, and to counteract worry with prayer.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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 NIV
Let’s also look back to Matthew 6:25, from Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount”.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Matthew 6:25 NIV
(By the way, the previous part of Jesus’ message here – preceding the “Therefore” – is about not being able to serve both God and money.)
Jesus spells out several things that we shouldn’t worry about, and that’s challenging enough. Who among us hasn’t worried about a health diagnosis, or wondered what to wear to an event, or tried to figure out what to eat for supper? And yet, we know that there are others who are sick, destitute, and starving – far worse off than we are.
Then, in Philippians, we find out that we shouldn’t be anxious about anything! (I don’t think that these are separate concepts, by the way, but rather reminders of a common principle not to worry.)
However, there’s a big difference between just gritting our teeth and telling ourselves to not worry, and having a valid reason and plan not to worry. We know that we don’t have to worry because, 1) it doesn’t help, and 2) God takes care of us, as Jesus continued to describe in Matthew 6:26-34. However, here in Philippians, we also get something to do instead of worry (complementing Jesus’ instructions to “seek first” God’s kingdom, as described in the book of Matthew).
My dad used to say, “for the next 60 seconds, try not to think about elephants”… and you can imagine what I was thinking about next. In the same way, if we focus our attention on not worrying, I’m pretty sure that we’re going to start worrying about not worrying.
Instead of worry, we should tell God our “requests”. And, there are multiple aspects to how we make these requests known to God:
Prayer – We should take our concerns to God, not just to Facebook or our friends or even to our prayer group. (Asking others to pray for us is perfectly OK, but if we stop there, we’re not addressing the Creator who is able to actually solve our problems.)
Petition (NIV) or pleading (NASB) – This sounds like a legal term. If you don’t like what an organization is doing, and you just gripe about it, not much is likely to change. On the other hand, if you don’t like what an organization is doing, and you take the time to get signatures on a petition, you may or may not be successful in obtaining change, but you at least did something that has a chance of having an impact. I don’t think that we need to get other people’s signatures on our prayers to God (although we might consider Jesus’ and the Holy Spirit’s intercession to have similarities to their “signing” of our prayers), but there is a seriousness here – a sincerity and intensity – in presenting our requests to God.
Thanksgiving – There are a couple of ways to thank God. One is the gratitude we express when He blesses us, where we “return thanks” to Him as a result of something that He does. However, I think that we can also be thankful for who God is, as well as for what we know He will do for us. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we “pre-thank” God for something that we ask Him to do, as if we could somehow force His hand. Instead, I think of this as praying with thanksgiving that God will do the right thing for us in His boundless wisdom, because of His character and His nature.
So, worry and prayer to God seem to be in tension, like two teams in a game of Tug of War, where more of either one tends to result in less of the other. As a result, if you want less prayer in your life, you can worry more. Or (like most rational people), if you want less worry in your life, try filling up your time with more prayer – in faith and gratitude – instead!
From Sunday School lesson prepared for September 17, 2023
References:
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
- The College Press Commentary, Philippians Colossians & Philemon, by Anthony L. Ash. College Press Publishing Company, © 1994.
Those Who Sin Differently 