Let your requests be made known to God
Thu, 30 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, 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 your minds in Christ Jesus.
We have come to the end of Paul’s joyous letter to the church in Philippi. Paul writes this letter while he is imprisoned in Rome, but yet he continues to encourage the church and to spur them on to joy in the Lord.
In today’s passage, we see Paul explicitly order us to rejoice regardless of our circumstances. How can Paul, while in prison, facing a death sentence, encourage others to rejoice in the Lord? How can we have joy regardless of the problems we face?
Paul tells us how: by committing our situation, whatever it is, to God in prayer.
What do we learn from this?
God doesn’t promise to change our circumstances just because we pray to Him. He doesn’t automatically do whatever we ask, just because we prayed. He isn’t a vending machine where we put our prayers in and out pops whatever we asked for.
But God does promise that something will change when we pray. We will be changed.
We are to pray about whatever is bothering us. Don’t be anxious, he tell us. Instead of being anxious, we are to commit our concerns to Him. The result? God promises to give us peace in the circumstances. The situation might not change as a result of our prayer. But God promises that He will give us His peace as we bring our cares to Him. As we pray, He changes us by calming us and giving us peace.
So what should we do if after praying, we still feel anxious? The answer is as simple as it is obvious: Pray some more. Whenever we are anxious about anything, we are commanded to pray about it, and commit it to Him. So if we continue to feel anxiety, we should continue to pray. In this way, God promises He will grant peace to His people.
Where is Christ in this passage?
We receive God’s peace as we are in Jesus Christ. All those who come to the Father by way of faith in Jesus Christ are adopted into His family. They are saved from eternal damnation and are promised a home with Him for all eternity.
If He has done all of that, and if He promises to bring everything about for our ultimate salvation, and for His glory, we can learn to trust Him to do what is best for us in every circumstance, no matter how bad it might be. We can learn to leave our worries with Him and to take up His peace as we come to Him in prayer.
