When Your Circumstances Make You Anxious: Part 1 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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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

Transcript

Good morning.

Welcome to a new week. And as we start this week, we want to start it the same way we always do every weekday morning at this time, opening the Bible and just seeing what God has to say about our lives. I want to talk with you all this week on the topic of when your circumstances make you anxious.

Well, that’s a topic that all of us need to hear quite a lot, don’t we?

Life never works out the way we wish it would, and there are always circumstances in our lives that can cause anxiety to us. I don’t know how you respond to anxiety.

For some people, they get quite irritated when they’re anxious, and the people in their lives wonder, why are you snapping at me? Why are you talking to me like that?

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And it’s not anything that person has said, it’s just that your anxiety is coming out in irritation towards other people. For some people, it comes out in anger.

Other people just sort of retreat into themselves and curl up on their bed in a foetal position and don’t want to interact with anybody when they’re anxious. It can be negative because they could be doing something about the circumstance that’s making them anxious, but they’re just retreating. So how does God want us to respond to circumstances that make us anxious?

Well, let me read you a couple of verses out of the book of Philippians in chapter 4, verses 6 and 7. Here’s what the apostle Paul says to the Philippians.

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.

Well, do not be anxious about anything. It sounds like something that is easy to say but not easy to do, right?

I mean, how can you control whether you’re going to be anxious about something you either are anxious or you aren’t, right? Well, of course the verses go on to talk to us about how to not be anxious about anything, but the big picture of this comes through, doesn’t it?

God wants to be involved in the circumstances of your life that are making you anxious.

And so often we are anxious about things because we’re leaving God out of the picture. We’re thinking it’s just me and these circumstances. How can I handle these circumstances? I don’t know what to do. I’m spinning out of control.

It’s anxiety, right, and it comes because we don’t factor God into the circumstances. If we leave God out, for sure we should be anxious, but when we include God and involve God in our lives in these areas that make us anxious, it really changes everything. Psalm 55:22 tells us, cast your burden on the Lord. And he will sustain you.

It doesn’t mean life will suddenly become easy, no, but God will sustain you. He’ll enable you to work through the things that have to be worked through to make it through that circumstance.

Cast your burden on the Lord. God wants you to acknowledge your anxiety to Him. He wants to be involved. Don’t think, Oh well, I can only talk to God if I’m saying praise God or thank you God or I love you God. I can’t talk to God when I’m frustrated and anxious. No, get that thought out of your mind.

Cast your burden on the Lord, it says. Don’t be anxious, but let your requests be made known to God, the verse says so, talk to God about the things that are making you anxious.

1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7 in the Bible says, Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you.

Well, all this week we’ll be talking a bit more about how to do that, but don’t forget today. Bring God into the circumstances that are making you anxious.

I’m John North.

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