“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7).
The Lord’s word is not a suggestion but a command of love. “Do not be afraid.” “Do not be anxious.” “Peace I leave you; My peace I give you.” These are not impossible ideals but invitations to trust in the divine presence already dwelling within us, the Kingdom of God that Christ said is within you (Luke 17:21).
Anxiety is the trembling of a heart that forgets who holds it. Fear arises when we stand alone before the storm, forgetting the One who walks upon the waters. Yet even in our weakness, the Lord is not far. Saint Isaac the Syrian says, “The one who has known his own weakness has reached the depth of humility, and when he has found humility, he has found God.” What we often mistake for God’s absence is the very moment He is nearest, waiting for the cry that comes not from the lips but from the broken heart.
When a man cries out from the depths, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” heaven bends low. The Fathers say the angels rejoice to serve the soul that calls upon the Name with faith. Saint Barsanuphius teaches that when fear seizes us, we must “entrust the matter to God entirely and stand like one who expects salvation not from himself but from the Lord.” The instant a person abandons self-reliance, divine strength is poured forth.
Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica once said, “Our thoughts determine our lives.” If our thoughts are filled with fear, we darken the heart. But if they are filled with the remembrance of God, the heart becomes light. Anxiety dissipates not because circumstances change but because the heart rests in the One who governs all. Abba Poemen said, “Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.”
To live without anxiety is not to live without struggle. It is to learn the secret of inner surrender, to cast our cares into the wounds of Christ who bears them even now. When we are weak, He is our strength. When our hearts tremble, He is our Rock. When we fall, He is the hand that lifts us.
“Fear not,” says the Lord, “for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10).
The poverty we lament becomes the meeting place of heaven and earth. The brokenness we despise becomes the manger in which the Lord comes to dwell. In that hidden stillness, angels surround the soul. The Name of Jesus becomes its fortress. And from the depths of weakness, the heart learns the one unshakeable truth:
God is with us, and that is enough.
Very comforting, to say the last. “This, too, shall pass.”
ReplyDeleteVery comforting to say the least. “This, too, shall pass.
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