Anxious or Praying?

"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."

Philippians 4:6-7

Jesus urged His disciples not to worry about what food to eat, what to drink and what clothes to wear because life is more than these things.  He said we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto us.  When we prioritise seeking God who gives us all things richly to enjoy, we will find all our temporal needs met in His time and marvellous way.  Our God is the one who caused manna to appear in the wilderness, and at His command water flowed from the rock.  During their 40-year pilgrimage through the desert, the clothes and sandals of the people did not wear out because God was with them, protected and provided for them by making fabrics and leather last.

In the same vein of His Saviour Jesus, Paul exhorted believers to be anxious for nothing.  There are many situations that are naturally troubling to our minds, and fiery trials can produce anxiety in hearts that are easily confused, overwhelmed and feel helpless.  Christians need not be at the mercy of our circumstances to experience the peace of God, for we can bring everything to God by prayer with thanksgiving.  All our requests and petitions are known by God before we say a word, and we can communicate our concerns to Him knowing He loves us, hears and will answer--though He bear long with us.  People will help a person simply because they are weary of being pestered, motivated by their own selfishness and not by the goodness of their hearts.  We can have all confidence God is good and will avenge His own children speedily.

There was a situation in the Old Testament that arose due to the slackness of the people assembled in Jerusalem who had not cleansed or purified themselves in preparation for the Passover.  For a long time the service of the temple had been neglected, but Hezekiah and the people rejoiced how quickly temple worship and sacrifices to God were re-established.  It marked a period of spiritual revival in Israel, for King Hezekiah invited people from the far reaches of the northern kingdom to assemble for the Passover.  Some of the people who travelled far were not ceremonially clean and thus could not consecrate their lambs to the LORD.  2 Chronicles 30:18-20 says, "For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the good LORD provide atonement for everyone ¹⁹ who prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary." ²⁰ And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people."  How good God is to hear and answer prayers of undeserving, unprepared, unworthy people!

The chapter concluded in 2 Chronicles 30:26-27:  "So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. ²⁷ Then the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven."  Great and awesome is the LORD, who hears the voices and prayers of His people and answers with "Amen!"  God brought great joy to His people, and the following chapter begins by describing how the people destroyed idols and high places throughout the land.  There are some who imply God will not hear people who are in sin; God will not hear our prayers until our idols are destroyed.  This is simply not true.  God hears the prayers of sinners and answers them because He is good.  While we should not presume upon the goodness of God by remaining in sin and idolatry, God's healing, forgiveness and atonement is all of grace.

Knowing God is good and hears our prayers, let us be those who repent of our sin and walk in the righteous way that pleases God.  The question is not if God loves us, hear our prayers or will avenge us, for He assures us He will on the basis of us belonging to Him.  The question Jesus posed is the one we will answer with whether we fear God and pray to Him in Luke 18:8:  "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"  Jesus is coming back, just as He said.  Will He find people who are anxious or those who in everything make their requests known to God in prayer with thanksgiving?  Before Jesus returns, now is the time to right our wrongs concerning the fear of man instead of God and justifying our anxiety rather than praying and thanking God.