Be Careful for Nothing

The topic of this verse deals with how we handle worry and anxiety, which all of us face in life at one time or another. The Amplified Version of the Bible states it this way – “Do not be anxious or worried about anything . . . “

Standing against worry and anxiety is one of the subjects of the New Testament. Jesus Himself taught that we should take no anxious thought for tomorrow, or for what we should eat or drink, or about what we would wear.

Yet, for many today being calm and not worrying is seemingly impossible. There is this thing to be worried about, that thing to be bothered by, and some other thing that is threatening our peace and safety.

How can we escape the temptation to fret over things? The answer, of course, is to do what the Bible says to do. And that’s where faith comes in because it takes faith to obey the word of God. So, let’s look at this passage in Philippians 4:6-7 and see what the Bible says for us to do concerning worry, anxiety, and fear.

Paul, the writer of this verse, tells us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to be careful for nothing, or, in other words, do not be worried and fretful about anything. These are not merely the suggestions of a man, but the divinely inspired word of God to us.

But the immediate response for many people to the notion that we should just simply not worry about things is that it cannot be helped. They will say something like, “I just can’t help but worry. You don’t know what I’m going through.”

But on the other hand, would the Lord tell us to do something we are not capable of doing? The answer to that question is no. He would not tell us to do something we could not do. So then, worrying can indeed be helped. We are not at the mercy of something we cannot control. And by faith we can understand and see that God has given us the ability in Christ to refuse to allow worry to rule over us.

Yes, that’s a radical statement, but it must be the truth for Paul, as well as Jesus, to make statements like these. “Do not be anxious or worried about anything . . . “ Well, if we’re not going to be anxious and worried about things, then what are we going to do? We're going to do what the Bibles tells us to do.

Take it to the Lord in Prayer

Paul says, as the verse continues . . . but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. What’s he talking about? He’s talking about taking our requests to God in prayer.

Notice that he says to pray with thanksgiving, or the giving of thanks, not thanking God for the problems and issues, but thanking Him in advance for the solution. It’s nearly impossible to fret and wring your hands over something while giving thanks. Worrying and fretting stem from fear, while giving of thanks stems from faith. We are taking our requests to the Lord in prayer and trusting Him to work in our behalf to help us, and we are thanking Him that He is with us and that He is faithful to help us.

Let go and Let God

There is a cliché or saying among Christians to “let go and let God.” What this means is that when we take a situation to the Lord in prayer that we should let go of it and leave it with Him. The idea is that if we continue to worry and fret over it, we have kept it in our own control or we've taken it back from Him and it’s no longer in His hands. So, we must let go of it, and let God deal with it.

This is really what trusting the Lord is about. It’s about taking the load off of us and giving it to the Lord in prayer. Once He has it, once we’ve prayed about it, then we refuse to have another anxious thought about it. We let it go.

Is this easy to do? No, it takes faith to let go of something that’s bothering us, to lay down something that’s causing us to worry. But the result is worth the effort.

The Peace of God

There is a peace that comes from God that defies human understanding. That peace comes to us by making our requests known to God in prayer and leaving our burdens and concerns with Him. Once we do that and then refuse to entertain another anxious thought concerning the matter, the peace of God begins to settle in and abide in us, keeping and guarding our heart and mind from further anxiety and worry. We are trusting the Lord.

Psalm 91 makes mention of trusting the Lord in verse 2 of that psalm.

The word translated as trust here in the Strong’s Concordance is a Hebrew word that means to have confidence in and to be secure. Strong’s Concordance makes mention of a Hebrew Lexicon called the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament and refers to its meaning of this word trust to feel safe or careless, or that is, carefree.

The point is that when we are truly trusting the Lord that we have an inner feeling of safety and carefreeness. That’s the peace of God that passes all understanding, and it belongs to the child of God in Christ.

Enjoy that peace in your life today. Take your requests to God in prayer, give Him thanks for His faithfulness to help you in every situation, and then let it go and relax into His perfect peace.