Election Day and Anxiety

No worries for our little grandson Luke on Election Day 2020. He has good parents caring for him—but, we have a good God caring for us! No worries!!

Today the big day we have been anticpating has arrived—election day! How are you doing with anxiety concerning who will win and what the next four years will look like? A calm and peaceful heart is attainable even today.

Philippians 4:6-7 “…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” These two verses apply to every single event, day, and moment of our lives. Today we have such an opportunity to make this truth real in our lives. Most people will fret all day and continue fretting into the days ahead. However, this is not how God desires for us to live. He does not want us to worry about ANYTHING, but rather, talk to Him about the situation and be thankful to Him. Fairly easily we can measure how we are doing in this area. Are we praying with thanksgiving, or tied up in knots with worry?

This Thursday morning I want to encourge you to “not be anxious about anything.” Plan to join our live group at Harborview Fellowship at 9:30 even if you have not been part of our study before. Or, you may join us on Livestream at discoverybaptist.org. I can’t guarantee the Livestream will be “live,” however it willl always be available within an hour of the completion of our study. Allow God’s Word to change your life from one of fretting to a life of peace and calm.

Worry

Our cozy little tree house Nehemiah and Mark built for the grandkids.

Last summer our son Nehemiah and Mark built a wonderful tree house in the woods on our property. Since then many little children (and some bigger ones) have scampered up the stairs and enjoyed a fun time in this place where imaginative play blossoms. One thing I particularly think of when I see this little place is the great carefree hearts of those who enjoy it. When did you last enjoy such freedom of care/worry?

While reading Jerry Bridges book “Respectable Sins” this week, particularly his chapter on worry, I found some thought provoking quotes. Consider this: Suppose someone you love were to say to you, “I don’t trust you. I don’t believe you love me and will care for me.” What an affront that would be to you! Yet that is what we are saying to God by our anxiety.  Jerry Bridges Another quote from John Newton (the author of Amazing Grace) caught my heart. “ [One of the marks of Christian maturity which a believer should seek is] an acquiescence in the Lord’s will founded in a persuasion of his wisdom, holiness, sovereignty, and goodness. … So far as we attain to this, we are secure from disappointment. Our own limited views, and shortsighted purposes and desires, may be, and will be, often over-ruled; but then our main and leading desire, that the will of the Lord may be done, must be accomplished. How highly does it become us, both as creatures and as sinners, to submit to the appointments of our Maker! and how necessary is it to our peace! This great attainment is too often unthought of, and over-looked; we are prone to fix our attention upon the second causes and immediate instruments of events; forgetting that whatever befalls us is according to his purpose, and therefore must be right and seasonable in itself, and shall in the issue be productive of good. From hence arise impatience, resentment, and secret repinings [i.e., complainings], which are not only sinful, but tormenting; whereas, if all things are in his hand, if the very hairs of our head are numbered; if every event, great and small, is under the direction of his providence and purpose; and if he has a wise, holy, and gracious end in view, to which everything that happens is subordinate and subservient; — then we have nothing to do, but with patience and humility to follow as he leads, and cheerfully to expect a happy issue. … How happy are they who can resign all to him, see his hand in every dispensation, and believe that he chooses better for them than they possibly could for themselves!” John Newton

I cannot express well enough how excited I am to be starting a brand new class for the Ladies Bible Study this week on the subject of worry. Do we really know what it is and do we actually know what to do about it? We will be doing the first chapter in Juanita Purcell’s book “Worry-Free Living.” If you don’t have a book, let me know. Please note that this book gives us the structure for what we will be discussing each week, however, many wonderful resources exist beyond it. In particular my son’s book “What if…How to Kill Worry and Anxiety Before It Kills You” would be an excellent supplement for our study.

See you on Zoom (find us at discoverybaptist.org) Thursday morning at 9:30.

DO YOU HAVE PERFECT PEACE?

My peaceful grandson Luke in the midst of a crazy Costco.

During my early 20’s God blessed me with an unusually wonderful 85 year old Bible study leader. Grace Burke. Many of the verses she often repeated to us have remained in my memory all of these years and have enriched my life for the glory of God. Among the most useful and dear of those verses came from Isaiah. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” (Isaiah 26:3-4)

The following explanation about “perfect peace” comes from David Guzik and I found his comments to be very informative and encouraging.

Some can have this perfect peace, but it is fleeting and they are never kept there. Others can be kept in peace, but it is not a perfect peace, it is the peace of the wicked, the peace of spiritual sleep and ultimate destruction. But there is a perfect peace that the LORD will keep is in.

“Whose mind is stayed on You:” This is the place of perfect peace, and the source of it. When we keep our minds stayed - settled upon, established upon - the LORD Himself, then we can be kept in this perfect peace. To be kept in this perfect peace, our mind must be stayed on the LORD. If our mind is stayed on ourselves, or our problems, or the problem people in our lives, or on anything else, we can’t have this perfect peace.

“Because He trusts in You:” This is another way of expressing the idea of keeping our minds stayed on Him. Almost always, you keep your mind stayed on whatever you are trusting. When we trust the LORD, we keep our mind stayed on Him. The battle for trust in our lives begins in our minds. If we trust the LORD, it will show in our actions, but it will begin in our mind.

If the LORD calls us to rely on Him completely with our mind, He appeals to our mind with a rational reason why we should trust the LORD - because He is everlasting strength. It isn’t that the LORD has everlasting strength, He is everlasting strength. End of quote from David Guzik.

Every day may we all be growing in our confidence of God’s care, direction, and sovereignty; and experiencing perfect peace.

This Thursday morning we will be zeroing in on Psalm 19. Please plan to join us as we have a great discussion of this Psalm and consider its reality in our lives.