Tag: Peace

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The Anxiety Cure (Psalms 3-4)

In 2017, I began a journal of my anxiety. I wanted to think through what was really going on in my head. So, every time I got upset or started to worry too much, I wrote down what I was experiencing. It was a revelation.

I was anxious over all sorts of things. I had anxiety because people didn’t agree with me. I had anxiety because I played Dutch Blitz very badly. I had anxiety because I wanted to watch a movie, and I couldn’t find two hours to do it in. I had anxiety because other people had anxiety about changes in the church. I had anxiety because I was giving advice, and I noticed resistance to that advice. The list could go on and on.

One thing that amazed was how many things in my life caused me anxiety. I felt threats all around me. I suspect that I am not particularly weird in this. I think we all deal with anxiety more than we tend to think. It’s part of the human situation. We see all kinds of issues. We have a limited capacity to deal with them. Anxiety is the result of that gap.

But why does it matter that we have anxiety? What is really the big deal? It keeps us from thinking about our duties. It saps our energy from the good goals we could and should be pursuing. It often hurts our relationships because it leads us to attack others or withdraw from others wrongfully. It affects our health because of the way we deal with our anxiety. One of those areas is sleep. Sometimes anxiety makes us want to avoid our problems and just sleep all the time. At other times, it keeps us all night and robs us of sleep.

In Psalms 3 and 4, the psalmist expresses his anxiety over enemies, the ungodly, and the future. “Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!” (3:1). “Many, Lord, are asking, ‘Who will bring us prosperity?'” (Psalm 4:6). What is he going to do about it?

Psalms 3 and 4 give us the anxiety cure. We are not meant to deal with anxiety in ourselves. We were meant to take it to God. Psalms 3 and 4 are prayers to God in the midst of anxiety. They point us to the fact that in our anxiety, we should go to God and seek from Him the things that we need. Whenever we struggle, we are not without resource, we can go to God!

Not only is God able to deal with our problem, the very act of praying helps us with our anxiety. In the midst of our anxiety, we tend to see only our problem. However, prayer enables us to see not only our problem but also the God who is over the problem and is for us. David saw the enemies that were opposing him, but when he went to God in prayer. There, He saw the Lord: “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high” (Psalm 3:3).

The result of all this was that David experienced peace. He did not let anxiety consume him because he unburdened himself before the Lord. His peace is described in terms of sleep. “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side” (Psalm 3:5–6). “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8).

In an anxious world, we are not without resource. We can go to God in prayer with confidence because Jesus has opened the way. The result will be that we will see not just the problem but the God above them who has them completely under his control. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

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Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

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The Sure Sign of God’s Forgiveness (Zechariah 3)

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The big question of the prophets was this. How does the world survive? How does the world survive when there is so much injustice, evil, and sin the world? This is a big problem because God is a holy and pure God. As Habakkuk puts it, He is of purer eyes than to look on iniquity. He is a God of justice and righteousness. He is the one who will deal with those who do wrong.

We often don’t appreciate that message because our tendency is to see injustice and wrong-doing as something that is out there in somebody else. However, the prophets realized that this was bad news for everybody, including themselves. They wondered, how can I stand in the presence of a holy God? Woe is me, I am undone! Said Isaiah. Until we get this perspective, we really will not appreciate the message of the prophets to us today. However, if we get it, if we see the wrongs that we have done and struggle with guilt, then their message is for you. It enters into your struggle and provides an answer.

The prophet Zechariah received eight visions from the Lord about the same time as Haggai. These were meant to encourage the people in their struggles as they returned from exile. In the chapter you have read, we have the fourth vision of Zechariah. It provides one of the clearest answers to that question of how the world survives the wrath of a holy God in all of the Old Testament. It is a really beautiful passage that describes the way that God deals with sin and brings forgiveness and transforming grace to His people.

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An Ever Present Help (Mt. 28:20b)

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Christians today look at the world and are anxious about it. The world seems to be becoming more and more hostile to our faith. Our values seem to be under assault.

In addition, things are changing so fast. The past year has accelerated so many trends that were already underway. Power is shifting throughout the world.

What are we to do about it? Most people are afraid to even bring up these topics with their neighbors. We often look out on the world as if we just have to watch it with a sense of foreboding and doom. What are we to do?

Matthew West captured this sentiment well in a song that he wrote a few years ago.

Well, I just couldn’t bear the thought of
People living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So, I shook my fist at Heaven
Said, “God, why don’t You do something?”

He said, “I did, I created you”

That song was called, “Do Something.”

We are not called to sit passively back and let the world slide into destruction. God calls us in this text to get involved in changing the world. Particularly, He wants us to make disciples of all nations.

The Presence
Now, that seems daunting. Who are we to do something about the big problems in the world? You might say, “I’m scared even to talk to my neighbor about Jesus.” You might say, “I have a hard time even talking to people at all.” You might say, “I’m young and can’t do anything.”

I’ll never forget a conversation I had a few years ago with a man in our church. He felt like he should be a deacon, but he was scared. He didn’t think he could do it.

So, I asked him, “Do you know what God always says when He calls people to do something?”

“Get going?” He responded.

“No,” I replied. “He says, ‘I will be with you.'”

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A Cause of Great Joy for All the People (Luke 2:8–20)

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The Shepherds Encounter
About a month ago, my wife and I visited Georgia’s park at Stone Mountain. Besides climbing the mountain, we visited some of the tourist attractions. One of them was a 4D 12 minute presentation of the film The Polar Express. It was quite an experience.

One thing really struck me about the movie. We have the Hero Boy living his normal life. All of a sudden, something from beyond comes into the normalness of life. The magic of the world beyond has broken through. There, in the middle of the street, is a huge train, heading to the North Pole. Audiences give this movie a rare A+ and consider it a classic in part because it captures that magic of Christmas so well.

That movie captures something of what happened on Christmas night 2,000 years ago. The Polar Express is an imaginative, made up story. This story, the story of the angels and the shepherds and the Christ child, is real. It’s all true.

On a night like so many others, the shepherds were watching over their flocks. All of a sudden, an angel appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord filled the place. The angel said to them: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

God created human beings to be a joyful people. Joy is our natural state. This joy was rooted in the fact that human beings would submit to their place under God, rejoice in His love for them, receive His gifts, and take their place among the human community.

However, we all know that this is not the way we find humans. Alienated from God, we find them anxious and wandering. Alienated from God, we find them frustrated and taking on the weight of the world. Alienated from God, we find them trying to find joy by escaping into a smaller world through addictions to drugs, work, sex, or people. Alienated from God, we find them alienated from one another. Alienated from God, we find them under His judgment and ultimately sentenced to death. So, joy escapes them. Joy escapes us.

But the angel announces great joy, mega-joy, to play off the word in the original language. Why? Because, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” The Savior has come. It is the eternal Son of God come to earth. He is bringing us back to great joy. He restores us to God by taking on human flesh, suffering on the cross, and rising from the dead having defeated death. He is the Messiah, the one God promised who would destroy all the works of the devil and bring everything back to what He intended. He is the Lord, the great King, who is bringing in a new reign of joy and peace in the lives of people. Well, then, did the angels sing to God: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).

The Shepherds Tell
After the angels left them, the shepherds immediately went to see the Savior. “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about” (Luke 2:15). They said.

The angel told the shepherds that they would find the baby. “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12).

And, sure enough, it was just as the angel said. They found the baby. The sight of this baby Savior filled them with such great joy that they went and told everyone.

That’s what happens when we are filled with great joy. We want to share those good things. We are made for community, and we want to share our lives with others. That’s what the shepherd did. If we take in the great joy of Christmas deeply, that’s what will come out. When we find a great joy that transcends all our circumstances, we cannot but tell about it. This spreads the emotions of great joy. They are contagious!

I experienced this Sunday. Several folks from our church went Christmas caroling. We sang for those who have been watching our services from home. One of these families encouraged us to sing to their neighbors. One man came out as we sang. His ailing wife remained inside. As we sang, you could see he was deeply moved. Tears came to his eyes. His emotion brought tears to my eyes. I was moved by the wonder of the fact that we can spread the joy of Christmas by reaching out to those who are isolated and need a touch. This is something that I want to remember throughout the year and let the tears in the eyes of that man lead me to others who need the touch of Christmas joy throughout the year.

The Shepherds Remember
And that’s the key. To become people of great joy, it’s not enough simply to encounter the angel and the Christ child. We’ve got to actively remember what we experienced.

In the movie, The Polar Express, the Hero Boy recovers a bell from Santa’s sleigh. Santa gives it to him as the first gift of Christmas. However, he loses it because it goes through his pocket that the train had ripped at the beginning of the movie. He awakes on Christmas day to find the bell in his house. This is another confirmation of his supernatural experience. The key thing, though, is that he continues to listen to that bell throughout his life. That one experience and its reminder shapes his life and thinking for years to come to make him one who truly believes.

And that’s precisely what had to happen for the shepherds. They experienced a supernatural encounter that could change their lives forever. But they had to remember it. They had to keep it alive in their hearts and minds for it to become the story that changed their lives.

We get a hint of that from what it says about Mary. “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered thhem in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Through her memories, she experienced them again and again.

And that’s what we can do. As Ebenezer Scrooge said at the conclusion of A Christmas Carol, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” Like the shepherds, we can encounter the great joy of Christmas, but we can also let it shape our lives by treasuring it up in our hearts like Mary. Then, each day throughout the whole year, we can tell everyone about it and go about glorifying and praising God for all the things we have seen and heard. Merry Christmas. Amen!