“Have no anxiety about anything,” Paul writes to the Philippians. Yeah right, Paul, no problem. As much as I admire Paul, who was no stranger to anxiety, I’ve never found that particular bit of advice very helpful. Anxiety, it seems, is a constant in our lives—whether pronounced and immediate, or simmering just below the surface.
In his book, Whistling in the Dark, Frederick Buechner (pronounced Beek-ner), asks some important questions about anxiety. First, he asks: “Is anxiety a disease or an addiction?” He believes that it might be a bit of both, partly because you can’t help it, and partly because for some dark reason you choose not to help it, you torment yourself with detailed visions of the worst that can possibly happen.
Is it because we feel that it’s inevitable? That it’s not so much a question of “Why me?” but “When me?” What’s behind our anxiety? Since the worst things that happen are apt to be the things we don’t see coming, do you think if only we could anticipate something happening, you might be able to prevent it? Maybe—who knows? Whatever the case, stuff happens. Buddhism holds that “All life is suffering” meaning that sorrow, loss, death await us all. We Christians don’t deny this, but I think that we are—or at least should be—more hopeful. As Paul writes, while evidently in prison at the time and undoubtedly anxious, “. . .the Lord is at hand—have no anxiety about anything,” He goes on to say, “. . .by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Paul doesn’t deny that bad things will happen. He doesn’t try to minimize them, nor does he try to explain them away as God’s will, God’s judgment, or God’s method of testing us (for the record, I don’t believe any of that, and I don’t think Paul did either). He simply tells us that even when bad stuff happen, keep in constant touch with God. Keep on praying. Come Hell or high water, don’t stop. Keep on asking, keep on thanking, above all keep on making themselves known. Now, Paul doesn’t promise them that as a result they will be delivered from the worst things any more than Jesus himself was delivered from them. What he promises them instead is that “the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
The worst things will undoubtedly happen, and much of it will be beyond our ability to understand, but if we’re able to remain connected to God in and through Jesus Christ we can still have peace, in both heart and mind, even if only enough to get us through things. We know, though we often forget, that nothing—not even sorrow, loss, death—can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. In this knowledge, no matter what the circumstances, we can still say, with Paul,“. . .rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice!”