Meschill Billington

*This is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Chronic Peace for Chronic Pain, a 30-Day Devotional for Living with Chronic Illness

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 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.”

PHILIPPIANS 4:4-7

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My joy suffers when I am in a season of worry and anxiety. It’s hard to rejoice when faced with pain and fatigue, but this passage demands it! Is this just a mask that we place over our grimacing face? Not at all! How can we be genuine about joy when we don’t feel joyful? The text itself answers this question. We can rejoice because “the lord is at hand”. Earlier, at 3:20, Paul tells the Philippians that our citizenship is not in this earth but in heaven. While we are here, we are waiting for the return of a Savior. This also means that Jesus is near. This certainly deserves our rejoicing.

But let’s look at a difficult part of this passage – “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” (v. 5) The Greek word for “reasonableness is epieikes and means gentle, mild. The NASB translates it as “gentle spirit”. To have a gentle spirit, I must step out of myself and my current circumstances and look to the needs of not just myself but also others. The way I react to my difficulties shows others where my heart is. Do they see someone more concerned with the here and now, or someone who can be joyful despite the pain? If they see someone who perseveres, they want to know where that joy and peace come from. That’s a testimony and could lead my observers to Christ.

This passage doesn’t stop with just demanding a joyful and gentle spirit; it offers advice on how to get there in a genuine way, not just putting on a brave front – people can see through that right away! Because the Lord is near, we can take our anxious hearts to him through prayer. We are invited to let God know our requests. Notice that the text does not promise we will get exactly what we want, but it does promise peace. God wants to hear our requests, our longings, our worries, but we must remember that he knows what is best for us. Instead of taking away the pain, he may want to use it for his glory. Prayer changes us, and that is what gives us peace. This peace is beyond our understanding. If you have never experienced this peace that surpasses understanding, it is deeper than any peace that physical healing can give; it is the quiet reserve that God is in control and that his love for us is infinite.  The passage further qualifies that our requests are to be made known with thanksgiving. A wealth of peace comes from gratitude! There is an old hymn that offers a sweet melody with the words “count your blessings”.

Finally, we are promised that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds. I love that Paul uses the imagery of a soldier guarding something sacred. The Greek word here for “peace” is phrouresei, which, figuratively, means to hem in or protect. With the peace of God guarding our innermost thoughts, emotions, and intellect, we are protected from fear, worry, and anxiety that steal our joy and our effectiveness in a life of service to God and others.