I've been thinking about this verse a lot and listening to a Guided Meditation and Prayer about it.
I like this part: 'when we petition and ask, we release control to God and we are free to embrace an acceptance to things as they are. As we present our requests to God, a peace beyond all understanding begins to soothe our anxious wounds. We begin to feel a little more human and a little closer to God.'
Something I've been learning is that you can't make having peace contingent on getting relief. When we're struggling with mental suffering from anxiety, depression, rumination, we want relief. We read the above verse as a promise of relief. So, we present our requests to God, that he would help us with this burden of anxiety, etc, and then we expect relief, and then, when we don't get it, we get frantic again, and think nothing helps...even praying doesn't help.
But notice the quote above: "we release control to God and we are free to embrace an acceptance to things as they are". Often that is what's needed - acceptance. And, even as a practical matter of fact, that really is a solution to anxiety. The more we resist anxiety, the worse it is.
Earlier in the video, the speaker talks about how the normal way of the world is to respond to anxiety by trying to exercise control. Control and anxiety are 2 sides of the same coin and neither of them can bring us the security and full life we desire. The verse encourages us, rather than trying to exercise control, "to offer our experience to God. As we do that, even if our circumstances don't change, we are offered the gift of peace that transcends all understanding."
So that's how it works. The peace comes from us petitioning God and presenting our situation to him, and importantly, as the speaker in the video points out, that process is the opposite of exercising control. If we're still trying to 'get relief' we are trying to exercise control.
It's challenging because we really want relief. We want to be able to do something that brings relief. I've spent a fair share of my time getting worked up about my mental health issues and desperately seeking relief. But I've been learning lately that that attitude of desperation is a big part of the problem.
Of course, I believe God is loving and full of grace as well. He does want us to have relief. The verse is not some kind of sleight of hand that God uses to trick us so we can go through more pain because, in our ignorance, we keep trying to get relief. It's just that God knows better than us what really does bring relief.
Sometimes it's better and it's God's will for our suffering to continue. When that's the case, even though it doesn't feel like it, it's a gift from God. And, in the midst of that suffering, we can make our requests to God and 'the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard [y]our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.'
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