Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests he made known unto God [Phil. 4:6]. Be careful for nothing is sometimes translated: Be anxious for nothing, or not overly anxious. The fact of the matter is that Paul seems to be making a play upon two indefinite pronouns: nothing and everything. Let me give you my translation, which I call the Johnson’s Ad Absurdum. It goes like this:Worry about nothing; pray about everything. Prayer is the secret of power. Worry about nothing. In verse 4 we were given one of the new commandments God has given us: Rejoice. Now here is another commandment. Worry about nothing; pray about everything. Nothing is a very interesting word. If you have something, its not nothing —that is not correct grammar, but it is an accurate statement. Nothing is nothing, and you are to worry about nothing. Does this mean we are to look at life through rose- colored glasses, that we are not to face reality? Are we to believe that sin is not real, that sickness is not real, that problems are not real? Are we to ignore these things? No. Paul says that we are to worry about nothing because we are to pray about everything. Nothing is the most exclusive word in the English language. It leaves out everything. Worry about nothing. I confess that this is a commandment I sometimes break—I worry. But the reason we are to worry about nothing is because we are to pray about everything. This means that we are to talk to the Lord about everything in our lives. Nothing should be left out. Some years ago, I am told, a dowager in Philadelphia came to Dr. G. Campbell Morgan with this question, Dr. Morgan, do you think we should pray about the little things in our lives? Dr. Morgan in his characteristically British manner said, Madam, can you mention anything in your life that is big to God? When we say that we take our big problems to God, what do we mean? They are all little stuff to Him. And what we call little He wants us to bring to Him also. As believers we need to get in the habit of bringing everything to Him in prayer—nothing excluded. When I go on a trip in my car and it involves several hours of driving, I invite the Lord Jesus to go along with me. I talk to Him and tell Him everything about Johnson A. Chacko, things I wouldnt tell you or anyone else. I tell Him everything. I think we ought to learn to do that. We ought to pray about everything. Let me share with you an admonition by Fenelon, one of the mystics of the Middle Ages, which seems to encompass what Paul meant when he said, Pray about everything. Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads ones heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self- love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself as to others. If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration, just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God. For many years I have carried this quotation in my Bible, and every now and then I take it out and read it. Maybe you think it sounds very pious when I am willing to testify that I take my burdens to the Lord in prayer. I must confess that after I spread everything out before Him, when I finish praying, I pick it all right back up, put the problems back on my shoulders, and start out with the burden again. That is my problem. The Lord wants us to trust Him so that we worry about nothing, pray about everything. I wish I could say to you that Im as free as the bird in the trees, free as the bees gathering honey. Thats the way He wants us to be. I have a mockingbird in our yard. He gets my fruit, but I feel it is right for me to pay him something for the song he sings for me in the night. Now, actually, he isnt singing for me. I dont think he cares much whether I hear him or not. But he has a mate sitting on some eggs, and it would be a pretty boring job to sit on a bunch of eggs. So this mockingbird sings to his wife all during the night. The other morning I awakened around two oclock, and, my, how he was singing to her! How lovely. While sitting outside on my patio I noticed this mockingbird. He looked at me with disdain, flew right over to my apricot tree and started to eat apricots. He never asked me for permission to eat. He is free. He doesnt worry about finding something to eat. He knows those apricots will be there for him. My friend, do we really trust God like that? Worry about nothing and pray about everything. With thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Paul never lets prayer become a leap in the dark. It rests on a foundation. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Prayer rests on faith, and faith rests on the Word of God. Now he says that when you go to God with a request, thank Him. Thank Him right then and there. I know some commentators who interpret this to mean that when you get your answer to your prayer, you are to go back and thank God. Well, thats not what Paul said. Paul was able to express himself in the most versatile language which has ever been in the world, the Greek language, and he was able to say what he wanted to say. What he says is that when you make your requests, right there and then you are to thank God for hearing and answering your prayer. Now perhaps you are thinking, But maybe God wont answer my prayer. I have many unanswered prayers. My Christian friend, I do not believe that you have unanswered prayers, and I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself for saying that you have a heavenly Father who wont hear and answer your prayers. You may have prayed for a certain thing and didnt get it, but you did get an answer to your prayer. Let me illustrate this with a very homely illustration. My friend Robert’s dad was not a Christian, but he was a good dad. He ran a rice mill, and the machine would always be running. We would go in there when we were little fellows and Robert ask for an Ana coin for ice fruit. He would reach down in his pocket and give his son a coin. One time my friend asked him for a bicycle. He said he couldnt afford it, and the answer was No. I can tell you today that I never made a request of him that he didnt hear and answer. Most of the time the answer was no. Actually, his dads no was more positive than his yes. His no ended the discussion. In fact, I have never understood young folk today who keep on arguing with their parents after the parents have handed down a decision. When his dad said, No, that was the end of the discussion. I have learned now perhaps you are thinking, But maybe God wont answer my prayer. I have many unanswered prayers. My Christian friend, I do not believe that you have unanswered prayers, and I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself for saying that you have a heavenly Father who wont hear and answer your prayers. You may have prayed for a certain thing and didnt get it, but you did get an answer to your prayer. God has a lot of spoiled children. When He says no to them, they pout and say, I have unanswered prayers. You dont have unanswered prayers. God always hears and answers your prayers. You can take anything to God in prayer, the big things and the little things. How can you sort them out? They are all little things to God. Let me give you another homely illustration. At the time of the building of the Panama Canal, after two or three failures, when the successful project was under way they wanted to go right through with it, and so the crew had no vacations. To compensate for it, the workers families were sent down to be with them. So a certain young engineer, his wife and little son were sent down. Because of the danger of malaria, they were put out on a houseboat. Every afternoon that young engineer could be seen rowing himself out to the houseboat. One evening he had those long blueprints all spread out while his little son with his toy wagon was playing at his feet. Suddenly the child began to cry. A wheel had come off his wagon. The little fellow had worked with it and tried his best to put it back, but it was a hopeless project for him. Now would you think that the dad would shush him and put him out of the room—maybe tell the mother to come and get him because he was disturbing his work? No. He just laid aside the blueprints of that great canal, picked up his little boy and asked him what was the matter. The youngster held up his wagon in one hand and the wheel in the other. The father took the wheel and put it on the wagon with just one twist of the wrist. He kissed away the little fellows fears and put him back on the floor where he played happily. He was a good father. Now, my friend, it is God who put that father instinct deep down in the human heart of man because He is a compassionate Father. When a wheel comes off your wagon, it may look like an impossible problem to you, but He will hear and answer your cry. If He says no, it is because that is the best answer you could have. After I lost my human father, I lived several years before I turned to God and found that I had a heavenly Father. I learned that I can go to Him with my requests, and He answers me, as my human father used to do. And many times His answers are no.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 12:43:24 +0000