It is written in our Scriptures: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, that surpasses all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Yeshua the Savior” (Phil. 4:6-7).
“Be anxious for nothing...” What liberation of heart and soul is here commended; what consoling balm for wounded past; what divine remedy offered to meet our need! “Be anxious for nothing,” and this includes the very anxiety of being nothing, for the word is perhaps better (though less poetically) rendered as “don’t be anxious for anything.” That is, don’t be troubled with cares; don’t be inwardly divided, unsure of what matters most. “Be anxious for nothing.” Don’t allow anything to steal your secret hope and joy...
Salvation means deliverance from what binds you. It relieves you from heavy burdens, the crack of the whip upon your back, the tiresome realm of meaninglessness and monotony. Salvation is “lightness of being,” heavenly repose that passes all “natural” reasoning.
This is the very message of peace embodied in our Lord, spoken plainly and without condition: “Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Come unto him and find your comfort. Come as you are, but come...
You might object by saying that you are unworthy; you are weak and wretched of heart, that your faith is small... Indeed it is so, but what of it? What are you saying before the face of God’s Redeemer and our Savior? Could it be any other way for you?
“Come unto me all who that labor and are heavy laden...” Weary over you afflictions, the common sorrows in this vale of tears, yet, even more so weary of your own self, that tiresome inner conversation within yourself, the self you have contemned and reprimanded because you have measured yourself against illusion, the self that has at times betrayed you and even enticed you to self-destruction...
Do you compare yourself to others? Do you measure yourself against some ideal and judge yourself unfavorably? Do you recoil at your own mediocrity? Are you ashamed of your inadequacies? Do you want to be someone else? To “lose” yourself in the fantasy of being other than who you are? Or do seek above all to be in control? Do you push back in defiance, drink sour grapes, and become bitter over at your unjust fate? Do you protest that you were given a bad hand of cards? Are you in despair over your lack of perfection, your “dust and ashes” existence?
O “fearfully and wonderfully made,” do you fear being invisible, unknown, small, insignificant, and unworthy? Are you embarrassed over your own image?
God is so awesome he made himself as nothing for your sake... Before the Lord we “fall at his feet as one dead,” but it is he who lays his hand upon you, saying “Fear not; I am the first and the last.” I hear profound pathos in these words of comfort from our Lord. Wisdom realizes we are but nothing, but love insists we are everything. A note for each pocket: one says “I am dust and ashes,” the other, “For me the world was created.”
Before God we will indeed feel our insignificance and our wretchedness, but before God we will also find our eternal value and beauty. We fall on our face in our nothingness; we rise to our feet as God’s beloved child.... We fall at his feet as one dead -- this is our despair over ourselves -- yet the pierced hands of his love take hold of us, consoling us... “Don’t be afraid... I am the First and I am the Last... I am the source and end of all that matters most; I reach out and touch you in love for you.
The first and most significant step is to “show up” (or to be taken up in a vision) to confess your great need for God. We may have “sanctified ambivalence” when we do so; we may feel both fear and desire; we may look upon ourselves in despair as we are drawn to God’s glory and beauty... But like Ruth we dare to lay at the feet of Boaz in hope of his love.
Find God or die. And even if you have failed as much as “seventy times seven times” in your faith, and even if - as Peter did - you have denied him in your heart, you have found courage to come back, to refuse to give up your hope. As the holy Scripture encourages: “Lord, to whom shall we go? you alone have the words of eternal life.” There is no other...
When you die and come before God’s glorious presence, the Lord will not compare you to Moses or the great prophets but will simply require you to confess who you really are. “Your heavenly Father sees in secret and will reward you openly.” True, there is judgment but it will turn on whether you have accepted God’s love for your life. You may have squandered some opportunities to serve and honor God, but even that is redeemed by our gracious and compassionate Savior. God is able to work “all things together” for his glory and for your good... Confessing the truth of God’s salvation is the heart of right judgment.
So accept yourself as accepted in the beloved. Your life is not an accident; it’s not a mistake; you were meant to be born and to come into this world. Your life really does matter, and it matters on levels of which you cannot yet comprehend. God has a purpose and deep reason for your life, exactly and such as it is (Jer. 29:11). Trust that God’s love is overcoming all your darkness and fear. “Be anxious for nothing...” Amen.
Psalm 139:14
אוֹדְךָ עַל כִּי נוֹרָאוֹת נִפְלֵיתִי
נִפְלָאִים מַעֲשֶׂיךָ וְנַפְשִׁי יֹדַעַת מְאֹד׃
“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works,
and that my soul knows very well.”
Hebrew page (pdf)