CARES FROM AN ANXIOUS HEART
Have you ever been embarrassed about the nature of what was
worrying you? You may have been fretting
over your son’s messy room when you found out that the son of a friend was just
arrested on drug charges…sort of puts things into perspective!
Last week I was in Ghana and was reminded
of how petty some of my concerns in life are when there are so many who have so
much less than I do and yet are perfectly content with what they have. Although there are some very large churches
there, there are many who are content to have a roof over their heads to stay
dry during the rainy season.
The homes are often barely able to provide
more than minimal shelter and the livelihood of a vast number consists of
roadside marketing of whatever products they can find to sell. When one of our biggest concerns was lack of
water pressure for hot water to shower in the morning, or the possibility that
the mosquitoes might bite, I realized very quickly that my contentment level
needed some work! Their concerns were
far more basic ones related to simple survival and the chance to take care of
the essentials of life.
Yet while I was aware of all that they did
not have, they were content without things they had never had and did not know
what was missing. In reality, many of
the complications and anxieties of our lives stem from having too many things
to keep up with. The Ghanaians have
their own anxieties and worries, their reasons to be discontent with their
state in life, but for a large percentage of the population, few will ever lose
any sleep over the kinds of worries troubling us on any given day in our
complex, modern culture.
Whenever I return from a trip overseas, I
am more content for a while…content with what I have, with how I live, and
without a lot of the extras that have become such a normal part of my
life. We can get so anxious about all
the things we want and don’t have that we miss the satisfaction and contentment
that could come from recognizing and giving thanks for what we do have!
How can we be both content and
anxious? How can we say we are satisfied
in Christ and yet worried about so many things?
THESIS: We become discontented and worried when we
set our hearts and minds on having the wrong things and trivialize the only
thing that will satisfy—life in Jesus Christ!
I. GOD SPEAKS TO
ME AND MY HEART IS SEARCHED AND MADE SURE.
Psa. 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and
know my anxious thoughts; 24
And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
--We
may protest that we are not really anxious about anything—sure, we may be
concerned about some unresolved matters and a little apprehensive about how
they are going to turn out, but not really worried!
--Why
not ask God to search around in your heart and see what He can find?
--Is
there anything “hurtful” embedded in there, anything that suggests that you may
not be ready to trust the promises and assurances of what God has already told
you in His Word?
--Unbelief
seldom occurs to us as something that is responsible for our failure to be
content and our tendency to suffer from anxiety and uncertainty.
A. WHEN GOD
SPEAKS, HIS WORD SEARCHES ME AND EXPOSES MY HEART.
--As
I read and understand what God says, His Word holds up a mirror to my heart and
shows me how much of my discontentment comes from my unwillingness to believe
what He says is true.
· Unbelief
suggests that He may not…
…supply all my needs
…be intimately acquainted with all my ways
…protect me from my enemies
…satisfy the deepest longings of my heart
…care whether I have a purpose and live accordingly
…have a plan for my life
...and a host of other nagging doubts!
--Reading
and studying His Word forces the issue and brings me face to face with my
confidence that what He says I can believe completely, or my questions of
whether He can be trusted totally.
B. WHEN GOD
SPEAKS, HIS WORD ASSURES ME AND RELIEVES MY UNCERTAINTIES.
--If
the searching power of the Word reveals doubts and exposes my dissatisfaction
with the trustworthiness of His voice, I can be assured that He can and will
build my faith and relieve my uncertainties if I am willing to allow His Words
to speak and His truth to withstand my inquiry.
1. His Word is True
2. His Word is Accessible
3. His Word is Flawless
4. His Word Is Broad
5. His Word Is Deep
Enduring the scrutiny of the ages,
withstanding the attacks of the skeptics, surviving the insults of the
arrogant—God’s Word alone offers a trustworthy foundation for the genuine
contentment that comes from being confident.
--When
God speaks, instead of my first instinct being unbelief and my first response
being skepticism, if I will listen honestly and openly, in what He says I will
find soul-satisfaction in the
trustworthiness of all that He says.
--The heart that refuses to believe what God says will
be incapable of experiencing contentment in anything—because such a heart
discounts and disregards His truth and seeks to be satisfied elsewhere.
II. GOD
SATISFIES ME AND MY HEART’s DESIRES ARE FULFILLED AND MADE COMPLETE
Psa. 65:4 How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You to
dwell in Your courts. We will be
satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
--When
God calls us to become His, He promises to satisfy us, to fill us with every
good thing needed to live an abundant life of full contentment.
--He
has chosen us to live for Him and to find in Him everything that our heart was
created to long for.
--Unfortunately,
when sin took over, our hearts began to crave that which is unprofitable and
inappropriate leaving us unfulfilled in what we want and neglectful of what we
need.
2
Pet. 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to
us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of
Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
A. EVERYTHING PERTAINING TO LIFE
--Much
of what most people are trying to find has more to do with death than
life…things that will not last, things that cannot matter, and things that will
perish with us.
--God
has called us to life, and therefore the desires He puts into the hearts of
those who belong to Him have to do with living life to its ultimate end,
maximizing each day to the greatest levels of satisfaction.
--God
satisfies us with “the goodness of His house” and pours out in full measure all
that makes life complete.
--So many of the things we are looking for not only do
not complete our lives but in many ways deplete them of the energy and focus we
could have invested in finding our satisfaction and contentment in all that is
truly good and right.
Conversations
(Sara Groves, 2001)
I would like to share with you
what makes me complete.
I don’t claim to have found the
truth, but I know it has found me.
The only thing that isn’t
meaningless to me is Jesus Christ and the way He set me free
And this is all that I have, this
is all that I am, it’s all that I have, and it’s all that I am …and it’s all
that I have…and it’s all...
--What
God brings to us and gives freely to us is all about life the way it is
supposed to be lived…and only what He gives can ever be said to be “all that I
am…all that I have…it is all.”
B. EVERYTHING PERTAINING TO GODLINESS
--The
life that He gives is made complete because it finds its fulfillment in genuine
godliness.
--Everything
pertaining to godliness, everything needed for each of us to have the image of
Christ restored in us, has been granted to us “through the true knowledge of
Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”
--If
you are not growing in godliness and the image of Christ is not being formed in
you, you cannot be satisfied because anything less than that leads to
discontentment, that nagging suspicion that there is more to life than we are
experiencing… which is in fact true until our hearts find Christ!
III. GOD SETS
HIS PEACE AS A GUARD OVER ME AND MY HEART IS SECURE AND CONTENT
--A
pre-requisite for contentment is the peace of God…that wonderful gift that He
gives to all who are willing to trust Him enough to leave everything in His
hands.
--If
we commit ourselves to place all of our desires, needs, concerns, even worries
in His hands, He promises to settle our hearts with the security and comfort of
His peace.
Phil. 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
requests be made known to God. 7
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Phil. 4:9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in
me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.
A. ANXIETY
CANNOT DESTROY WHAT GOD’S PEACE HAS SECURED.
--Regardless
of the source of our anxiety and worry, when God has secured our hearts with
His peace, nothing can rob us of that peace.
--His
peace guards our hearts so that our affections are not manipulated, and guards
our minds so that our thinking is not confused.
B. INGRATITUDE
CANNOT dISRUPT what GODLY prayer HAS surrenderED.
--Discontentment
cannot last long in the company of thanksgiving.
--Therefore,
feelings of ingratitude will not be allowed to disrupt what has already been
surrendered to God in prayer with thanksgiving.
--Once
I have given thanks for something that once bothered and troubled me, prayed
with gratitude for matters that once caused me to worry and become anxious, God
brings His peace and gives contentment where once there had been all kinds of
stirrings.
C.
DISCONTENTMENT CANNOT DISTURB WHAT GOD’S PROMISES CAN SATISFY.
--When
we combine gratitude with a gracious Word from the Lord, we can expect to be
satisfied.
--Trusting
that the promises of God are good chases away any thoughts of having to make
our own way in our pursuit of contentment.
--Contentment
is ours if we simply agree with the Lord about what we really need and then
rely on Him to meet those needs “according to His riches in glory in Christ
Jesus” (4:19).
--The
more we are willing to believe what God has spoken, to be confident in what He
says, the more we will enjoy a life of true contentment.
Simple desires and uncomplicated longings make it much
easier to find contentment in this world.
The children in Ghana playing games at dusk without any fancy toys
demonstrated contentment without appearing to have very much…an old inner tube,
a piece of jump rope, a patched up soccer ball, or friend to play with—these
things brought contentment.
We can choose to be anxious about what we
have, what we want, what we think we still need. But when all our desires are in and for Him,
we quickly find contentment because all we want is One thing—and he freely
gives in full measure the One who alone can satisfy us.
June 12, 2005
Providence Baptist Church
© David Horner 2005
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