What Problems?

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


How comforting and challenging, convicting and consoling these verses are!

Do you think your problems are big?  I do.  They seem enormous.  Just last night I was thinking about something that worried me quite a bit.  Sometimes our worries can keep us awake deep into the night.

Thankfully, God's word doesn't leave much room for that.  Look how this passage is laid out:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice
        Be reasonable
                  Jesus is coming back
        Don't be anxious, but give your worries to God (with thanks)
God will bless you with a peace so great you can't understand it

Sandwiched by the idea of joy in God and the idea of incomprehensible peace are a two more commands: be reasonable, and don't worry.  And at the heart of it all is a promise:  "the Lord is at hand!"

I think that the bigness of how we see our problems is part of why God chose to frame this passage the way He did.  Our anxieties and our unreasonableness (lack of peace with ourselves or others) are not allowed room to be as huge as we think they are.  My problems are not the focal point of this picture.  They aren't even the frame around the picture.  The centerpiece, in all its glory, is the return of Christ.  And the frame, which is just as thick as the picture itself, is made up of joy and peace in our Heavenly Father.  Our unreasonableness and worry are relegated to a thin little mat between picture and frame--a little "do not" buttressed by some of the most amazing promises in Scripture.

I can't imagine if Christ's return took place during one of my times of worry.  My "huge" problems would be swallowed up in the vast weight of my Savior's glory.  The peace that passes understanding and the joy that conquers all sadness would become my eternal reality.  My "problems" would be revealed for what they are: embarrassingly small.  Lord, give me this perspective.  Surround my problems with the fortress of your joy and peace.  And let Your Son's return be at the center of my mind.