Confronting Anxiety Meditations No.13: Imposing Circumstances
Causes: At the beginning of this series I said we would consider causes and reasons, causes being things imposed upon us from outside ourselves, and reasons being the inner workings of our minds. So we’re going to start looking at ‘causes’ of anxiety that come from outside us.
Mary & Joseph: Caesar’s decree at this particular point in time was, for Mary and Joseph, a genuine cause for anxiety. It meant that Joseph would have to leave Nazareth and go and be checked in at Bethlehem at the whim of this dictator hundreds of miles away. As if such an imposition by the strong on the weak wasn’t bad enough, he would have to take his fiancé with him who was in the last weeks of her pregnancy. Even if she could ride on a donkey, the three-day journey would be highly uncomfortable for her, and they could never know just when the baby would come under such circumstances. Joseph would be worrying about Mary and Mary would be worrying about her baby. Oh, let’s change that word worrying – they would be anxious!
Immovable Impositions: Now let’s state a very obvious principle from the outset: when the powerful world imposes trying circumstances upon the less powerful populace, anxiety may be a natural response, but the truth is, almost certainly we will not be able to change those circumstances. All we can do is change how we feel about them and therefore how we cope with them!
Now I believe that even our small actions can have big influence and our voice may join others in protest or vote, but beyond that we are limited. When the firm feels it has to downsize, we may find ourselves without a job and in the majority of cases nothing we can say or do can change the firm’s policy. We are simply out of work. When, as has happened in the last couple of years in Europe, an insecure and corrupt dictator creates a war which affects energy prices, then there is nothing we as individuals can do to change the economy, and certainly nothing about the crazed dictator.
Really? But is that totally true? We, as Christians, hold to that wild belief that somehow prayer not only changes us, but it can change the circumstances. Often it means we have to keep on and on praying and ‘not give up’ (Lk 18:1) trusting that when the Bible encourages us to pray, somehow it will affect the outcome. If we could only see all the prayers that saints have uttered throughout history, I am sure we would see a considerable number of outworkings that would surprise us. So, yes, prayer is the first line of both defense and attack when the enemy raises negative circumstances against us via his agents.
True Sight: While we are at this point, I really believe the children of God need to ask for their eyes to be opened to see the works of darkness behind so much evil in this world. This means we need a much greater discerning perspective on the world. Scripture gives us clues. For example when Satan came against Job, he first of all stirred up the distant Sabeans on one of their plundering expeditions (Job 1:15), and then similarly the marauding Chaldeans (Job 1:13). Now how does he do that? It’s very simple. He simply appeals to their self-serving, violent, godless natures suggesting here was easy plunder. Job done.
Light versus Darkness: Now all such activities – indeed all those instigating violence and wars – are works of darkness, and as children of the light we should recognise the spiritual battle and ask the Lord to stand against the darkness which may be manifested through a variety of forms of deception which we’ll consider in the next study. But for now, we need to realise all such things are works of spiritual darkness and use our spiritual weapon against them – prayer.
The Fallen World: But many of the imposing circumstances that create anxiety are simply workings of the fallen world, often simply people trying to manage a world with limited resources (that’s what economics is all about) and with their own limited wisdom and knowledge, almost never seeking God for what they need. But this is the world of politics and economics where there are no easy answers without God’s knowledge and wisdom.
Daniel’s Example: So there we are being pressed down under a heap of anxiety by the circumstance in which we find ourselves. It is at this point that Daniel has some lessons for us after he had been snatched from Israel by Nebuchadnezzar’s plundering forces in 605BC. Observe. First, he refused to be brainwashed into becoming the same as the others in Nebuchadnezzar’s court (Dan 1:8). Second, he acted with wisdom, grace, and humility in respect of those who were over them (Dan 1:8b,11-13). Third, he was open to the Lord to equip him with spiritual gifting (Dan 1:17). Fourth, later, he was clearly a man of prayer (2:17,18) who was open to hear from God and believe what He showed (Dan 2:19-23) and then act on it (Dan 2:24-). Fifth, despite being fearful, he shared God’s revelation with the king (Dan 4:19-).
Supernatural Living? We could add more but here’s the challenge: Daniel was committed to obey and be available to God and so it meant that he lived a supernatural life. But isn’t that what all of us in the family of God are supposed to be doing? We are indwelt by the divinely supernatural Holy Spirit, and by divinely supernatural, I mean being open to receive the wisdom, insight, and general revelation of the Spirit, and also His power. Is that who we are? And if not, why not? When everyone else is in stress mode, shouldn’t we, as children of God, be those experiencing and using these divinely supernatural resources – just like Daniel did?
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