~Daily Devotion 1st~

Pastor Pat Aman

Devotion November 1, 2006

"Anxiety"

WOW! Can you believe it is already November? Where has this year gone?

Thank you for all of your prayers. I arrived back home on Monday at

11:45 pm. I am still tired, but being back in my own bed and recliner will help me a lot.

Also I want to thank each person who helped me with the devotions during my trip. Bob, down loaded them to the site for me and corrected my grammar, Joanne let me use some of her devotions which was a great help, and Dot who wrote and furnished the devotions for over a week for me.

Please go to the following link and see the wonderful designs that Dot has added to the poem I have written. It is in the Monthly Feature Section of Coffee With Pat. Thank you so much Dot.

http://www.coffeewithpat.org/features.html

I have had so many people ask me the question, "how can I not worry?" I read a book, "Getting Through the Toughest Times" Written By: Stanley Baldwin, so today I want to share part of his study on this very question.

Today, let us take a look at the word Anxiety. Following is statements made my two different men. One a man that did not believe that God created the world, and the other a man of God, filled with the knowledge of the scriptures.

Charles Darwin knew the frustration of a worry he could not control. "I cannot enjoy the present happiness, "he said, "For anticipating the future, which is about as foolish as the dog who dropped the real bone for its shadow." Even though he saw clearly the folly of his worry, he kept on worrying.

So did L. E. Maxwell, despite his knowledge of the Bible's admonitions against it.

If neither Darwin's common sense or Maxwell's Bible knowledge solved their worry problems, what can?

"The unfolding of Thy words give light; it gives understanding to the simple" (Psalm 199:130)

It is interesting that Paul, who tells us not to worry (Philippians 4:6) "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.", also seems to say in other places that he himself does worry. What can this mean?

First, it is true that concern and worry are two different things, they need to be distinguished. The dictionary says that worry is "Mental distress or agitation resulting from concern..."

Anxiety or worry is stronger than concern. One might say that when concern takes control, it becomes worry.

In the Greek New Testament, as in English, we find two different words to describe greater and lesser degrees of care or concern. When Paul writes to "Be anxious for nothing," he uses merimnao. By contrast, when he writes just a few lines further on that the Philippians have kindly renewed their concern for him, he use the other word, Phronco.

It all seems to work out rather neatly; we can say to go ahead and be concerned (phroneo), but don't let concern become anxiety (merimnao).

Unfortunately, this neat packaging comes untied when Paul use merimnao to describe Timothy's commendable anxiety over the church. "I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state." So reads Philippians 2:20 in the King James Version. The New International; Version translates it with the extremely weak phrase, "takes a genuine interest." In the original it is the strong word merimnao.

It's worth noting that Paul describes Timothy as being likeminded with himself in this regard. Does that mean Paul worried over the Philippians church? Not only does it sound that way here, but Paul declares as much elsewhere. "Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concerns (mermna) for all the churches."

(2 Corinthians 11:28) "Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches."

What shall we think of this seeming contradiction in Paul? He tells the Philippians not to worry but declares that he himself does.

Various explanations have been suggested. Some say it's simply a contrast between the ideal and the real. The ideal is to have no anxiety, and we should strive for that. Nevertheless, Paul was human and he admitted that he sometimes worried.

But Paul clearly laments that the only ones who worried about the churches were himself and Timothy, hardly a proper attitude to have if his worry was a weakness (or a sin, as some have declared it to be.)

Others seek an explanation in the differing subjects of concern. In the natural, we worry about things we perceive as threats to ourselves. Worry is self-centered. That is what Paul condemned, tell the Philippians to commit their personal concerns to God in prayer instead of worrying over them.

Paul worried about the churches, about the spiritual welfare of others rather than his own needs.

The problem with this explanation is that Paul wrote. "Be anxious for nothing." He didn't distinguish between selfish and unselfish concerns. Besides, many of the worries that the most torment people today are for others; for children, for mates, for friends.

Furthermore, when we worry about others we are worrying for ourselves at the same time. We love these others for whom we are concerned, and when they hurt we hurt. That is certainly how it was with Paul and the churches

(2 Corinthians 11:29) Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

A third and better explanation is that the admonitions "Be anxious for nothing" is not a condemnation of worry but a prescription for dealing with it.

Dr. Duane Dunham, Professor of the New Testament Language and Exegesis at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, says the verb here is in the present negative imperative and should be translated, "Don't go on worrying."

Paul here admonishes us to resolve our anxieties rather than retaining them. Worry should not be open-ended, a treadmill to nowhere. Indeed, that is the difference between what we might call constructive worry and neurotic worry. Neurotic worry des not lead one to emotional mastery over the perceived threat. Constructive worry does lead to such mastery. Consequently, we can see that constructive worry makes one better able to cope with stress.

So, should we worry? No! Pray and turn it over to go and then let go of it. But be concerned? Yes, we can be concerned, but do not let it turn into worry.

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Joyfully, In The Master's Service

Blessings, Love, and Prayers,

Pastor Pat Aman