Serenity

As I enter this time of prayer, I repeat the words of Psalm 130:5, slowly, several times, making them my prayer to God:

‘I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.’

Pause and repeat

Having completed our study of Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane, today’s reading takes us back to Chapter 2 of God on Mute and includes our Bible reading which comes from Philippians 4:6–7.

Pause to read the bible passage

Pete writes, ‘As the day of Sammy’s surgery approached, we found great comfort in the promises of the Bible. I’m not just saying this because it’s the sort of thing Christians are supposed to say in situations like this. The Bible addressed our fears in a way that no person could and gave words to things we were struggling to express. Almost every night we went to sleep clutching a verse for dear life’* One of our favourite verses at that time was Philippians 4:6–7: ‘Do not to be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’ This simple exhortation not to worry, with its practical reminder to pray about every little thing we were facing, and its assurance of supernatural peace often brought us comfort at a truly terrifying time in our lives.

God’s peace ‘transcends all understanding.’ It isn’t index- linked to outward circumstances. In one of the darkest moments of my life, waiting to tell Sammy that she had a brain tumour, ‘I became aware of a kind of inner warmth … Doctors would probably call it shock, but to me it felt a lot like the presence of God’.**

How, according to the apostle Paul in this passage, is it possible to replace anxiety with serenity?

Pause and reflect

You’ve probably noticed, Lord, that I don’t have a lot of faith left for big breakthroughs, but I’m going to try to see Your hand at work in the details of the next twenty-four hours. Let Your peace guard my heart (which is hurting) and calm my mind (which is racing). Make me more aware of You in spite of my circumstances today.

Pause and pray

As I bring this time with God to a close, I pray the serenity prayer of Reinhold Niebuhr:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

*Pete Greig, God on Mute, David C Cook, (Colorado Springs, 2020), p42

** Ibid, p40