Philippians 4:6-7

DISCOURSE: 2160
A DISSUASIVE FROM CAREFULNESS

Philippians 4:6. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

MAN is a prospective creature: he is able to look into futurity; and to give, as it were, a present existence to future things. Indeed, it is from anticipation that his greatest joys and sorrows flow. This faculty of foresight is that which eminently distinguishes him above the rest of the creation. Other creatures equal him in actual enjoyment; but he alone can overleap thousands of intervening years, and derive pleasure or pain from the contemplation of distant events. It is to this faculty that the Scriptures are principally addressed. They set before us the final issue of present things; and declare, that our conduct in this life shall meet with a suitable recompence in the eternal world. Thus, by the hope of good and the fear of evil, they stimulate us to flee from the wrath to come, and to lay hold on eternal life.
But though this power is capable of being turned to such advantage, yet, through the corruption of our hearts, it is too generally abused. Men look only at things visible and temporal, instead of looking also at things invisible and eternal. Moreover, their expectations of future good are generally too sanguine; and their apprehensions of future evil weigh more upon their spirits than the occasion requires. Hence arises in their minds an excessive “carefulness,” which it is the design of Christianity to counteract.
In the words which we have just read, we have,

I. A dissuasive from carefulness—

By “carefulness” we are not to understand, attention; for that is absolutely necessary to the discharge of our duties in the world: but we are to understand, anxiety; which, as far as it prevails, argues a state of mind that is injurious to ourselves, and displeasing to God.

The great occasions of anxiety may be reduced to three;

1. Some good desired—

[Men, in different situations of life, have their hearts set upon such things, as may possibly be attained by them, and such as they imagine will conduce greatly to their happiness. Some are eagerly pressing forward to the attainment of honour: others are insatiable in their thirst for gain. Some are altogether wrapped up in an idolatrous attachment to a fellow-creature; others are disquieted, like Rachel [Note: Genesis 30:1.], and Hannah [Note: 1 Samuel 1:5.], because they are disappointed in the hopes of a family.

But all such anxieties are sinful. We may desire the good things of this life: but our desire must be subordinated to the will of God: and, while we use the proper means of attaining our wishes, we must use them with an entire submission to the disposals of his Providence.]

2. Some evil dreaded—

[Evils foreboded, are often more painful than when actually endured. They not unfrequently press with such a weight upon the mind, as to incapacitate men for the exertions, which would serve at least to mitigate their trials, if not altogether to avert them. For instance, men are sometimes so overcome with the apprehensions of a heavy loss, that they are unable to prosecute with attention their proper business, whereby the loss, if sustained, might be in time retrieved. And it is no uncommon thing, to find men sacrificing their honour, their conscience, yea, their very hopes of salvation, in order to avert some impending calamity.
But it would not be thus, if we considered every thing, even “the falling of a sparrow,” as regulated by an all-wise God. We might endeavour with propriety to prevent an evil; but we should never be so intimidated by its approach, as to be driven from our dependence on God, or induced to violate our duty to him.]

3. Some trouble felt—

[When trouble is heavy or accumulated, whether it be from disease in our persons, or embarrassment in our circumstances, or the loss of some dear relative, how ready are we to give ourselves up to sorrow, as if our wound were incurable, and our misery irremediable! The instances are not few, wherein men are so overwhelmed by their afflictions, as to have their intellects impaired, and to be reduced to a state of mental derangement. Yea, even worse effects than these are sometimes produced by trouble: for the unhappy sufferers take refuge in suicide; and plunge their souls into hell, to rid themselves of their temporal distresses.
We are not forbidden to give way to grief. The Saviour himself wept at the tomb of his friend. But are there to be no bounds to grief? Should not our sorrow be moderated by the consideration, that the cup is put into our hands by a gracious Father, and that, if drunk in submission to his will, it shall be sanctified to our eternal good? Such excessive “sorrow” is prohibited in the text; and well it may be; since “nothing” can warrant it, and its operation is so injurious.]

While the Apostle thus dissuades us from carefulness, he prescribes,

II.

An antidote against it—

Prayer is no less our privilege than it is our duty—
[God is ever ready to hear the prayers of his people; and he expects that we should “by prayer and supplication make our requests known to him.” Not that he needs to be informed by us; for “he knoweth our necessities before we ask [Note: Matthew 6:8.]:” but we ought to specify our wants, in order the more deeply to impress a consciousness of them on our own minds, and to make us duly sensible of our dependence on him, and of our obligation to him when our prayers are answered. On all occasions we should have recourse to prayer: “In every thing we should make our requests to God;” in doubt, for direction, (for he will direct our paths [Note: Psalms 25:9; Isaiah 30:21.]); in difficulties, for succour, (for he will give grace sufficient for us [Note: James 4:6; 2 Corinthians 9:8; 2 Corinthians 12:9.]); and in wants, for supply, (for he has engaged that we shall want no manner of thing that is good [Note: Psalms 34:9; Matthew 6:33.]). Nothing is so great but that he is ready to bestow it; nothing is so small, but that we need to ask it at his hands.

But, together with our prayers, we should always offer also thanksgivings. Our troubles are always mixed with mercies, for which we should pay unto our God a tribute of praise. A living man can have no cause to complain [Note: Lamentations 3:39.]. While we are out of hell, our troubles must be infinitely less than our deserts. We should therefore approach our God with gratitude for mercies received, and with a dependence on him for those we stand in need of,]

This would be an effectual antidote for excessive carefulness—
[If we commune only with a fellow-creature, we find some relief: but if we go to our God, he will enable us to leave ourselves to his gracious disposal, and to “cast our burthen upon him.” Our desires will be weakened by a submission to his will; our fears be allayed by a view of his providence; and our troubles be mitigated by the consolations of his Spirit.]
This part of our subject is more fully opened by,

III.

A special commendation of this antidote—

By carefulness “our heart and mind” is overwhelmed—
[We have before noticed the depression of spirit which results from excessive carefulness: and there is but too much reason to believe, that many really die of a broken heart. But where the effect produced by troubles is not so great, yet the mind is dissipated by them; and the thoughts are distracted, so that we cannot exercise them upon other objects, or even fix them in prayer before God.]
But by means of prayer, our hearts and minds shall be kept in peace—
[None but those who have experienced it, can conceive what peace flows into the soul, when we are enabled to commit our ways to God. The heart that was agitated, becomes serene; and the thoughts that were distracted, become composed: yea, an inexpressible sweetness pervades the whole man, and turns his sorrows into an occasion of joy [Note: 2 Corinthians 12:7.]. “The peace of God,” thus infused into the soul, “keeps,” as in a garrison [Note: φρουρήσει.], both “the heart and mind;” so that if trouble seek to invade us, it can make no impression: not all the good that can be desired, nor all the evil that can be dreaded, nor all the trouble that can be felt, will be able to turn us from our God, or to retard our progress towards heaven.

This blessing comes to us “through Christ Jesus.” It is for his sake that our prayers are accepted: it is through him that peace is communicated to us in answer to them: and it is through his agency upon our souls, that this peace becomes a defence against the incursions of care. In short, from Christ Jesus this antidote derives its efficacy; and through him it shall be effectual for the ends for which it is recommended in the text.]

We cannot conclude without observing,
1.

How does religion contribute to men’s present happiness!

[Perhaps “carefulness” is a source of more trouble than all other thing’s together. Yet this is taken away, in proportion as we devote ourselves to God. It is true, religion brings with it, if we may so speak, its peculiar sorrows: (not that they spring from religion, but from sin: yet in our fallen state, they certainly are attendant on the exercise of religion.) But godly sorrow is salutary, while “the sorrow of the world worketh death [Note: 2 Corinthians 7:10.].” And, it we live nigh to God in prayer and praise, we shall be freed from the disquietudes which harass and distress the whole world beside; and shall dwell as in a haven of peace, while others are tossed to and fro, and are “at their wit’s end,” upon tempestuous billows. “Commit thy works unto the Lord,” says Solomon, “and thy thoughts (not thy ways only, but thy thoughts, the most fluctuating and ungovernable of all things) shall be established [Note: Proverbs 16:3.].”]

2. What enemies to themselves are they, who live in the neglect of prayer!

[If men desired no more than present happiness, they ought to be constant at a throne of grace; since it is there alone that they can get rid of their burthens, or obtain peace unto their souls. But the joys and sorrows of men are not confined to this life: they follow us into the eternal world, and abide with us for ever: and that which is the appointed mean of present blessings, is also the only possible mean of everlasting happiness. The burthen of guilt which lies upon us, can never be removed, but by prayer. Peace with God can never be obtained, but by prayer. And they who will not pray, voluntarily bind their own sins upon them, and reject the proffered mercies of their God, Think, ye prayerless people, how your conduct will appear to you at the day of judgment: “Had I prayed, my sins had been forgiven: had I prayed, I had now been happy beyond all the powers of language to express: but the time is past: prayer will not avail me now: my weeping will be fruitless; my wailing irremediable; my gnashing of teeth eternal.”
O that we might all awake from our slumbers! O that we might “arise, and call upon our God!” Then should we understand the efficacy of prayer, and experience its benefits both in time and in eternity.]