Philippians 4:6

A DIVINE PRESCRIPTION

‘Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests he made known unto God.’

Php_4:6

What a simple prescription it is—prayer, supplication, thanksgiving; just those three ingredients and nothing more.

I. There is the first ingredient, prayer.—We have often heard the advice given to the anxious and careworn: ‘You must forget yourself; you must not think of your affairs, but occupy your mind with something that will divert it from its worries.’ How can a man do this more effectually than in prayer? Prayer draws our eyes away from self and fixes them upon God. Prayer weans our thoughts from our own weakness and leads them to rest upon His power. Instead of dwelling upon the worries of our lot or the difficulties of our position, we contemplate in prayer His faithfulness, His promises, and His love.

II. The second ingredient is supplication.—A distinction may be drawn between the two words. Prayer is the more general term; supplication is petition brought to a focus and carried into detail. You stand at a parting of the ways, and must follow one path or the other. Don’t make up your mind first and then ask God’s blessing when the step has been definitely taken. Consult Him from the very beginning and seek your earliest directions from heaven. ‘Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.’ And that burden of yours, whatever it may be, cast it upon the Lord. Tell Him point by point and item by item all the difficulty and all your need. ‘Roll it’ upon Him—that is the force of the original—roll it upon Him wholly and completely, and when you have done so do not attempt by want of faith to fix it upon your own shoulders again.

III. The third ingredient is thanksgiving.—One of the most powerful spiritual tonics we can use in moments of depression is to think of the mercies we have received at the hands of our Heavenly Father. For thinking soon leads to thanking.

Illustration

‘When General Gordon desired to commune with God he would drop his handkerchief at the door of his tent, and no one would disturb him then. Each soldier knew by the handkerchief lying on the ground that the General was at prayer, and none dare cross the threshold until he came forth again refreshed by his intercourse with God. And what was the result of this habit? Prayerful in everything, he was careful in nothing. When he was appointed to govern the Soudan, a post of manifold difficulty and peril, he wrote: “No man ever had a harder task than I have before me; but it is all as a feather to me. My work is great, but it does not weigh me down. I feel my own weakness, and look to Him Who is mighty, and I leave the issue, without inordinate care, to Him.” ’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

GOD’S CARE

The mind of any one of us would be soon broken down if we had to bear our own troubles and to work our own works without the thought of an overruling Providence—a loving and merciful Father—caring for us. And thus, looking at the question on the human side—from the needs of our own nature—we see how good and how necessary it is that ‘by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving we should let our requests be made known unto God.’

I. These words show us how, and in what spirit, we should do this.—We should do it with full and childlike trust. We should attempt no concealments from God; that is, we should be frank and open in our prayers. The danger generally is that we should conceal our wishes and our cares from God; should, perhaps, think that they are too trifling, or that there is no help for them. And if we act thus, the burden of them remains upon us; we receive no comfort nor relief. If we desire God’s help and God’s support under our cares, we must take those cares to Him and tell them to Him.

II. The text describes what ought to be the habit of our lives.—Most persons bring their burdens to God sometimes, at some periods of their lives; at times of special trouble or grief, when it seems as though their trouble was too heavy to bear alone. Most persons do this. But this is a very different thing from living habitually in openness of mind and confidence with God. That is what the Christian must aim at.

III. How different must be the feeling of him who has no such loving trust in God—who keeps his own counsel—bears his own burdens—and thinks it somewhat weak to trust his purposes and his troubles to God! He thinks himself wise enough and strong enough to guide and protect himself and his belongings. Such a claim may be sustained, though imperfectly, in the time of health and strength; but what becomes of it in the time of age and of sickness, when the strong arm becomes weak as an infant’s, and the clear brain and the resolute will are utterly useless and powerless?