How do we find peace in a world that feels overwhelming? For many, the struggle with anxiety is deeply personal, but the answer may be clearer than you think.
J.I. PACKER, GOD’S CHARACTER, AND OUR ANXIETY:
I first read J. I. Packer’s classic book Knowing God when I was in college. As I read his opening chapter, I was struck by the rationality of worry and despair when we fail to meditate upon the character of God. Packer wrote, “The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you.”
Anxiety is only natural when we consider the reality of the world we live in—a world full of earthquakes, heartaches, divorce, and death. With that uncertainty, not to mention the grief and loss we know we can experience at any moment; doesn’t anxiety make sense? What is truly unnatural is peace and trust. There is a reason Paul defined the peace that God gives as something that “surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7 ESV). The world experiences peace circumstantially, but the Christian’s peace is not anchored in happenstance or circumstance but in the character of our heavenly Father.
GOD’S RESPONSE TO THE ANXIOUS
Whether it’s Job, Elijah, David, Moses, or Jesus’ anxious followers on the Mount of Beatitudes, God’s response to the anxious is not based on circumstances, nor does He explain His providential plan to those who ask for answers - He routinely responds in one way: He proclaims His own character.
God doesn’t say, “Let Me tell you why this is happening.”
He says, “Let Me tell you who I am.”
The strongest remedy, the surest balm, and the most comforting pillow God provides for the despairing and anxious is the revelation of His own nature. Have you ever realized that every worry is an invitation to draw closer to God? Every anxiety in your life compels you to direct your gaze to someplace or someone. Even when we walk through dark trials and deep valleys we must know that one of the primary purposes of trials in our lives is to wean us from this world and strip us of earthly hope so that we would cling to the hope and strength that can only come from God (James 1:2–4) Remarkably, for those who set their minds and fix their gaze on God, He provides His children with what our hearts are searching for—peace.
CONSIDER THE LILIES:
In His magnum opus on anxiety, Jesus, after exposing the root causes of anxiety, provided a prohibition against it by saying “Do not be anxious.” Thankfully, He didn’t stop there - He then instructs them to think on the character of our heavenly Father. Far from the shallow anti-intellectualism that we see among some churches today, the Christian faith requires deep thinking. And, to prompt His anxious followers to think, Jesus gives an unforgettable object lesson that detailed God’s loving care.
Jesus first instructed His followers to “look at the birds” (Matthew 6:26) and then told them, “Consider the lilies they do not labor nor do they spin thread for cloth, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!” (6:28–30 NKJV). Here Jesus argued from the lesser to the greater. In philosophy, this strategy is known as “a fortiori” because it forces us to recognize that if A is true, how much more certainly is B true? Jesus was compelling them to consider if God feeds, provides for, cares for, and sustains the birds, how much more will He feed, provide for, care for, and sustain those who are made in His image and whom He has purchased with the blood of His one and only Son?
PERFECT PEACE
We live in an anxious world, and every individual is asking, where can peace be found? There is only one answer: supernatural peace is only received by those who come to God’s supernatural Word and meditate deeply upon His loving and changeless character. The prescription Scripture provides for us is not simply to remove our anxiety but to replace our anxiety with an elevated trust in the character of our loving, sovereign, wise, and ever-present God.
The subtitle of this book is “Finding Perfect Peace in the Character of God,” but it must be understood, peace is not so much something you find but something you receive as you fix your gaze on the God we call “Father.”
In this book, you’ll discover:
- How dwelling on the character of God is the surest pathway to peace
- The root causes of anxiety and worry in the Bible
- What the Bible says about the integration of our physical and spiritual lives
- Why worry grieves God's heart as our Father
How to use this book:
At the conclusion of every chapter, there are reflection questions (that can be used for individual or small-group purposes) that are based on the themes and truths of Scripture that were examined. I pray these questions and the sections of God’s Word provided will help you direct your gaze at God, and equip you to support those in your church who might need the same encouragement. After all, it’s one thing to acknowledge and affirm God’s attributes; it’s an entirely different thing to behold, consider, and gaze.