Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God... will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Imagine your worries as a great big sack that you constantly heave around; your first choice would be to discard it. But we often lug that bag around because we don’t know how to get rid of it. We know God is always willing to comfort us, but why do we sometimes not feel peace even after praying to Him? Why does prayer not seem to work?

If we examine closer, we find that the problem lies not with God, but us. Perhaps we had knelt before Him with the wrong attitude—feeling doubtful but entitled to peace at the same time, rather than thankful for His blessings. This is like dropping our bag in front of God and expecting Him to take it. And when He doesn’t, we take it back and feel discouraged—which is the same as continuing to worry after prayer. 

There are two mistakes in this scenario. The first is feeling that God is obligated to reassure us. We need to remember that He is not a means by which we can feel better. He is our Lord, who should be feared and honored; yet also our friend, who is loving and faithful to dissipate all our worries. Feeling entitled to His compassion is a hidden form of pride which will never earn us His comfort.

The second mistake is making the quick decision to return with our bag while feeling unfulfilled. By doing so, we show a lack of trust in God’s express and loving desire to come to our aid. Were we truly confident in God’s love, there would be no hesitation in leaving our worries with Him.

Oftentimes, we are demanding in what we need from God and quick to blame Him when we are actually the ones jumping to what we think is His conclusion. However, when we come before God with the right attitude of being thankful and contrite, He will give us unsurpassable peace and carry our burdens for us. Then we will naturally find our outlook becoming brighter and our shoulders lighter—our whole person changing to reflect the grace of God.

Questions for Reflection

1.     When we pray, do we inadvertently treat God as a means to fix our problems rather than our Lord and Savior?

2.     Have we ever unknowingly blamed God for something that resulted from our own weakness?