Being Still In Faith By Mike Buchanan
In 1990, my family faced a difficult decision. Our mom had developed complications from high blood pressure. Without surgery, she would be dead within a year. The only other option was for her to have surgery. The surgery had its own risk: there was a one in three chance she would die during surgery. The doctors wanted to know which option we wanted to choose. We wanted a third option. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. We figured two in three for survival was better than 1 in 1 for death. So, we set an appointment for surgery on June 18, 1990. Then we prayed and tried not to worry.
I learned that night it is extremely difficult, maybe impossible, to both think on the things listed in those verses and worry simultaneously. Anytime I started to worry, I just started thinking about the positives and the worry left. Something else I learned that night was that as powerful as God’s Word is until it means something to someone personally, it means nothing. The fact was I had memorized those verses in high school 6-8 years before and had in effect read those same verses dozens of times before that Sunday night. It wasn’t until I needed to hear those verses, however, that they really came alive.
At church, the Sunday night before surgery, a friend told me not to worry. I replied it was easier said than done, but I asked for a suggestion on what to do to counteract the worry. The friend referred me to Philippians 4:6-8 (NIV), “Be careful for nothing; but in everything 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. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” The word careful can also be translated as anxious. She said when you start to worry, think about the things talked about in Philippians.
My encouragement to you, dear reader, is this— No matter what you are going through: divorce, illness, unemployment, death of a loved one, whatever it is, God is there, and He is in control. He just needs you to believe He has your best interests at heart, and He will work all things out for the good of those who love Him (see Romans 8:28). Sometimes the best way to let God be in control is just to be still and know that He is God. The season of faith I went through in 1990 is where the following writing came from. By the way, Mom survived surgery and was with us for two more years.
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