WATCHWORD JULY 2025
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4,6
Each and everyday there is a list of things that we can be anxious about. To name ‘just a few’ there are normal ‘everyday’ anxieties around money, health, work pressure, family responsibilities, and time management. There are also logical and serious anxieties, such as fear of losing a loved one, concerns about the future, safety, and fear of making the wrong decision. And then there are less logical and more irrational anxieties that we carry with us, such as overthinking conversations, social anxiety, fear that something bad will happen just because things are going well, and the list can go on and on.
The reality is that it is easy (and quite normal these days) to be anxious. This text however is aiming us away from our anxieties, towards God. In doing so this text is reminding us that if there is in fact something greater than the anxieties that you are facing, then it is God Himself.
We read in Psalm 23,4 that there is no need to fear evil for the Almighty Shepherd is comforting and guiding us. It is in words such as these that we see that rod and staff of our Loving Shepherd guiding us in our daily lives. For it is not always easy to quiet down or to put to one side the anxieties that we are facing. But this text however, is not just urging us to stop focusing on our anxieties, it is offering a counteraction.
Instead of holding your anxieties in your hands (not knowing what to do with them), look up and take them to God; lay them at His feet; and share with it with Him.
Why not trust Him with it— and see where that leads?
Pastor Ingrid van Sittert
