About a Croissant, Cheese and Condiments
It’s been 4 months since a lockdown was imposed in South Africa to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The lockdown had the purpose of curbing the spread of the virus, focused mainly on the idea of social distancing, for earlier studies of the virus, at the time of the lockdown being imposed. It showed that although the virus is not really airborne like other related influenza type strains, the virus tends to spread through droplets left by coughing and sneezing.
Thus it was important to cut off the close encounter of people in close proximity to each other. This brings to the table the challenge of people, being social creatures in design, not to interact with each other in the way they would normally do.
Soon, everything from work, to meetings, to church services moved On (the) Line.
This caused for some, like myself, sometimes feeling bouts of anxiety, however the anxiety was also felt in other areas of my life, like my finances and also job security, for the phased approach of lockdown meant that a lot of business sectors was forced to closed down for the month of Level 5 lockdown (where luckily where I work for an Internet Service Provider, which was a part of the 5% of businesses that were operating). However, it meant the company I work for also felt the strain of not getting about 90% of revenue because of the other 95% of sectors being closed.
As an effect, I would find me some nights tossing and turning and having sleepless nights, not knowing what the morning will bring.
As I am a Christian, I am aware of the little promise verses that people tend to paste freely onto their Social Media, like, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” – Philippians 4:6 NIV
For some, this has become just an empty (almost empty) like a pre-printed, mass-produced Hallmark Greeting Card, with the intention to encourage or say “ I am thinking of you”, yet not really getting into the mess with the person.
So I am not going to deny the fact that, even as a Christian, the reality of Anxiety is a real thing to me, and that sometimes well intended words or phrases are not always going to cut it, but I am going off-track ever so slightly.
For I believe hopefully by the end of the written piece, that there are some helpful nuggets of gold to be found in my words.
(This written piece does not have the intention of addressing the realness of mental health challenges, which for some – with anxiety, might have also come to the forefront. If you are aware that you have some form of mental illness, I would recommend that you seek professional medical advice regarding your illness.)
So back to the verse: Some translations and commentaries say of the word “Anxious” in context of the verse, can also refer to being in two minds about something which I think can be illustrated with this photo of my table, whilst writing this blog entry.
This makes sense to me, for although I take the Truth of God’s Word to heart, I can easily be side-tracked by the enemies intention to “Steal, Kill and Destroy [my life]” (John 10:10) in the sense that through my mind being thrown in the ebbs and flow of life, the devil would have the opportunity to get a footing in my life , with the ultimate goal to completely take one more out, yet this dual-mindedness can be counteracted by prayer, petition and worship to God – in other words spending time with God and growing in relationship with God.
“Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Then come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.”
– Matthew 11: 28-30 TPT
This verse above from The Passion Translation exemplifies exactly my reasoning that in times of being anxious and having your mind all over the place, that seeking relationship with God, spending time with Him and learning His ways will bring you into a place of refreshment and will bring nourishment to your life.
A regular go-to for me, when I don’t have the words for Worshipping God, is the poetry book of Psalms which can be found around the middle of the canonical order of the Christian Bible amongst the books of Wisdom (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs).
Psalms were not exclusively written by David (from the tribe of Judah), but by many others by worship leaders in the tribe of Levi, (or in the line of the Levitical Priests for they were called to be the worshippers).
In Psalm 139, which according to the subscript by modern Bible translators, written by David, this Psalm explores that God is fully aware of who we are as individual and unique human beings (Psalm 139: 1-10) but even more so, wants us to come to Him with the anxieties that we are facing, that He is not unaware of what we are facing and that He is right there, even when the sleepless hour comes (even 4 months down the line).
“Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
– Psalms 139: 11-12 NIV
I think an example that many Christian Preachers have referred to in the past (as I did for the next part of the blog , has been great influenced by a message by Pastor Chris Mendez, Lead Pastor of Hillsong Latin America )(with church locations in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay) when looking at the seasons when things does not make sense at all, is the example of Job (also happens to share the same proximity in the canonical order of the Bible as the some historians saying it could be Moses who wrote it).
For those that are not so familiar with the storyline of Job: the main character, Job, lived in the land of Uz, and was rich and prosperous in his earthly possessions but had a devoted reverence and followed God.
It is also told in the opening verses of Job, that the angels of the Lord (and Satan, a fallen angel that rebelled against God) gathered in a meeting before God. Satan (or Stan as my AutoCorrect decided to call him), called and questioned Job’s loyalty and reverence to God. God said in turn that Stan (remember my autocorrect naming of the Deceiver) can have control of all Job’s prosperity and possessions, yet do not have any right to take away Job’s life.
And in the opening chapters of the book of Job, the possessions and people closest to Job are taken from him.
Even though Job had been severely stoned-walled, his Faith in an unshakeable God did not waver. From his life, we can learn that where the wall stood, it did not stop him from worship and being in fellowship and seeking relationship with God.
Job also did not allow the circumstance to change what he believed to be the truth, and kept on speaking this narrative, even though in his world deception was the norm.
Furthermore, he did not allow the situation he is finding himself in, the chaotic mess of death and destruction, to distract him from whose he is and what God’s perspective is in the chaos.
So bringing it to the topic of anxiety, this can also be practically applied when the night of sleeplessness comes, through our worship, our confession and not allowing our human perception to not cloud the Eternal perspective of God on our situation.
So may I bring these words of “Awake my Soul”, a worship song by Hillsong Worship, over your life when the darkest hour comes knocking at your door:
“ And when we pray
Where stood a wall now stands a way” –
Awake My Soul – Written by Brooke Ligertwood – © 2019 Hillsong Worship
In conclusion:
- May God bring a way through the stone wall you are facing
- May God also make His presences known when the dark grasp of anxiety wants to overwhelm you
- May you allow the indwelling Spirit of God set your mind to be set on the things of life and Peace and seek God’s will in Everything, even when you have no strength in your own ability (Philippians. 4:8, Romans 8:6, 2 Corinthians 12:9)