Philippians 4:6

Php_4:6-7

Be careful for nothing

I.

The evil. An incessant concern for our temporal affairs; that over thoughtfulness so pointedly condemned by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. Consider--

1. The dishonour it reflects on God as the moral Governor of the universe. It distrusts His care of His own, and the man who cannot trust the God of providence will not trust Him as the God of grace.

2. Its effects on self. Though it is certain that it can produce no good effect, yet it is indulged in, and it corrodes the mind, sours the heart, and influences the whole system. Most maniacs are produced by this, not to speak of thousands cut down in the eagerness of their worldly pursuits, destroying soul and body together.

3. Its effects on others. It excites envy. I envy in others something which my covetous heart desires. I hate the person possessing it, and am therefore a murderer in my heart.

II. The cure.

1. Be careful for nothing. Retire from the world into yourself. Let the matter lie between God and you. Call not the world in as umpire.

2. Make your requests known unto God. He is your friend, able and willing to bear your burden and supply all your need.

(1) In prayer: there is no other way of approaching Him, and it is only prayer which will throw off the load.

(2) Prayer brings the plea, supplication urges it. God frequently delays to try your faith, and the persistence and energy of your supplication. But His name is yet Jehovah Jireh.

(3) With thanksgiving, which manifests the right state of heart.

(4) Without reserve. God cares for the least of His creatures as well as for the greatest. What we call little things are often of the greatest importance, either in themselves or their consequences.

III. The effect. The peace of God. (J. Summerfield, A. M.)

Care

I. An evil. Anxiety is to be avoided.

1. For our own sakes. The exhortation does not discourage economy and industry, although some fanatics make it do so. The same religion which tells us to be careful for nothing tells us also to be diligent in business, and if anyone under the cloak of the text becomes careless of the duties of life he denies the faith and is worse than an infidel. Still there are some virtues which become vices.

(1) Here is a man who by unstinted economy heaps up riches, and knows not who will reap them. The world promised him happiness in riches, and outside people say, What a happy man. But look at the wrinkles on his face; he is fearful of losing his riches and is apprehensive of beggary and dies, sometimes by his own hand.

(2) Here is another, careful of his good name--a good thing in itself--but the least thing said about him he feels acutely, and his peace is destroyed. The Christians duty is clear. He must not fritter away his life in anxiety about circumstances or good name. Anxiety cumbers people as it did Martha, and is both unwise and injurious. There are trials enough without making them. The anxious man is a wholesale trouble maker.

2. Because we are not our own. This is a question which affects both conscience and honesty. God made us. What we possess is not our own. God has purchased us by the precious blood of Christ.

3. Because anxiety is distrust of God. The promises cannot be broken; however adverse the circumstances. Anxiety is thinking meanly of God. While religion allows of grief, she forbids excessive grief. It is difficult to bear with affliction, but it is cowardly to succumb.

II. A preventative. Prayer is an appeal to Deity, which shows that we are not independent of Him; but it is an appeal to a Father. To be successful it must fulfil certain conditions.

1. It must be thankful--even in time of sorrow. Who of us has not something to be thankful for--food, raiment, etc.

2. It must be particular. There are some things which people think too insignificant; but who has sufficient knowledge to determine that. Has God ever rebuked you for going to Him? God cares for the sparrows, much more then for you.

3. Continual. No solitary supplication was ever forgotten. The answers will surely come, although in an unexpected way.

III. A consolation.

1. The peace of God. We do not know how it is infused into the heart, It passeth all understanding; but we may all feel it if we like.

2. It is the Saviours legacy; and nobody should be defrauded of it--My peace.

3. Some people try to keep the peace of God instead of letting the peace of God keep them.

4. Its medium is Christ Jesus. (W. M. Punshon, LL. D.)

Peace by Tower and power by prayer

I. The mistake from which we are dissuaded. Be careful for nothing.

1. This does not mean that we are to be stoically indifferent, and just to take life as it comes. Such a notion would be the death of all holy manly ambition, and would mean good for nothing. Man is not intended to be the sport of circumstances. His duties imply an earnest exercise of his powers, which is impossible without a measure of solicitude. Note the commendation which carefulness receives in 2Co_7:11. Were a Christian to fall into indifference Christianity would be gone.

2. The mistake against which we are dissuaded is that of laying the mind open to the worries which are ready to invade it--the disposition condemned in Martha. St. Paul would have us rise into the calm region of faith above all fret and paralysing fear.

3. Such an exhortation is not uncalled for. Over anxiety is one of the commonest of sins. Strange that it should be so we profess to believe that the Lord knows our sorrows, that His peace is sufficient, that He supplies all our need, and causes all things to work together for good. Surely such a belief should make us trustful, fearless, and calm. We may well cry, Help our unbelief.

II. The instrumentality for the repression of over anxiety (Psa_62:8).

1. Let your requests, etc. True, God knows our needs before we pray; but we may, nevertheless, find relief in telling them out to Him with the confiding love of a child. Enlightened prayer does not ask for miracle or any change in the Divine will. It only implies that asking is one of the appointed conditions of receiving, that the giving of the best things that the soul craves is the sole prerogative of God.

2. In everything. Prayer properly belongs to the whole of our condition. Whatever touches our life is important enough to be taken to the throne of grace.

3. By prayer and supplication. The language implies entreaty. Not vain repetitions, not noise as if God were afar off or indifferent, but the fresh warm cry of the hungry for bread.

4. With thanksgiving. Prayer should be animated with gratitude. While we are with God let us think of His goodness in welcoming us, His former gracious answers, His countless undeserved and even unsought blessings. Gratitude is one of the sweetest and most useful ingredients. Whilst it honours God it disposes to that faith without which we cannot pray aright. So we come to that trust which is the antithesis of inordinate anxiety. In prayer, distrust is distraction, and distraction weakness. The prayer of faith is the natural and appointed instrumentality for the repression of over anxiety.

III. The method in which this instrumentality works for the production of the desired result. Peace comes by power and power by prayer.

1. In prayer itself there is often a priceless enjoyment.

2. We obtain specific answers to prayers; not always, indeed, according to our fancies, but invariably according to Gods all-wise and perfect goodness, which is immeasurably preferable.

3. It is in the nature of prayer to soothe away unnecessary anxiety, and to sweeten such solicitudes as are wholesome; for prayer takes us into the presence of God, where all is calm. (J. P. Barnett.)

Be careful for nothing

Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. He is launched on the storm-tossed sea of life. He is a reed which grows up to be shaken of the wind. The pleasantest paths are not without their sorrows. The rose, however sweet it is, has its thorns. What then shall we do with our sorrows?

1. It is impossible to eradicate them, for in the very resistance we find a new cause of suffering. As the fabled Hydra of old, with one head severed from his body, sprang forward with a hundred in its place, so shall our resisted troubles be.

2. It is folly to resist them; as idiotic a task as Don Quixotes against the windmills.

3. Shall we suffer, then? We could if we were as strong as Atlas, who bore the world on his shoulders; but we are not Atlases.

4. Take them quickly, then, to the Divine Burden bearer. This is the panacea for all the ills that flesh is heir to.

I. Be careful for nothing.

1. Because there are higher considerations. Here we spend no end of time and thought on things which are not worth it, and neglect matters which deserve our most earnest attention. The life is more than meat, and the soul than life. The doctors bell and knocker never seem at rest; nor are the poor patients to be blamed for their importunity; but how is it that the body casket is so cared for and the soul jewel so neglected. Men are careful even to madness about their money, but utterly careless about eternal riches.

2. Because those necessary trifles about which we are obliged to think in some degree are all seen to and arranged by God. Cast, then, all your care upon Him; He careth for you.

3. Because the smallest affairs of life are entirely beyond our control. Man can do a great deal--he can flash a message round the world, and through the microphone hear the footstep of a fly, but he cannot add one cubit to his stature.

4. Because nothing is too small for God to arrange for. We are ready to believe that nothing is too great for God to care for, but it is difficult for us to confide in Him in little things. But the God who made the ocean makes the dew drop, and cares for both.

II. Be prayerful for everything. Some mercies will come unasked for; but those are sweetest which come in answer to prayer.

1. Because of the privilege of prayer. We have not only the care but the heart of God. The blood of Gods dear Son has opened the way to the mercy seat.

2. Because of the power of prayer. It has a soothing effect, as we know from earthly confidences.

3. Because there is no limit to prayer. There is nothing we may not ask Him about. It is His will. I will be enquired of.

III. Be thankful for anything.

1. Because we do not deserve anything but wrath.

2. Because ingratitude is one of the worst of sins. We are thankful for the hospitality of earthly friends, and yet though we have so much from God how thankless we are. Thankless hearts are like scentless flowers. (Thomas Spurgeon.)

Carefulness

I. Its nature. The root of the original word is a verb which signifies to divide. Such care as diverts and distracts the mind from its true and tranquil bent towards God. It is not common forethought and prudence that is forbidden. There is no warrant for carelessness, supineness, inactivity. Neither the indifference of the fatalist or of the sensualist are sanctioned here. But here is warrant for the man who believes that all things work together for good; that in things both great and small the Lord will provide.

1. In disappointment--adversity where prosperity was expected--the loss of those on whom our strongest trust was reposed.

2. In the pressing claims of business or the family.

3. Relax not any reasonable and temperate exertion, but listen God will provide sing the birds of the air, and whisper the lilies of the field.

II. Its causes.

1. An undue value of this present world. We reverse the apostles rule and walk by sight.

2. Practical distrust of God. The most orthodox are often guilty of this heresy. Faith in God is useless in the creed if it be absent from the heart.

3. Neglect of Christian privilege. All things are yours. The promises are ours, but we neglect to plead and to trust them.

III. Its evils.

1. Its essence is worldly mindedness. Unseen and eternal things are thrown into the background. And the snare is doubly dangerous and successful from the fact that it is not viewed as a sin, but cloaked under the specious names of prudence and care for family.

2. It cramps our benevolence. It knows nothing of lending unto the Lord and giving cheerfully. It anticipates the day when what can now be spent will be wanted. It will not trust God.

3. It engenders a close illiberal spirit in all the transactions of life. It stands by its rights, drives hard bargains, exacts the uttermost farthing. I cannot afford it. I must not wrong my family.

IV. The remedy. Prayer, including blessings sought and evils deprecated (supplication), joined with an acknowledgment of mercies past.

1. Be it what it may it is the Christians privilege to spread it before the Lord, like Hezekiah. You have kind friends, sound advisers; but go first to God; and when before Him pour out your whole heart, and you shall find a calm and stillness in heart prayer, which shall soothe every grief and care to rest. If you do not find it all at once pray on.

2. Be thankful, i.e., draw upon your experience as well as your faith; and remember that the Lords hand is not shortened that it cannot save, etc. (Canon Miller.)

Anxiety

I. Its folly. What good can anxiety do?

1. It is an idle thing; the mind hovers and flutters round the subject; goes over the same ground again and again, wearies itself in vain repetitions of the same cares and fears; but what has it done? has it advanced the matter one real step? Has it arrived at one good counsel, or set itself to one wise act?

2. It is an enfeebling thing; it eats the very life out of the energies; it leaves the man not only where he was, but ten times less capable and vigorous than at the beginning.

3. It is an irritating thing; it ruffles the temper, upsets the balance of the spirit; is the sure source of moodiness, sharpness, petulance, and anger; it sets a man at war with himself, his neighbour, Gods providence, and Gods appointments.

4. It is a sign of mistrust, of feeble faith, of flagging energy, and languid obedience.

II. Its cure.

1. St. Paul knew better than to attempt the correction of anxiety by human arguments. It may be useless, wrong, mischievous, but it is in us all; and let a man be sharply tried, he is anxious still. The conflict with any one of our evil tendencies is too strong for us single handed.

2. Bring in another person; introduce a new consideration; suggest a new motive. Tell us of One who amongst our other griefs has borne this, amongst our other sorrows has carried this (Isa_53:4); of One who in all our afflictions is Himself afflicted; in all our cares is Himself troubled (Isa_63:9); above all, of One who is not in some different and distant world, where the sound of human groans scarcely penetrates, where the burden of human distress is regarded as unreal, but who is here, in our world, at hand, present; who both foresees and remembers with us, feels with as well as for us, is touched with a sense of our infirmities, yea, was Himself tempted in all points (Heb_4:15). Then, in His presence, in His human soul, in His compassionate heart, we will lay aside our anxieties, rest from our burdens, take refuge from our fears and from our sins. (Dean Vaughan.)

The prayer of faith

In everything make your request known unto God, and then be careful for nothing. It is committed into Gods hands, rest and rejoice. These early converts were filled with an overwhelming sense of the blessings with which their lives were crowned. They found it easier to praise than we do.

I. The principle of deliverance from care is placed by our Lord, in the Sermon on the Mount, in a two-fold light.

1. The things about which we are tempted to be careful are things that perish. Their worth is but for a little time, and stretches but a little way. What matters a little more or less of earthly treasure. The souls satisfaction is independent of it. The true and enduring riches are within reach. To men who believed in and pined for the heavenly treasure, the appeal was conclusive. What matters the earthly substance which moth and rust are wasting daily, when we have a glorious treasure which defies decay and violence. They believed this and were careful for nothing. We believe less and are consumed with care.

2. This superiority to earthly things demands a keen discernment, a pure unworldly heart, which are rare. Who is sufficient for these things. The Saviour, pitying our infirmity, has another assurance to meet the needs of our trembling apprehensive natures. Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. We are not alone in this great universe, whose awful order, indifferent to our needs, strikes a shivering dread into our hearts. Behind the veil a Father is watching and caring, and by His vigilant providence is adding, in the measure in which He sees we need them, all these things unto us. Be careful for nothing; rest calmly in the care of God.

3. But we can not only rest but pray. He is no unknown Friend to whom we can commend our cause and then leave it. He is here in the silent sanctuary of our hearts. Perhaps our requests are shortsighted and foolish. Be it so. The best thing that we can do is to take them to God, and lay them before Him. His light will reveal, His fire consume the sensual, selfish element in our petitions; His burning presence will purify our hearts, and make our prayers powerful with Him. Prayer is the channel of communication between the careworn soul and its helper; and it fills its desolation with the sense of a living, loving presence, which charges the very atmosphere with benediction; it quickens a pulse of joy and hope in the numbness of its despair. He who has never known what prayer can do to calm a troubled and uplift a despairing spirit is dead to the deepest, richest experience of life.

II. But it must be the prayer of faith.

1. Christians complain bitterly that their prayers are not answered. But they do not understand the conditions. God nowhere binds Himself to answer our shortsighted requests. Did we see more clearly we should tremble lest He should. That would prove His heaviest chastisement. But He binds Himself to answer our prayers, in His own way. No praying soul is sent empty away.

2. The prayer of faith is the prayer which recognizes God as the supreme and perfect God. No man is in the way of blessing until he understands that in God alone can he be supremely blessed. Until he has made God his portion there is the deepest want of his being unsatisfied. This being recognized his wants fall into their true proportion. They are not extinguished, but they are no more imperative. It is no longer, Give me this or I die; it is, Give me Thyself and I live; and this, Give or withhold at Thy will. I have all, and abound in Thee.

3. The prayer of faith seeks conformity with the mind of God, without which it is idle to hope or pray for peace. Nine-tenths of our cares grow out of our mad desires for some unreal and delusive good. All cares that eat into the soul arise really from a striving against God. The first request of prayer is, Show me Thy will, and rule my will by Thine. Root out self-will, tame passion, calm desire, bring me into harmony with Thy pure and perfect mind, and then bestow what Thou seest is for my good. When a soul has said that, its brooding cares and wearing sorrows have gone as the mists of the morning vanish in the sunlight.

4. The prayer of faith never leaves out of its account the Hand that is always working for our deliverance, and never so mightily as when the storm gathers, and the great waters seem to overwhelm. And the prayer of faith never fails. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)

Prayer with thanksgiving

The two precepts balance each other. The first especially would be misunderstood if it stood alone. They are so connected with but as to exclude each other. You may have either, but you cannot have both. The careful is not prayerful; the prayerful is not careful.

I. Let your requests be made known unto God.

1. Requests.

(1) All creatures are dependent. The earth by dumb signs asks the rain from heaven to refresh its dust and make it fruitful. The air asks moisture from the ocean; the ocean from the rivers. All are needy and seek their supply from Him in whom all fulness dwells.

(2) Man with the greatest capacity is distinguished by the greatest need. The child is much more dependent on its parents care than the young of other creatures, So the child of Gods family needs much more from the Fathers hand. How many times has a man of sixty breathed? How vast the supply of air, and how close to his lips? The act of breathing seems an emblem at once of the creatures continual need, and of the Creators abundant supply. His goodness has compassed us about like the atmosphere; and when we open our mouth it is filled with good.

2. Make them known to God.

(1) The lower part of our nature is supplied as God supplies that of the beasts. But God desires company among His creatures. He did not find among them any fit for this until He made man in His own image. Fathers love to supply their childrens wants; inconceivably greater is Gods delight. Human fathers have a defective love in their hearts and a defective supply in their hands: they sometimes will not, and sometimes cannot, give what their children require. But our Father in heaven is not limited on either side.

(2) When man fell the relation was broken off it a great price the channel was opened again. God has, through Christ, made known His fulness: we should, through Christ, make known to Him our need.

3. Your requests--your own--not what other people have asked, or what you have learned to repeat. Jesus set a little child in the midst of His disciples, and said, Give me a childs simplicity. The wants it cries for are its own, and whether intelligible or not are real, not feigned. What element in the request of his little child goes home to the fathers heart, filling it with delight and opening sluices for a flood of gifts? It is this--they are his own childs own requests. This quality, yours, will cover a multitude of sins against grammar and other earthly laws.

II. By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

1. Prayer. This is the souls believing and reverential approach unto God. It is the prelude to the request and thanksgiving. The pattern prayer commences with Our Father. The prayer and supplication follow.

2. Supplication--the specific request. The word means asking, but its radical signification is want: hence it came to mean a craving for supply.

3. With thanksgiving--for past favours.

4. The relation of these two elements of a souls communion with God.

(1) Supplication with thanksgiving seems to intimate that we are apt to omit this latter ingredient, and to warn us that the omission will vitiate all. To ply the asking without the song of praise seems like taking some ingredients of the physicians prescription and leaving out one.

(2) The currents of grace run in circles as well as in nature--the believer draws from God a stream of benefits and returns the incense of praise.

III. Is everything.

1. Pray. At all times, in all places, about everything. Not on the Sabbath, or in church only. Our Father takes it ill if we send in our request for the pardon of sin, but ask not His counsel about the choice of a companion or an investment in trade. He is not a man of little faith who puts little things into his prayers.

2. Give thanks. There is nothing here contrary to nature. Gods commandments are not grievous. You need not give thanks for suffering, but even in sorrow there is room for praise. E.g.

(1) In the things you do not suffer--when in bodily pain that the mind is clear; or when suffering from calumny that you have a good conscience towards God; or when you have lost your money that your children survive.

(2) For the good sorrow brings in fruit unto holiness.

(3) But in all cases there is room for thanks in the unspeakable Gift. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Prayer perfumed with praise

1. By prayer is meant the general, and by supplication the particular act of devotion. Do not forget the second element. There is a good deal of generalizing in prayer. What we want is more definite pleading with God. When Abraham prayed he did not merely adore God but offered specific petitions, and Elijah prayed for rain there and then.

2. But whether general or specific we are to offer thanksgiving. Hence it follows--

(1) That we ought always to be in a thankful condition of heart. Thus will I bless Thee while I live.

(2) That the blending of thanks with devotion is always to be maintained. Though the prayer should struggle upward out of the depths, yet must its wings be silvered oer with thanksgiving. These two holy streams flow from a common source and should mingle as they flow; like kindred colours they shade off into each other.

(3) This commingling of precious things is admirable. Prayer is myrrh, and praise is frankincense. The holy incense of the sanctuary yielded the smoke of prayer which filled the holy place, but with it was the sweet perfume of praise. Prayer and praise are like the two cherubim, they must never be separated. Note how our Lord mingles both in the model prayer, and David in the Psalms (Psa_18:3). And so St. Paul (Rom_1:8-9; Col_1:3; 1Th_1:2; 2Ti_1:3; Php_1:3-4), and when he and Silas, when in the Philippian jail, they prayed and sang praises.

I. The reasons for mingling thanksgiving with prayer. In the nature of things it should be so. We do not come to God as if He had left us penniless. Thanksgiving is our right attitude towards One who daily loadeth us with benefits. You have cause for thanksgiving.

1. That such a thing as prayer is possible--that God should have commanded and encouraged it, and supplied all things necessary for its exercise--the blood-besprinkled mercy seat, the perpetual Intercessor, the spirit of grace and supplication who helpeth our infirmities.

2. That we are spared and permitted to pray. It is of the Lords mercy that we are not consumed. Like David we may not be able to go up to the house of prayer, but we can still pray. The prodigal has lost his substance, but not his power to supplicate.

3. That we have already received great mercy at Gods hands. If we never received another favour we have had enough for ceaseless praise. Whatever we may ask for cannot be one-half so great as what has been received. We have life in Christ; and that is more than food or raiment. If Christ is thine, He who gave thee Him will deny thee nothing.

4. That prayer has been answered so many times before.

5. That we have the mercy which we seek. We antedate our gratitude with men. Your promise to pay a mans rent when it has become due is the object of thanks before a farthing has left your pocket. Shall we not be willing to trust God a few months or years beforehand.

6. If the Lord does not answer the prayer we are offering, yet, still, He is so good that we will bless Him whether or no. How devoutly might some of us thank Him that He did not grant the evil things we sought in the ignorance of our childish minds. We asked for flesh and He might have sent us quails in His anger. The Lords roughest usage is only love in disguise.

II. The evil of the absence of thanksgiving.

1. We should be chargeable with ingratitude. Aristotle said, A return is required to preserve friendship between two persons; and if we have nothing else but gratitude let us abound therein.

2. It would argue great selfishness. Can it be right to pray for benefits and never honour our Benefactor.

3. Thanksgiving prevents prayer from becoming an exhibition of want of faith. If when I am in trouble I still bless God for all I suffer, therein my faith is seen. Is our faith such that it only sings in the sunshine? Have we no nightingale music for our God? Is our trust like the swallow, which must leave us in winter? Is our faith a flower that needs a conservatory to keep it active? Can it not blossom like gentian at the foot of the frozen glacier.

4. Not to thank God would argue wilfulness and want of submission to His will. Must everything be ordered according to our own mind? Much of the prayer of rebellious hearts is the mere growling of an angry obstinacy, the whine of an ungratified self-conceit.

III. The result of thanksgiving in connection with prayer.

1. Peace (verses 5, 7). Some men pray, and therein they do well; but for lack of mixing thanksgiving with it they come away from the closet even more anxious than when they entered it.

2. Thanksgiving will warm the soul and enable it to pray. Do not pump up unwilling formal prayer. Take the hymn book and sing.

3. When a man begins to pray with thanksgiving he is on the eve of receiving the blessing. Gods time to bless you has come when you begin to bless Him (2Ch_20:20, etc.). Our thanksgiving will show that the reason for our waiting is now exhausted; that the waiting has answered its purposes, and may now come to a joyful end. When you put up a thanksgiving on the ground that God has answered your prayer, you have really prevailed with God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The ideal manhood

1. This is a command given by one of the ablest professors in the school of Christ. Different schools turn out different sorts of scholars. A military school is understood to turn out good fighting soldiers; a law school good lawyers; a medical school good doctors; a classical school good scholars; the school of Christ a certain style of manhood after the pattern of Christ.

2. Here is a man trained in this school, and now a teacher. He is a prisoner, advanced in life, most sensitive, one who had been subjected to every pain and indignity, who lived a life enough to make anyone turn pale; and yet after all he had undergone he says, Let your disposition be such that you will see how many things you have to be thankful for; and when you ask for anything do it through the radiant atmosphere of gratitude. When the pendulum swung up and Paul was in the midst of abundance he knew how to be a simple humble man; and when it swung to the other extreme and he bore chains, he said, I have learned to be content. My manhood is more than my condition. I am master of circumstances, they are not master of me. Such was the style of manhood to be turned out in the school of Christ.

3. I am far from saying that this is easy or rapid of attainment; but I do say that such is the ideal portraiture of Christianity in the school of Christ. His school is like every other in that there is a difference of apprehensiveness in the scholars; but from the lowest to the highest there is this ideal set before them which they are to strive after--to give power to the inward man, to overcome appetites and passions, to endure troubles of every kind, and not stoically but rejoicingly, to have a hope that quenches fear, faith that annihilates doubt, endurance that can bear as much as God lays on. Not every man that comes from the university is a perfect scholar, but there is a bright ideal held up, and if the scholar does not approximate to it in a measure it is not the fault of the university but his own.

4. Can this ideal of Christianity ever be set aside? We live in a sceptical age, but a thing that has happened is a fact; and nothing can make it not to have happened; and since religion discloses what it is to live in Christ Jesus, and lifts up the conception of our higher being in its developed state, we are not going to lose it out of the world. There is nothing so powerful as a soul brought under such inspiration as St. Pauls, and no scepticisms will ever sweep it away. If you can live as Paul lived, and as thousands of Christians have lived, by other than Christian instrumentalities, then you are bound to show what they are, and where they are to be found.

5. If Pauls conception of the Christian life be true then every other is false--the ascetic view, e.g., pain, self-denial, of course, come, but with them come a spirit that welcomes the pain and turns the cross into a benediction. (H. W. Beecher.)

Be careful for nothing

The Christian is not half saved. God does not pay half his debts for him, and leave him to work off the rest. (Harry Jones, M. A.)

Casting care on God

Bulstrode Whitelocke, Cromwells envoy to Sweden, was one night so disturbed in mind over the state of his nation that he could not sleep. His servant observing it said, Pray, sir, will you give me leave to ask you a question? Certainly.--Do you think that God governed the world very well before you came into it? Certainly.--Then, pray, sir, excuse me, do you not think that you may trust Him to govern it as long as you live? No answer could be given, and composure and sleep followed. (J. L. Nye.)

Preaching and practice

Not many weeks before his death, Dr. William Arnot came on this verse in the course of expounding the Epistle to the Philippians. He gave a short summary of it, which he had found somewhere, and thought well worth preserving: Be careful for nothing. Be prayerful for everything. Be thankful for anything. A little child some time afterwards, overhearing his father speaking with anxiety about business, quoted these words, saying: Do you remember what Mr. Arnot told us?

Trusting God in little things

He is not a man of little faith who puts little things into his prayer. That very thing shows him to be a man of great faith. A feeble pulsation in the heart may keep the life blood circulating for a while near the centre and in the vitals; but it requires a great strong life in the heart to send the blood down into the tips of the fingers, and make it circulate through the outmost, smallest branches of the veins. In like manner, it is the strongest spiritual life that animates the whole course, even to the minutest transactions, and brings to God the smallest matters of our personal history as well as the great concern of pardon and eternal life. Everything: whatever is a thing to you, whatever lodges about your heart, either as a joy that you cherish or a grief that you are unable to shake away--in with it into your prayer, up with it to the throne. It is not right to choose, out of the multitude of thoughts within you, all the grave and goodly, and marshal them by themselves into a prayer. This is like one who had wheat to sell, and sat down and picked out all the full and plump seeds and brought them to market, while the heap was half made up of shrivelled, unripened grains. Prayer in secret, is a pouring out of the soul before God; and if it is not a pouring, it is not prayer. Anything left behind, cherished in you but concealed from God, vitiates all--takes away the comfort from you, and hinders the answer from God. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Trust in God the secret of happiness

There was once a poor coloured woman who earned a precarious living by daily labour, but who was a joyous, triumphant Christian. Ah, Nancy, said a gloomy Christian lady one day, who almost disapproved of her constant cheerfulness, and yet envied it--Ah, Nancy, it is well enough to be happy now; but I should think that the thoughts of your future would sober you. Only suppose, e.g., you should have a spell of sickness, and be unable to work; or suppose your present employers should move away, and no one else should give you anything to do; or suppose Stop! cried Nancy, I never supposes. De Lord is my Shepherd, and I know I shall not want. And, honey, she added, to her gloomy friend, its all dem supposes as is making you so miserable. Youd better give them all up, and just trust the Lord.

A short line best

Walk through today as well as you can, and God will undertake for your future. When you go forward out of today, to worry about it, you are over the fence, you are trespassing, and God will scourge you back into your own lot. When I have been fishing in a mountain stream, I have always found that so long as I kept a short line I could manage my fishing very well; but when I let my line run out, the stream took it down, and there I was, at the mercy of every stick that stuck up in the stream, and every rock that jutted out from the banks. I lost my fish, and I tangled my line; very likely I lost my footing also, and got over head and ears in the stream. Now, most men have cast out their line into life forty years long, when it ought to be but one day long. In consequence, they are not able to manage their tackle at all; but are pulled after it, stumbling first into this hole, and then into that; slipping up here, and slipping down there; straggling and splashing about in far more distressed fashion than the fish at the other end of the line--and, as a general thing, there is no fish there. Haul in your line! (H. W. Beecher.)

We may pray always

In the vestibule of St. Peters, at Rome, is a doorway which is walled up and marked with a cross. It is opened but four times in a century; on Christmas-eve, once in twenty-five years, the Pope approaches it in princely state, with the retinue of cardinals in attendance, and begins the demolition of the door, by striking it thrice with a silver hammer. When the passage is opened the multitude pass into the nave of the cathedral and up to the altar by an avenue which the majority of them never entered thus before, and never will enter thus again. Imagine that the way to the throne of grace were like the Porta Santa, inaccessible save once in a quarter of a century, on the 25th of December! With what solicitude we should wait for the coming of the holy day! It would make us fear we should die before that year of jubilee. How many years, or months, or weeks now to the time of prayer we should be constantly asking ourselves!

Pray about little things

Little cares should be brought to the Lord. Some persons, however, will bring their great cares to Him, but not their little cares. But this is foolish. It is the little cares of life that wear the heart out. One of the most cruel torments of the Inquisition was to place the poor victim beneath a trap, and let the cold water fall upon the head drop by drop. This was not felt at first, but at last the monotony of the water dropping always on one spot became almost unendurable; the agony was too great to be expressed. It is just so with little cares. When they keep constantly falling drop by drop upon one individual they tend to produce irritation, calculated to make life well nigh insupportable. To prevent this, then, God would have us take our little trials to Him as well as our great trials, and that, too, because we often bear up more bravely under the great and faint under the lesser.

Universal prayer

Do not keep prayer for grand and difficult occasions, and think that you can manage well enough by yourself in little, trifling things. Without God you can do nothing well, not the smallest. Get into the habit of looking and referring everything to Him. Just as the cautious shopman rings every coin upon his counter to see if it be true, the penny as well as the pound, so do you try all that you do by the test of God. Nothing is too common to be brought before Him who made the earthworm as well as the archangel. Nothing is too frequent for Him who regulates the pulse of the slave who sweats in the field, and the long-stretched career of the planets which sail in space. You cannot appeal to Him too often. He is never tired, of whom it may always be said, He worketh hitherto. (Harry Jones, M. A.)

The cares of life not to be unduly anticipated

A person says, I cannot understand how I am to get along when I leave my fathers house. Why should you see it till that time comes? What if a person going on a journey of five years should undertake to carry provisions, and clothes, and gold enough to last him during the whole time, lugging them as he travelled, like a veritable Englishman, with all creation at his back! If he is wise he will supply himself at the different points where he stops. When he gets to London, let him buy what he needs there; when he gets to Paris, let him buy what he needs there, when he gets to Rome, let him buy what he needs there; and when he gets to Vienna, Dresden, Munich, St. Petersburgh, and Canton, let him buy what he needs at these places I He wilt find at each of them, and all the other cities which he visits, whatever things he requires. Why, then, should he undertake to carry them around the globe with him? It would be the greatest folly imaginable. As to gold, why should he load his pockets with that? Let him take a circular letter of credit, which is good, yet not usable till he arrives at the places where he needs it. When he gets to London, let him present it to Baring Brothers; when he gets to Paris, let him present it to the Rothschilds. And as he proceeds, let him place it in the hands of the bankers of the various places at which he stops; and he will get the means for prosecuting his journey. Now, God gives every believer a circular letter of credit for life, and says, Whenever you get to a place where you need assistance, take your letter to the Banker, and the needed assistance will be given you. (H. W. Beecher.)

Prayer with thanksgiving

The currents of grace, like those of nature, run in circles. Take the case of ventilation. A tube divided longitudinally into two, or two tubes joined together, stretch from the interior of a building through the roof into the air. The air flows up through one lobe of the tube out of the building, and down through the other lobe into the building. When the process is set ageing, it continues. But if you stop the ascending current, you thereby also make the descending current cease; and if you stop the descending current, the ascending one is arrested, too. Ten lepers came to Christ with prayer and supplication. He gave them their request. But only one of the ten put in his request with thanksgiving; only one continued the circle and answered the getting of mercy by the giving of praise. The Lord marked and mentioned the omission. He felt well pleased with the circle of communion completed in the one who returned to give thanks; but He left on record for all ages His disappointment with those who greedily snatched the gift and forgot the Giver: Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? When there is spiritual life, the weight of Gods mercies pressing down forces the sacrifice of thanksgiving up. The pressure of the air does not make the heavy, sluggish water rise; whatever weight of air may press upon it, the water lies heavy in its bed. But when water is etherealized into vapour, then the weight of the air makes the vapour rise. The load of benefits that pressed on the nine lepers, finding their souls dull and dead, did not move them upwards; but the same load on the one Samaritan, finding him spiritually quickened, pressed his thanksgiving up to the Throne. The circulations of the ocean constitute a plain and permanent picture of these relations between a human soul and a redeeming God. The sea is always drawing what it needs down to itself, and also always sending up of its abundance into the heavens. It is always getting, and always giving. So, when in the covenant the true relation has been constituted, the redeemed one gets and gives, gives and gets; draws from God a stream of benefits, sends up to God the incense of praise. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Thanksgiving the ornament of prayer

Let your prayers be like those ancient missals which one sometimes sees, in which the initial letters of the prayers are gilded and adorned with a profusion of colours, the work of cunning writers. Let even the general confession of sin and the Litany of mournful petitions have at least one illuminated letter. Illuminate your prayers; light them up with rays of thanksgiving all the way through; and when you come together to pray forget not to make melody unto the Lord with psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Submission involved in prayer and thanksgiving

To refuse to praise unless we have our own way is great presumption, and shows that like a naughty child we will sulk if we cannot he master. I might illustrate the wilfulness of many a supplication by that of a little boy who was very diligent in saying his prayers, but was at the same time disobedient, ill tempered, and the pest of the house. His mother told him that she thought it was mere hypocrisy for him to pretend to pray. He replied, No, mother, indeed it is not, for I pray God to lead you and father to like my ways better than you do. Numbers of people want the Lord to like their ways better, but they do not intend to follow the ways of the Lord. Their minds are contrary to God and will not submit to His will, and therefore there is no thanksgiving in them. Praise in a prayer is indicative of a humble, submissive, obedient spirit, and when it is absent we may suspect wilfulness and self-seeking. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Prevalence of thanksgiving

Suppose you had promised to some poor woman that you would give her a meal tomorrow. You might forget it, you know; but suppose when the morning came she sent her little girl with a basket for it, she would be likely to get it, I think. But, suppose that she sent in addition a little note, in which the poor soul thanked you for your great kindness, could you have the heart to say, My dear girl, I cannot attend to you today. Come another time? Oh dear no; if the cupboard was bare you would send out to get something, because the good soul so believed in you that she had sent you thanks for it before she received your gift. Well, now, trust the Lord in the same manner. He cannot run back from His word, my brethren. Believing prayer holds Him, but believing thanksgiving binds Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Day of thanksgiving

Dr. Franklin says that in a time of great despondency among the first settlers of New England, it was proposed in one of their public assemblies to proclaim a fast. An old farmer arose, spoke of their provoking heaven with their complaints, reviewed their mercies, showed that they had much to be thankful for, and moved that instead of appointing a day of fasting, they should appoint a day of thanksgiving. This was done, and the custom continued ever after. (J. L. Nye.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

Php_4:6. Be careful for nothing.—R.V. “in nothing be anxious.” The word suggests the idea of a poor distraught mind on which concerns have fastened themselves, which drag, one in one direction, another in the opposite. Well says Bengel, “Care and prayer are more opposed than water and fire.” In all things, prayer—in nothing, care. By prayer.—The general idea of an expression of dependence. Supplication.—The specific request—the word hinting too at the attitude of the petitioner, e.g. clasping the feet of the person from whom the favour is asked. With thanksgiving.—The preservative against any possible defiance which might otherwise find its way into the tone of the prayer, or on the other hand against a despair which creeps over those who think God “bears long” and forgets to answer.

Php_4:7. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.—If we say the peace of God is so profound that the human mind cannot comprehend it, no doubt that is an admissible interpretation of these words; but it seems better far to say, the peace of God excels all that the mere reason of man can do. The νοῦς, the highest faculty of man as such, intended to be the guide of life, oftener brings anxiety than a calm heart. Shall keep your hearts.—As a watchman keeps a city. Lightfoot says we have a verbal paradox, for “to keep” is a warrior’s duty; God’s peace shall stand sentry, shall keep guard over your hearts. And minds.—R.V. much better, “and thoughts,” for it is not the mind which thinks, but the products of thinking which the word indicates. The sentry questions all suspicious characters (cf. Pro_4:23, and Mat_15:19).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Php_4:6-7

The Cure of Care.

I. That all anxious care is needless.—“Be careful for nothing” (Php_4:6). It is not forethought that is here condemned, but anxious, distracting care. Care is a kill-joy, and is the great enemy of Christian peace. The future is not ours; why be anxious about it? The past is done with, and regrets about it are unavailing. The future is provided for, for God, the great Provider, is ahead of every step we take towards that future. The ancient custom of distracting a criminal by tying him to the wheels of two chariots which were then driven in opposite directions well illustrates how cares may be allowed to distract the mind. We put ourselves on the rack when we ought to cast our care on God, not in part, nor occasionally, but in all things and at all times. Care depreciates the value of all our past blessings, and dims our vision of the blessings we now actually possess. After the great military victories of Marlborough in 1704, he one day said: “I have for these last ten days been so troubled by the many disappointments I have had, that I think if it were possible to vex me so for a fortnight longer, it would make an end of me. In short, I am weary of my life.”

II. That all anxious care should be taken to God in thankful prayer.—“But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Php_4:6). The best system of heathen philosophy regarded equability of mind, undisturbed alike by the troubles and allurements of the world, as the most perfect state of the soul; but it did not provide any adequate motive for attaining this desirable equipoise. It could only state the theory and insist on its importance; but refractory human nature had its own way, in spite of philosophy. The apostle supplies in these words a nobler and more workable philosophy. He not only exhorts us to tranquillity of mind, but shows us how it may be attained and kept. In all kinds of anxieties, and especially in the struggles of religious doubt, prayer is the truest philosophy. Our difficulties vanish when we take them to God.

“By caring and by fretting,

By agony and fear,

There is of God no getting;

But prayer He will hear.”

We should cast our care on God because He is our Father. A father’s office is to provide for his family. It is out of place for a child to be anxiously making provision for emergencies—asking where to-morrow’s food and clothing are to come from, and how the bills are to be paid. We should rebuke such precocity, and send the child to school or to play, and leave all such matters to the ordained caretaker. The birds of the air are taken care of; so shall we be, even though our faith is small. “Our prayers run along one road, and God’s answers by another, and by-and-by they meet. God answers all true prayer, either in kind or in kindness” (Judson).

III. That the peace of God in the heart will effectually banish all care.—“And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Php_4:7). The enemies of peace are: melancholy, to which the apostle opposed joy in the Lord (Php_4:4); want of self-restraint or intemperance of feeling or conduct, to which he opposes moderation (Php_4:5); care and anxiety, or unthankfulness and unbelief, to which he opposes grateful and earnest prayer (Php_4:6); the final result is peace (Php_4:7). The peace that God gives “passeth understanding”; it is deep, precious, immeasurable. God alone fully understands the grandeur of His own gift. It is an impenetrable shield to the believing soul; it guards the fortress in peace though the shafts of care are constantly hurled against it.

Lessons.—

1. Our sins breed our cares.

2. God is ever willing to take up the burden of our cares.

3. Only as we commit our cares to God have we peace.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

Php_4:6-7. The Remedy for Worldly Care.

I. A caution or warning.—“Be careful for nothing.”

1. This does not respect duty.—We must have a care for our Lord’s interests.

2. But having performed duty, we are not to be careful as to consequences.—

(1) Because unnecessary. Christ cares.

(2) Because useless. It cannot ward off the evil. The evil only in imagination. The evil often a good. Itself the greatest evil.

3. Because positively sinful.—

(1) It breaks a commandment.

(2) It sets aside promises.

(3) It undervalues experience.

(4) It distrusts God’s wisdom and goodness.

(5) It is rebellion against God’s arrangements.

(6) It is an intrusion into God’s province.

4. Because hurtful and injurious.—

(1) It often deters from duty.

(2) It destroys the comforts of duty.

II. Counsel or advice as to the manner in which the evil is to be avoided.—“But in everything by prayer and supplication.”

1. The correction is not a needless and reckless indifference.

2. The emphatic word here is “everything.” This describes the range of prayer. This precept is generally neglected.

3. The performance of this duty would correct carefulness. It places everything under God’s government, and leaves it there. It leads to a study of the divine will in secular affairs. Our prospects and plans are thus tested. It gives to every event the character of an answer to prayer—evil as well as good. Prayer, i.e. direct entreaty or petition. Supplication, i.e. deprecation. Thanksgiving for all past and present.

III. A promise as to the result of following this counsel or advice.—“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds.”

1. The mind and the heart are the seat of care.—The mind calculates, imagines. The heart feels fear, grief, despair.

2. The mind and heart are made the seat of peace.—“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.” The peace which God has flows from unity, from omnipotence. This is the peace of God, because He gives it.

3. This peace comes through Jesus Christ.—He produces the unity. He encircles with omnipotence.—Stewart.

Php_4:6-7. Anxious Care.

I. The evil to be avoided.—

1. Care is excessive when it is inconsistent with peace and quietness.

2. When it induces loss of temper.

3. When it makes us distrustful of Providence.

4. When it hurries us into any improper course of conduct.

(1) Anxiety is useless.

(2) Is positively injurious.

(3) Exerts a mischievous influence on others.

(4) Is criminal.

II. The proper course to be pursued.—

1. Prayer.

2. Supplication.

3. Thanksgiving.

III. The happiness to be enjoyed.—“The peace of God, which passeth understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.”—Dr. Robt. Newton.

Php_4:6. Subjects of Prayer.

I. For temporal blessings.—

1. Our health. Value of health. Dependence on God.

2. Our studies. Not to supersede diligence. Communicates a right impulse. Secures a right direction.

3. Our undertakings. Agricultural, commercial.

II. For spiritual blessings.—

1. For pardon. Of our daily sins in thought, word, and deed. Of all our sins.

2. For holiness in heart and life. Regeneration, faith, love, hope, meekness, zeal, resignation, obedience.

3. For usefulness and happiness.

III. For the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.—

1. On ourselves.

2. On our relatives and friends.

3. On the Church. 4. On the world.

IV. For the spread of the gospel.—

1. For the multiplication of the necessary means.

2. For the removal of obstacles.

3. For the success of labourers.

4. For the conversion of sinners.—G. Brooks.

True Prayer.

I. True prayer is specific as well as earnest.—Nothing is too little to be made the subject of prayer. The very act of confidence is pleasing to God and tranquillising to the suppliant. God is not only willing to hear the details, but He desires that we should tell Him.

II. True prayer consists of confession, supplication, and thanksgiving.—We are to confess our sins, ask forgiveness, and do it with gratitude and thankfulness. God will not answer the requests of unthankful beggars. Without thanksgiving what we call prayer is presumption.—Homiletic Monthly.

Php_4:7. The Peace of God keeping the Heart.

I. The nature of this defending principle.—It has as its basis forgiving mercy.

II. Its author.—“The peace of God.” It is called His peace, because that work of mercy on which it rests is His work, and He Himself communicates the peace.

III. Its property.—“Passeth all understanding.”

1. The understanding of such as are strangers to it.

2. They who enjoy it the most cannot fully comprehend it.

IV. Its effects.—“Shall keep your hearts and minds.”

1. In temptation it secures the heart by satisfying the heart.

2. It keeps the heart in affliction.

3. It keeps the mind by settling the judgment, and keeping doubts and errors out of the mind.

V. Its source and the instrumentality by which it works.—“Through Christ Jesus.”—C. Bradley.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Philippians

HOW TO OBEY AN IMPOSSIBLE INJUNCTION

Php 4:6.

It is easy for prosperous people, who have nothing to trouble them, to give good advices to suffering hearts; and these are generally as futile as they are easy. But who was he who here said to the Church at Philippi, ‘Be careful for nothing?’ A prisoner in a Roman prison; and when Rome fixed its claws it did not usually let go without drawing blood. He was expecting his trial, which might, so far as he knew, very probably end in death. Everything in the future was entirely dark and uncertain. It was this man, with all the pressure of personal sorrows weighing upon him, who, in the very crisis of his life, turned to his brethren in Philippi, who had far fewer causes of anxiety than he had, and cheerfully bade them ‘be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make their requests known unto God.’ Had not that bird learned to sing when his cage was darkened? And do you not think that advice of that sort, coming not from some one perched up on a safe hillock to the strugglers in the field below, but from a man in the thick of the fight, would be like a trumpet-call to them who heard it?

Now, here are two things. There is an apparently perfectly impossible advice, and there is the only course that will make it possible.

I. An apparently impossible advice.

‘Be careful for nothing.’ I do not need to remind you--for I suppose that we all know it--that that word ‘careful,’ in a great many places in the New Testament, does not mean what, by the slow progress of change in the significance of words, it has come to mean to-day; but it means what it should still mean, ‘full of care,’ and ‘care’ meant, not prudent provision, forethought, the occupation of a man’s common-sense with his duty and his work and his circumstances, but it meant the thing which of all others unfits a man most for such prudent provision, and that is, the nervous irritation of a gnawing anxiety which, as the word in the original means, tears the heart apart and makes a man quite incapable of doing the wise thing, or seeing the wise thing to do, in the circumstances. We all know that; so that I do not need to dwell upon it. ‘Careful’ here means neither more nor less than ‘anxious.’

But I may just remind you how harm has been done, and good has been lost and missed, by people reading that modern meaning into the word. It is the same word which Christ employed in the exhortation ‘Take no thought for to-morrow.’ It is a great pity that Christian people sometimes get it into their heads that Christ prohibited what common-sense demands, and what everybody practises. ‘Taking thought for the morrow’ is not only our duty, but it is one of the distinctions which make us ‘much better than’ the fowls of the air, that have no barns in which to store against a day of need. But when our Lord said, ‘Take no thought for the morrow,’ he did not mean ‘Do not lay yourselves out to provide for common necessities and duties,’ but ‘Do not fling yourselves into a fever of anxiety, nor be too anxious to anticipate the "fashion of uncertain evils."‘

But even with that explanation, is it not like an unreachable ideal that Paul puts forward here? ‘Be anxious about nothing’--how can a man who has to face the possibilities that we all have to face, and who knows himself to be as weak to deal with them as we all are: how can he help being anxious? There is no more complete waste of breath than those sage and reverend advices which people give us, not to do the things, nor to feel the emotions, which our position make absolutely inevitable and almost involuntary. Here, for instance, is a man surrounded by all manner of calamity and misfortune; and some well-meaning but foolish friend comes to him, and, without giving him a single reason for the advice, says, ‘Cheer up! my friend.’ Why should he cheer up? What is there in his circumstances to induce him to fall into any other mood? Or some unquestionable peril is staring him full in the face, coming nearer and nearer to him, and some well-meaning, loose-tongued friend, says to him, ‘Do not be afraid!’--but he ought to be afraid. That is about all that worldly wisdom and morality have to say to us, when we are in trouble and anxiety. ‘Shut your eyes very hard, and make believe very much, and you will not fear.’ An impossible exhortation! Just as well bid a ship in the Bay of Biscay not to rise and fall upon the wave, but to keep an even keel. Just as well tell the willows in the river-bed that they are not to bend when the wind blows, as come to me, and say to me, ‘Be careful about nothing.’ Unless you have a great deal more than that to say, I must be, and I ought to be, anxious, about a great many things. Instead of anxiety being folly, it will be wisdom; and the folly will consist in not opening our eyes to facts, and in not feeling emotions that are appropriate to the facts which force themselves against our eyeballs. Threadbare maxims, stale, musty old commonplaces of unavailing consolation and impotent encouragement say to us, ‘Do not be anxious.’ We try to stiffen our nerves and muscles in order to bear the blow; or some of us, more basely still, get into a habit of feather-headed levity, making no forecasts, nor seeing even what is plainest before our eyes. But all that is of no use when once the hot pincers of real trouble, impending or arrived, lay hold of our hearts. Then of all idle expenditures of breath in the world there is none to the wrung heart more idle and more painful than the one that says, Be anxious about nothing.

II. So we turn to the only course that makes the apparent impossibility possible.

Paul goes on to direct to the mode of feeling and action which will give exemption from the else inevitable gnawing of anxious forethought. He introduces his positive counsel with an eloquent ‘But,’ which implies that what follows is the sure preservative against the temper which he deprecates; ‘But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.’

There are, then, these alternatives. If you do not like to take the one, you are sure to have to take the other. There is only one way out of the wood, and it is this which Paul expands in these last words of my text. If a man does not pray about everything, he will be worried about most things. If he does pray about everything, he will not be troubled beyond what is good for him, about anything. So there are these alternatives; and we have to make up our minds which of the two we are going to take. The heart is never empty. If not full of God, it will be full of the world, and of worldly care. Luther says somewhere that a man’s heart is like a couple of millstones; if you don’t put something between them to grind, they will grind each other. It is because God is not in our hearts that the two stones rub the surface off one another. So the victorious antagonist of anxiety is trust, and the only way to turn gnawing care out of my heart and life is to usher God into it, and to keep him resolutely in it.

‘In everything.’ If a thing is great enough to threaten to make me anxious, it is great enough for me to talk to God about. If He and I are on a friendly footing, the instinct of friendship will make me speak. If so, how irrelevant and superficial seem to be discussions whether we ought to pray about worldly things, or confine our prayers entirely to spiritual and religious matters. Why! if God and I are on terms of friendship and intimacy of communication, there will be no question as to what I am to talk about to Him; I shall not be able to keep silent as to anything that interests me. And we are not right with God unless we have come to the point that entire openness of speech marks our communications with Him, and that, as naturally as men, when they come home from business, like to tell their wives and children what has happened to them since they left home in the morning, so naturally we talk to our Friend about everything that concerns us. ‘In everything let your requests be made known unto God.’ That is the wise course, because a multitude of little pimples may be quite as painful and dangerous as a large ulcer. A cloud of gnats may put as much poison into a man with their many stings as will a snake with its one bite. And if we are not to get help from God by telling Him about little things, there will be very little of our lives that we shall tell Him about at all. For life is a mountain made up of minute flakes. The years are only a collection of seconds. Every man’s life is an aggregate of trifles. ‘In everything make your requests known.’

‘By prayer’--that does not mean, as a superficial experience of religion is apt to suppose it to mean, actual petition that follows. For a great many of us, the only notion that we have of prayer is asking God to give us something that we want. But there is a far higher region of communion than that, in which the soul seeks and finds, and sits and gazes, and aspiring possesses, and possessing aspires. Where there is no spoken petition for anything affecting outward life, there may be the prayer of contemplation such as the burning seraphs before the Throne do ever glow with. The prayer of silent submission, in which the will bows itself before God; the prayer of quiet trust, in which we do not so much seek as cleave; the prayer of still fruition--these, in Paul’s conception of the true order, precede ‘supplication.’ And if we have such union with God, by realising His presence, by aspiration after Himself, by trusting Him and submission to Him, then we have the victorious antagonist of all our anxieties, and the ‘cares that infest the day shall fold their tents’ and ‘silently steal away.’ For if a man has that union with God which is effected by such prayer as I have been speaking about, it gives him a fixed point on which to rest amidst all perturbations. It is like bringing a light into a chamber when thunder is growling outside, which prevents the flashing of the lightning from being seen.

Years ago an ingenious inventor tried to build a vessel in such a fashion as that the saloon for passengers should remain upon one level, howsoever the hull might be tossed by waves. It was a failure, if I remember rightly. But if we are thus joined to God, He will do for our inmost hearts what the inventor tried to do with the chamber within his ship. The hull may be buffeted, but the inmost chamber where the true self sits will be kept level and unmoved. Brethren! prayer in the highest sense, by which I mean the exercise of aspiration, trust, submission--prayer will fight against and overcome all anxieties.

‘By prayer and supplication.’ Actual petition for the supply of present wants is meant by ‘supplication.’ To ask for that supply will very often be to get it. To tell God what I think I need goes a long way always to bringing me the gift that I do need. If I have an anxiety which I am ashamed to speak to Him, that silence is a sign that I ought not to have it; and if I have a desire that I do not feel I can put into a prayer, that feeling is a warning to me not to cherish such a desire.

There are many vague and oppressive anxieties that come and cast a shadow over our hearts, that if we could once define, and put into plain words, we should find that we vaguely fancied them a great deal larger than they were, and that the shadow they flung was immensely longer than the thing that flung it. Put your anxieties into definite speech. It will reduce their proportions to your own apprehension very often. Speaking them, even to a man who may be able to do little to help, eases them wonderfully. Put them into definite speech to God; and there are very few of them that will survive.

‘By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.’ That thanksgiving is always in place. If one only considers what he has from God, and realises that whatever he has he has received from the hands of divine love, thanksgiving is appropriate in any circumstances. Do you remember when Paul was in gaol at the very city to which this letter went, with his back bloody with the rod, and his feet fast in the stocks, how then he and Silas ‘prayed and sang praises to God.’ Therefore the obedient earthquake came and set them loose. Perhaps it was some reminiscence of that night which moved him to say to the Church that knew the story--of which perhaps the gaoler was still a member--’By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests known unto God.’

One aching nerve can monopolise our attention and make us unconscious of the health of all the rest of the body. So, a single sorrow or loss obscures many mercies. We are like men who live in a narrow alley in some city, with great buildings on either side, towering high above their heads, and only a strip of sky visible. If we see up in that strip a cloud, we complain and behave as if the whole heavens, right away round the three hundred and sixty degrees of the horizon, were black with tempest. But we see only a little strip, and there is a great deal of blue in the sky; however, there may be a cloud in the patch that we see above our heads, from the alley where we live. Everything, rightly understood, that God sends to men is a cause of thanksgiving; therefore, ‘in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.’

‘Casting all your anxieties upon him,’ says Peter, ‘for He’--not is anxious ; that dark cloud does not rise much above the earth--but, ‘He careth for you.’ And that loving guardianship and tender care is the one shield, armed with which we can smile at the poisoned darts of anxiety which would else fester in our hearts and, perhaps, kill. ‘Be careful for nothing’--an impossibility unless ‘in everything’ we make ‘our requests known unto God.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:6 Believers need not worry about anything because the heavenly Father loves his children and cares about their needs, and he has invited his children to pray about everything (see Matt 6:25-34; 7:9-11; Rom 12:12; Eph 6:18; 1 Thes 5:17; 1 Pet 5:7).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Php 4:6. Μηδὲν μεριμνᾶτε, be careful for nothing) When others do not treat you with kindliness, when different things are pressing upon you, be not over-careful, rather pray. Care and prayer, [and likewise care and joy.—V. g.] are more opposed to one another than fire and water.—ἐν παντὶ) in every thing.—μετὰ εὐχαριστίας, with thanksgiving) This is the best characteristic of a soul freed from cares, and of prayer joined with resignation of the human will. Accordingly peace follows, Php 4:7; and thanksgiving and peace are united together also in Col 3:15. All things are thereby safe and tranquil.—τὰ αἰτήματα, requests) A thing sought, the subject δεήσεως, of supplication.—γνωριζέσθω, be made known) Those who veil, stifle, and restrain their desires, with preposterous shame and distrusting modesty, as if they were too small or too great, are tortured with cares. Those who lay them before God with a generous and filial confidence, are freed from difficulties. The Psalms abound in confessions of that sort.—πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, to God) Even though often men should be ignorant of them, and you should modestly conceal them from your fellowmen. Paul had not even asked aught from the Philippians. [But the exercise of unaffected candour towards men, Php 4:5, and here towards GOD, is perfectly consistent.—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Php_4:6. The μεριμνᾶτε is not to be limited in an arbitrary way (as by Grotius, Flatt, Weiss, and others, to anxious care); about nothing (neither want, nor persecution, nor a threatening future, etc.) are they at all to give themselves concern, but on the contrary, etc.; μηδέν, which is emphatically prefixed, is the accusative of the object (1Co_7:32 ff; 1Co_12:25; Php_2:20). Comp. Xen. Cyrop. viii. 7. 12: τὸ πολλὰ μεριμνᾶν καὶ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ἡσυχίαν ἔχειν. Caring is here, as in Matthew 6, the contrast to full confidence in God. Comp. 1Pe_5:7. Curare et orare plus inter se pugnant quam aqua et ignis, Bengel.

ἐν παντί] opposed to the μηδέν; hence: in every case or affair (comp. Eph_5:24; 2Co_4:8; 1Th_5:18; Plat. Euthyd. p. 301 A), not: at all times (Syriac, Grotius, Bos, Flatt, Rheinwald).

τῇ προσευχῇ κ. τῇ δεήσει] by prayer and supplication. On the distinction between the two (the former being general, the latter supplicating prayer), see on Eph_6:18. The article indicates the prayer, which ye make; and the repetition of the article, otherwise not required, puts forward the two elements the more emphatically (Kühner, II. 1, p. 529).

μετὰ εὐχαρ.] belongs to γνωριζ. κ.τ.λ., which, excluding all solicitude in the prayer, should never take place (comp. 1Th_5:18; Col_3:17) without thanksgiving for the proofs of divine love already received and continually being experienced, of which the Christian is conscious under all circumstances (Rom_8:28). In the thanksgiving of the suppliant there is expressed entire surrender to Gods will, the very opposite of solicitude.

τὰ αἰτήματα ὑμ.] what ye desire (Plat. Rep. viii. p. 566 B; Dionys. Hal. Antt. vi. 74; Luk_23:24), that is, in accordance with the context: your petitions (1Jn_5:15; Dan_6:7; Dan_6:13; Psa_19:6; Psa_36:4, et al.; Schleusner, Thes. I. p. 100).

γνωριζέσθω πρὸς τ. Θεόν] must be made known towards God; πρός, versus; it is the coram of the direction. Comp. Bernhardy, p. 265; Schoem. ad Is. iii. 25. The expression is more graphic than the mere dative would be; and the conception itself (γνωριζ.) is popularly anthropopathic; Mat_6:8. Bengel, moreover, aptly remarks on the subject-matter: qui desideria sua praepostero pudore ac diffidenti modestia … velant, suffocant ac retinent, curis anguntur; qui filiali et liberali fiducia erga Deum expromunt, expediuntur. Confessionibus ejusmodi scatent Psalmi.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Phi 4:6 . μ . μερ . “In nothing be anxious.” μερ . is not common in earlier prose. It is used repeatedly in LXX of anxiety ( a ) approaching dread as Psa 37:19 , ( b ) producing displeasure as Eze 16:42 , ( c ) of a general kind as 1Ch 17:9 . For the thought Cf. 4 Ezr 2:27 : Noli satagere, cum venerit enim dies pressurae et angustiae … tu autem hilaris et copiosa eris . See the note on chap. Phi 2:20 supr. προσευ . κ . τ . δεής . προσευχή emphasises prayer as an act of worship or devotion; δεήσις is the cry of personal need. See on chap. Phi 1:4 supr. Curare et orare plus inter se pugnant quam aqua et ignis (Beng.). μετὰ εὐχ . The word is rarely found in secular Greek ( e.g. , Hippocr., Polyb., Diod.; see Rutherford, New Phrynichus , p. 69), or LXX. Paul uses it twelve times, but only twice with the article. Does not this imply that he takes for granted that thanksgiving is the background, the predominant tone of the Christian life? To pray in any other spirit is to clip the wings of prayer. αἴτημα is found three times in N.T. It emphasises the object asked for (see an important discussion by Ezra Abbot in N. Amer. Review , 1872, p. 171 ff.). “Prayer is a wish referred to God, and the possibility of such reference, save in matters of mere indifference, is the test of the purity of the wish” (Green, Two Sermons , p. 44). πρὸς τ . Θεόν . “In the presence of God.” A delicate and suggestive way of hinting that God’s presence is always there, that it is the atmosphere surrounding them. Anxious foreboding is out of place in a Father’s presence. Requests are always in place with Him. With this phrase Cf. Rom 16:26 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So David began very oft with tears, but ended with thanksgiving.

The third is, that we be not too careful for anything, but with sure confidence give God thanks, and crave of him whatsoever we have need of, that with a quiet conscience we may wholly and with all our hearts submit ourselves to him.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Translate, "Be anxious about nothing." Care and prayer are as mutually opposed as fire and water [BENGEL].

by prayer and supplication--Greek, "by the prayer and the supplication" appropriate to each case [ALFORD]. Prayer for blessings; and the general term. Supplication, to avert ills; a special term, suppliant entreaty (see on Eph 6:18).

thanksgiving--for every event, prosperity and affliction alike (Th1 5:18; Jam 5:13). The Philippians might remember Paul's example at Philippi when in the innermost prison (Act 16:25). Thanksgiving gives effect to prayer (Ch2 20:21), and frees from anxious carefulness by making all God's dealings matter for praise, not merely for resignation, much less murmuring. "Peace" is the companion of "thanksgiving" (Phi 4:7; Col 3:15).

let your requests be made known unto God--with generous, filial, unreserved confidence; not keeping aught back, as too great, or else too small, to bring before God, though you might feel so as to your fellow men. So Jacob, when fearing Esau (Gen 32:9-12); Hezekiah fearing Sennacherib (Kg2 19:14; Psa 37:5).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. Be careful for nothing] μηδεν μεριμνατε. Be not anxiously solicitous; do not give place to carking care, let what will occur; for anxiety cannot chance the state or condition of any thing from bad to good, but will infallibly injure your own souls.

By prayer and supplication] God alone can help you; he is disposed to do it, but you must ask by prayer and supplication; without this he has not promised to help you.

By prayer - solemn application to God from a sense of want. Supplication - continuance in earnest prayer. With thanksgiving, for innumerable favours already received; and for dangers, evils, and deaths turned aside. And let your souls be found in this exercise, or in the disposition in which this exercise can be performed, at all times, on all occasions, and in all places.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6 But in all things It is the singular number that is made use of by Paul, but is the neuter gender; the expression, therefore, is equivalent to omni negotio, (in every matter,) for (prayer) and (supplication) are feminine nouns. In these words he exhorts the Philippians, as David does all the pious in Psalm 55:22, and Peter also in 1 Peter 5:7, to cast all their care upon the Lord. For we are not made of iron, so as not to be shaken by temptations. But this is our consolation, this is our solace — to deposit, or (to speak with greater propriety) to disburden in the bosom of God everything that harasses us. Confidence, it is true, brings tranquillity to our minds, but it is only in the event of our exercising ourselves in prayers. Whenever, therefore, we are assailed by any temptation, let us betake ourselves forthwith to prayer, as to a sacred asylum.

The term requests he employs here to denote desires or wishes. He would have us make these known to God by prayer and supplication, as though believers poured forth their hearts before God, when they commit themselves, and all that they have, to Him. Those, indeed, who look hither and thither to the vain comforts of the world, may appear to be in some degree relieved; but there is one sure refuge — leaning upon the Lord.

With thanksgiving As many often pray to God amiss, full of complaints or of murmurings, as though they had just ground for accusing him, while others cannot brook delay, if he does not immediately gratify their desires, Paul on this account conjoins thanksgiving with prayers. It is as though he had said, that those things which are necessary for us ought to be desired by us from the Lord in such a way, that we, nevertheless, subject our affections to his good pleasure, and give thanks while presenting petitions. And, unquestionably, gratitude will have this effect upon us — that the will of God will be the grand sum of our desires.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(6) Be careful for nothing.—An exact repetition of our Lord’s command, “Take no thought” (in Mat_6:25; Mat_6:34). The prohibition is of that painful anxiety which is inevitable in all who feel themselves alone in mere self-dependence amidst the difficulties and dangers of life. It is possible to sink below this anxiety in mere levity and thoughtlessness; it is possible to rise above it by “casting our care on Him who careth for us,” and knowing that we are simply “fellow-workers with Him” (1Pe_5:7; 2Co_6:1). Hence the Apostle passes on at once to speak of the trustfulness of prayer.

Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.—By “prayer” is meant worship generally, so called (as in common parlance now) because in this state of imperfection prayer must be its leading element, as praise will be in the perfection of the future. (See Act_2:42, where “the prayers” are among the essential marks of church membership.) To this general word is subjoined the distinction of the two great elements of worship, “supplication with thanksgiving.” The very expression, however, shows that, though distinct, they are inseparable. (See Eph_6:18, and Note there.) Both words “prayer” and “supplication” have the article in the original, and may probably refer to the recognised worship of the Church.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. Be careful for nothing] Better, in modern English, In nothing be anxious (R.V.). Wyclif, “be ye no thing bisie”; all the other older English versions are substantially as A.V.; Luther, Sorget nichts; Latin versions, Nihil solliciti sitis (fueritis). On the etymology of the Greek verb, and on the thought here, see note above, Php_2:20. There the mental action here blamed is commended; a discrepancy fully harmonized by a view of different conditions. Here, the saints are enjoined to deal with every trying circumstance of life as those who know, and act upon, the fact that “the Lord thinketh on me” (Psa_40:17). Cp. Mar_4:19; Luk_8:14; Luk_10:41; Luk_21:34; 1Co_7:32; 1Pe_5:7.

The English word “care” is akin to older Teutonic words meaning lamentation, murmur, sorrow, and is not connected with the Lat. cura (Skeat, Etym. Dict.). English literature, from “Piers Plowman” (cent. 14) to Shakspeare and the A.V., abounds in illustrations of the meaning of the word here. E.g., Vision of Piers Plowman, v. 76: “carefullich mea culpa he comsed to shewe”; i.e. “he anxiously commenced to unfold” his sins in the confessional. So, in the same writer, a mournful song is “a careful note.”

in every thing] An all-inclusive positive, to justify the all-inclusive negative just before.—Observe here, as so often, the tendency of Christian precepts to a holy universality of scope. Cp. Eph_4:29; Eph_4:31; Eph_5:3, and notes in this Series.

by prayer and supplication] We might almost paraphrase the Greek, where each noun has an article, “by your prayer &c.”; by the prayer which of course you offer.

“Prayer” is the larger word, often including all kinds and parts of “worship”; “supplication” is the more definite. Cp. Eph_6:18, and note in this Series. The two words thus linked together are meant, however, less to be distinguished than to include and enforce the fullest and freest “speaking unto the Lord.”

with thanksgiving] “The temper of the Christian should always be one of thanksgiving. Nearly every Psalm, however deep the sorrow and contrition, escapes into the happy atmosphere of praise and gratitude. The Psalms, in Hebrew, are the Praises. All prayer ought to include the element of thanksgiving, for mercies temporal and spiritual” (Note by the Dean of Peterborough).—The privilege of prayer is in itself an abiding theme for grateful praise.

be made known] Exactly as if He needed information. True faith will accept and act upon such a precept with very little questioning or discussion of its rationale. Scripture is full of illustrations of it in practice, from the prayers of Abraham (Genesis 15, 17, 18) and of Abraham’s servant (Genesis 24) onward. It is for the Eternal, not for us, to reconcile such humble but most real statements and requests on our part with His infinity.

This verse is a caution against the view of prayer taken by some Mystic Christian thinkers, in which all articulate petition is merged in the soul’s perpetual “Thy will be done.” See Mme. Guyon, Moyen Court de faire Oraison, ch. 17. Such a doctrine has in it a sacred element of truth, but as a whole it is out of harmony with the divinely balanced precepts of Scripture.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be careful for nothing,.... This must be understood not in the most extensive sense, but with a limitation and restriction. There are many things that saints are to be careful for, as men and Christians; they are to be careful of their bodies, as well as of their souls; of the health of them, which is to be preserved by all lawful means, and not exposed to unnecessary danger; and for their families, to provide things honest for them, proper food and raiment, and the necessaries of life; for whoever does not do that, denies the faith, and is worse than an infidel; and even for the things of this world in a moderate way, using all diligence and industry in obtaining them; men ought to be careful to discharge the duties of their calling in civil life, and to care and concern themselves for the honour of God, the interest of religion, and the support of the Gospel; and that they offend not God, by sinning against him: but the carefulness the apostle speaks of, is an anxious solicitude for worldly things, an immoderate concern for the things of life, arising from diffidence, or negligence, of the power, providence, and faithfulness of God: saints should not be anxiously, or in a distressing manner concerned for the things of this world, but be content, whether they have less or more; nor be over much pressed with what befalls them, but should cast their care upon the Lord, and carry every case to him, and leave it there:

but in everything. The Syriac and Ethiopic versions render it, "in every time": always, constantly, every day, as often as there is opportunity, and need requires. The Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions join it with the following clause, "in every prayer and supplication"; but the grammatical construction of the words will not admit of such a version; it is best to understand it of every thing, or case, which should be brought to God; whether it be of a temporal or spiritual kind, relating to body or soul, to ourselves or others, to our families, relations, and acquaintance, the church, or the world:

by prayer and supplication: which may include all sorts of prayer, mental or vocal, private or public, ordinary or extraordinary, and every part of prayer: prayer may design petition, or asking for good things that are wanted; and "supplication", a deprecating of evils that are feared; though these two are often used together for the same thing, for prayer in general: which ought always to be accompanied

with thanksgiving; for mercies received; for a man can never come to the throne of grace, to ask for grace and mercy, but he has mercies to bless God for, and so to do is very acceptable to God; nor can a person expect to succeed in the enjoyment of future mercies, when he is not thankful for past and present ones: in this manner therefore, at all times, upon every occasion, in a way of humble petition and supplication, joined with thankfulness for all favours,

let your requests be made known to God; not to men; fly not to an arm of flesh, but to God, to him only, and that in the most private mariner, as not to be known by men; and put up such requests, as there may be reason to hope and believe God will "know" and approve of; such as are agreeable to his will, to the covenant of his grace, and the declaration of his word: use familiarity with God, tell him as you would do a friend, freely and fully, all your case, pour out your souls and your complaints before him. This God would have his people do, and he expects it from them; and though he knows all their wants, and what are their desires before they express them, yet he will seem not to know them, or take any notice of them, until they open them to him in some way or other; either by vocal prayer, or mental; by ejaculations, or sighs and groans, by chattering as a crane or a swallow, all which he understands: and be the case made known in what way or manner soever, with ever so much weakness, so be it, it is made known, it is enough, it shall be regarded and not despised.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Ver. 6. In nothing be careful] Or care for nothing, viz. with a care of diffidence and distrust. {See Trapp on "Mat 6:25"} {See Trapp on "Mat 6:26"} &c.

But in everything by prayer] This is the best cure of care. "Cast thy burden" (or thy request) "upon the Lord," said David, Psa 55:22; "and he shall sustain thee." Remove thy trouble from thyself to God by virtue of that writ or warrant, and then all shall be well. "They looked unto God, and were lightened," Psa 34:5. Luther in a certain epistle of his to Melancthon complaineth thus: Ego certe ore pro te, et doleo te pertinacissimam curarum hirudinem meas preces sic irritas facere: I pray for thee, but to no purpose so long as thou givest so much way to carking cares.

Supplication with thanksgiving] We should come to pray with our thanks in our hands, standing ready with it, as Joseph’s brethren stood with their present, Gen 43:25. In the old law, what special request soever they had to make, or what sacrifice soever to offer, they were commanded still to come with their peace offerings. Prayer goes up without incense when without thankfulness. The Church ascends daily to her beloved Christ in these pillars of smoke, Son 3:6, for she knows that unthankfulness hindereth much the restful success of prayer. And the apostle seemeth here to hint that God taketh no notice of their prayers that do not in addition give thanks.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be careful for nothing - That is, be not anxious or solicitous about the things of the present life. The word used here - μεριμνᾶτε merimnate - does not mean that we are to exercise no care about worldly matters - no care to preserve our property, or to provide for our families (compare 1Ti 5:8); but that there is to be such confidence in God as to free the mind from anxiety, and such a sense of dependence on him as to keep it calm; see the subject explained in the notes on Mat 6:25.

But in everything - Everything in reference to the supply of your wants, and the wants of your families; everything in respect to afflictions, embarrassments, and trials; and everything relating to your spiritual condition. There is nothing which pertains to body, mind, estate, friends, conflicts, losses, trials, hopes, fears, in reference to which we may not go and spread it all out before the Lord.

By prayer and supplication - The word rendered “supplication” is a stronger term than the former. It is the mode of prayer which especially arises from the sense of “need,” or “want” - from δέομαι deomai, “to want, to need.”

With thanksgiving - Thanksgiving connected with prayer. We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter what may be the burden of our wants, or the special subject of our petitions. When we pray for the supply of our wants, we may be thankful for that kind providence which has hitherto befriended us; when we pray for restoration from sickness, we may be thankful for the health we have hitherto enjoyed, and for God’s merciful interposition in the former days of trial, and for his goodness in now sparing our lives; when we pray that our children and friends may be preserved from danger and death, we may remember how often God has interposed to save them; when, oppressed with a sense of sin, we pray for pardon, we have abundant cause of thanksgiving that there is a glorious way by which we may be saved. The greatest sufferer that lives in this world of redeeming love, and who has the offer of heaven before him, has cause of gratitude.

Let your request be made known unto God - Not as if you were to give him information, but to express to him your wants. God needs not to be informed of our necessities, but he requires that we come and express them to him; compare Eze 36:37. “Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But in every [2] thing by prayer, &c. By the Greek, the sense and construction cannot be in every prayer; but in every thing, in all circumstances, have recourse to prayer. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Sed in omni oratione, &c. Greek: all en panti, te proseuche; no copies, Greek: pase.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Be careful for nothing; he dissuades not from a spiritual care, arising from a good principle, according to a right rule, for a good end; this care of diligence, in a due manner, within our own sphere, is incumbent on us, both for spirituals and temporals; as Phi 2:20; with Rom 12:11; 2Co 11:28; 12:14; 2Th 3:10; 1Ti 5:8; 2Ti 2:15; yet he earnestly dissuades from and prohibits all carnal solicitude, or carking, distrustful, worldly care, which doth divide and, as it were, split the heart in pieces; that anxious solicitude which doth torture the mind with such thoughts as our blessed Lord will not allow so much as one of them to be predominant in his real disciples, Mat 6:25, because such immoderate, distracting care, is on our part a disparagement to our heavenly Father’s good providence, Mat 6:32; with Psa 55:22; 127:1,2; Mt 4:18,19; 1Pe 5:7. The remedy against which he doth here subjoin.

But in every thing; but in all things, or in every occurring necessity, whether prosperous or adverse; sacred or civil, public or private: some render it, every time, in every condition, on every occasion.

By prayer; by petition or apprecation of good to ourselves or others; mercies, or blessings, temporal, spiritual, and eternal.

And supplication; and by a deprecation of evils felt or feared, wrath and judgments deserved.

With thanksgiving; with a grateful acknowledgment of mercies received, benefits conferred, and deliverances vouchsafed; implying that no prayer is acceptable to God, without this ingredient of thankful resentment of his favours.

Let your requests be made known unto God: our affectionate desires should be opened to God, and poured forth before him; not that he is ignorant of us or our wants in any circumstances, but that he accounts himself glorified by our addresses to him, in seeking to be approved and assisted of him in every condition.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Careful—Unduly solicitous: yet apathy and indifference are as widely removed from the proper Christian spirit as the anxious, disquieting solicitude which divides the heart and disturbs its joy, while it leaves but half for God. Note on Mat_6:25. The true antidote is that constant prayer, which carries every thing, great and small, with no exception, to God. We need him always, as well as in the season of difficulty. Supplication presents the specific petition. The thanksgiving which should accompany prayer is general, and covers all past mercies. Prayer, moreover, asks, making known our desires to God, just as specifically and earnestly as if he were ignorant of them. Thus all anxieties and burdens may be laid on his hands.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be careful for nothing; rather, as R.V, in nothing be anxious. Merimna is anxious, distracting care. St. Paul does not wish his converts to be careless, but to be free from that over-anxiety about worldly things which might distract their thoughts from the service of God, and hinder their growth in holiness. Comp. 1Pe_5:7, where the apostle bids us cast all our care (merimna) upon God. The thought of the Lord"s nearness should lead us both to be forbearing in our relations to others, and also to keep ourselves free, as far as may be, from worldly anxieties. "He careth for us." But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God . "Curare et orare," says Bengel, "plus inter se pugnant quam aqua et ignis." In everything; in each emergency, little or great, as it arises, pray; cultivate the habit of referring all things, great or small, to God in prayer. The two words rendered "prayer" and "supplication" (proseuch and dehsiv) occur together also in Eph_6:18 1Ti 2:l and 1Ti_5:5. The first has been defined by Chrysostom and others as prayer to obtain a good; the second, prayer to avoid an evil Better, perhaps, as most modern commentators, proseuch is the general word, covering the idea of prayer in its widest meaning; while dehsiv is a special act of supplication for some particular object of need (see Trench, "Synonyms of the New Testament," sect. 51.). With thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the necessary accompaniment of prayer; it ought never to be absent from our devotions; it springs out of that holy joy which St. Paul so constantly sets before us in this Epistle as the bounden duty of Christians. St. Paul himself is an example of constant thanksgiving. All his Epistles, except those to the Galatians, 1 Timothy, and Titus, open with a thanksgiving. In the dungeon at Philippi he and Silas "prayed and sang praises unto God". (Act_16:25) Our requests, the things for which we ask, are to be made known unto God; pron before God, in the presence of God, by prayer, the general converse of the soul with God; and by supplication, direct petitions for the supply of our necessities. Indeed, he knows our necessities before we ask; but we are encouraged to make them known before him, as Hezekiah took the letter of Sennacherib and spread it before the Lord.

Vers. 6, 7. A cure for care.

The apostle forbids harassing anxiety and enjoins prayerfulness as the sure way to peace. "Be anxious for nothing." Mark

I THE WISE COUNSEL OF THE APOSTLE.

1. This does not mean that we are not to be anxious about duty. We ought to have a deep concern for every interest of God"s kingdom. A certain measure of anxious thought is necessary to the efficient performance of every duty of life.

2. It means that we are not to be anxious about the results of our work or consequences generally.

a. Because God holds these in his own hands;

b. because our anxiety will not ward off the anticipated evil;

c. because the evil may turn out for good.

3. Over-anxiety is sinful.

a. It is the disregard of a Divine command.

b. it distrusts God"s power and wisdom;

c. it doubts the reality of the promises

d. it deters from duty;

e. it spoils the temper and comfort of

II THE REMEDY FOR OVER-ANXIETY. "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

1. The range of prayer. "In everything." This counsel is often neglected, for men carry their great misfortunes or their great anxieties to God, but keep their trivial vexations to themselves. A good man has paraphrased this passage thus: "Be careful for nothing; be prayerful for everything; be thankful for anything.

2. The variety of prayer. The word "prayer" here points to the frame of mind, the word "supplication" to the actual asking of blessing, the requests point to the various parts of the supplication, while the thanksgiving marks the subjective condition of acceptance.

3. The effects of prayer.

(1) It tends to place everything in God"s hand, with a feeling that he will do all things well. The burden is cast upon the Lord.

(2) It leads the praying man to look for answers to prayer in the events of Divine providence.

(3) It increases devout inquisitiveness to know the Divine will as recorded in the Word.

III THE RESULT. "And the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." This beautiful text is often the subject of independent treatment, but we have no right to separate what God has joined together; and accordingly it is only when we are careful for nothing and prayerful in everything that we may exact to enter into Divine peace.

1. The nature of the peace of God. It is deep inward repose of spiritual life, and is called "the peace of God" because he communicates and sustains it, as the result of our reconciliation with him.

(1) It springs out of our justification. (Rom_5:1)

(2) It arises in the soul as part of our spiritual-mindedness. "For to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Rom_8:6)

(3) It is the abiding experience of the saints so long as they are practically consistent in their walk. "Great peace have they that love thy Law". (Psa_119:165) "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee". (Isa_26:3)

(4) It is almost inexplicable. "It passeth all understanding.

(a) It passeth the understanding of wicked or worldly men; for their experience lies in a very different sphere.

(b) It surpasses the understanding of godly men; for light often breaks in upon their darkness, in a way quite mysterious. Who can understand the peace of the dying? Does it not pass all understanding?

2. The effects of this peace. "It shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." This does not signify that the peace shall keep possession, but rather, as the word signifies, garrison or stand sentry before the heart or mind, so as to prevent the intrusion of disturbing or disquieting thoughts. It is Christ himself who plants the garrison there.

(1) In case of intellectual doubts, the peace will either prevent their arising at all or repel them when they arise.

(2) In the case of the bitter remembrance of my past sins, this peace carries me back to the reconciliation effected by Christ on the cross.

(3) In, case of anxieties, fears, and earthly solicitudes, the peace of God carries a believer back to the point of his deliverances; and he says, "Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

(4) It is a strong guard against sin. The religiously peaceful are the morally strong. Duty is pleasant, obedience is sweet, because the spiritual mind is in harmony with God"s mind. Sin is rejected because it threatens to undermine the peace.

3. The abiding source of this peace. "In Christ Jesus.

(1) He is our Peace. (Eph_2:14) Not in the mere sense of being our Peace-maker, as if he had retired after he had made it, but he is the continuous Source of our peace.

(2) He gives peace as his legacy to the Church. (Joh_14:27) He imparts that central calm that is at the heart of the endless agitations that shake our merely earthly life. T.C.

Vers. 6, 7. God"s peace.

I WHAT IT IS. God"s own peace; that which he himself possesses. It is the peace which our Lord had and which he promised to his disciples: "My peace I give unto you." It is, therefore, no mere superficial freedom from external troubles, but a deep-seated harmony with God the Source of all peace. Thus it transcends human understanding and human expression.

II WHAT PREVENTS OUR POSSESSING IT? Over-anxiety and worry. These are a kind of practical atheism, since they prevent us from leaving all things to him who is supreme over all circumstances.

III HOW TO OBTAIN IT. By prayer, which rests upon him for all things; by cation, which brings our own special causes for anxiety into his presence; by thanksgiving, which recognizes that his will must be full of blessing. By thus turning our cares into prayers we throw them upon him who gives us in return his peace.

IV WHAT IT DOES FOR US. It keeps our hearts and minds, preserving them from undue anxiety, and making them realize the strength of the peace which Christ bestows. How do these words come home with sublime force at the end of our Communion Service! Having received him who is our Peace, (Eph_2:14) we have entered into and taken possession of the Face of God which passeth all understanding. VW.H.

The cure for anxiety.

I THE DISEASE. We must, of course, be careful for many things, in the sense of taking thought about them or taking pains in working on them. Christianity does not favor indolent improvidence; for it teaches, "If a man will not work neither let him eat." Nor does it encourage reckless carelessness; for it everywhere instills a thoughtful, conscientious sense of responsibility. What it does discourage is anxiety.

1. This is painful. How painful most of us know only too well. The wear and fret of care sometimes make the advice to rejoice alway read like a mockery.

2. This is injurious. Men rarely die of hard work, but often of vexing anxiety. It is not toil, but trouble, that turns the hair grey before its time.

3. This hinders spiritual energy. The "cares of this world" choke the good seed as much as its pleasures and riches. When absorbed in worldly anxiety, men have no energy, heart, nor time for spiritual concerns. In the petty cares of a day they drown the grand claims of eternity.

II HUMAN REMEDIES.

1. Reason. Care is foolish and useless.

"Care is no cure, but rather corrosive, For things that are not to be remedied.

Often it is groundless, a shadow of our own imagination, and of no real trouble. Thus Burns says

"But human bodies are sic fools, For a" their colleges and schools, That when nae real ills perplex them, They make enow themsel"s to vex them.

But anxiety is too strong for reason. It persists against reason.

2. Phitosophic complacency in the best of all possible worlds. We cannot think that "whatever is is best." Philosophers may say so in their calm seclusion; toilers and sufferers will never believe it in the rough experience of real life (Christianity does not require this optimism, or it would not encourage prayer for changes).

3. Stoical indifferences. Here and there this may be possible; but it is not natural, and it is only got with the loss of much human tenderness.

4. Cyclical carelessness. This may come with despair. It is not the cure of anxiety, but its fatal victory over a ruined life.

III THE DIVINE CURE. Christ taught us to conquer earthly anxiety in two ways, by trusting in our heavenly Father, (Mat_6:32) and by transferring our care to more worthy objects, by which means it becomes itself transformed into a noble concern for the kingdom of God. (Mat_6:33) St. Paul follows on the same lines.

1. Prayer is the remedy for care. we are distinctly invited to bring our anxieties to God. We are to be anxious about nothing, by making supplication about everything. Thus, as the area of prayer advances, that of care recedes. The conventional limitation of prayer is the secret of much unconquered anxiety.

2. Thanksgiving perfects the remedy. This is a ground of encouragement in prayer for future help and a direct relief from pressing anxiety. Care has a bad memory. Grateful recollections of the past will greatly allay anxieties about the future. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be anxiously careful for nothing - If men are not gentle towards you, yet neither on this, nor any other account, be careful, but pray. Carefulness and prayer cannot stand together. In every thing - Great and small. Let your requests be made known - They who by a preposterous shame or distrustful modesty, cover, stifle, or keep in their desires, as if they were either too small or too great, must be racked with care; from which they are entirely delivered, who pour them out with a free and filial confidence. To God - It is not always proper to disclose them to men. By supplication - Which is the enlarging upon and pressing our petition. With thanksgiving - The surest mark of a soul free from care, and of prayer joined with true resignation. This is always followed by peace. Peace and thanksgiving are both coupled together, Colossians iii, 15.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. The duty exhorted to, namely, to be anxiously and solicitously careful for nothing; it is not care, but carefulness, that is, inordinate care, heart-cutting, distracting, and soul-rending care, and solicitude, which is here forbidden: there is a prudent, provident care for the things of this life, which is an unquestionable duty.

Observe, 2. The remedy prescribed for the prevention of solicitous care; and that is, fervent prayer: In every thing by prayer, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known. The people of God may and ought to have recourse to him in every thing.

Observe, 3. The apostle directs to thanksgiving in every thing, as well as to prayer: In every thing by prayer, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known. When afflicted, we are to be thankful for the expected benefit of afflictions; when tempted, to be thankful that God will not leave us to be tempted above what we are able; when we fall into sin, there is cause for thankfulness that we are not left to run into all sin, that we were not cut off in the very act of sin, and did not die in our sins: thus are we in everything to give thanks.

Observe, 4. The benefit and advantage which St. Paul assures them would redound unto them, by the practice of the fore-mentioned duties, namely, sweet peace which passeth all understanding; that is, which none can conceive that have not felt it, and none can express that have experienced it. This peace, he tells them, will keep and guard their hearts and minds; a sound peace is the soul’s guard against all inward terrors and outward troubles: as the persons of princes are secured by guards of armed and valiant men, who watch while they sleep; so are christians guarded and secured by the peace of God, better than any prince ever was by a guard of forty thousand men. The peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus; that is, through the assistance of Christ Jesus.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. Be careful for nothing. See Revision. The meaning is, “Have no distressing anxiety about anything. “Care-ful” used to mean “full of care.” Compare Matt. 6:25. But in everything, etc. Instead of anxiety, just lay the case before God, and trust him to do all things well. Three elements enter into the appeal to God: Prayer, the outpouring of the soul; supplication, stating our wants; thanksgiving; we must always come to God, not in a complaining spirit, but with thankfulness for present mercies.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

6. μηδὲν μεριμνᾶτε. “In nothing be anxious,” R.V. Nihil solliciti sitis, Vulg. Sorget nichts, Luther. On the etymology of μεριμνᾶν, and on the thought here, see above on Php 2:20. The mental action here blamed is there (in Timothy) commended; a discrepancy harmonized by the different conditions contemplated in the two places. Here the saints are enjoined never to forget their Lord’s attention and loving power, and in that spirit to meet every trial to inward peace. Cp. Psalms 55 (LXX., 54):22, ἐπίρριψον ἐπὶ κύριον τὴν μέριμνάν σου (יְהָבְךָ): 1Pe 5:7, πᾶσαν τὴν μέριμναν ὑμῶν ἐπιρρίψαντες ἐπʼ αὐτόν, ὅτι κτλ.: 1Co 7:32, θέλω ὑμᾶς ἀμερίμνους εἶναι. See the warnings against μέριμναι τοῦ αἰῶνος, μ. βιωτικαί, Mar 4:19; Luk 21:34.

ἀλλʼ ἐν παντὶ. The all-inclusive positive exactly answers the all-inclusive negative, μηδὲν. Cp. πᾶσαν τὴν μέριμναν, κτλ., 1Pe 5:7.

τῇ προσευχῇ καὶ τῇ δεήσει. Προσευχή and δέησις occur together, in LXX., e.g. Psa 6:9, εἰσήκουσε κύριος τῆς δ. μου, κύριος τὴν π. μου προσεδέξατο: in N.T., Eph 6:18, διὰ πάσης π. καὶ δ. προσευχόμενοι: here: 1Ti 2:1, παρακαλῶ ποιεῖσθαι δεήσεις, προσευχάς: 1Ti 5:5, προσμένει ταῖς δεήσεσι καὶ ταῖς π. Προσενχή is the larger word, and always sacred; it includes all varieties of worship; our “prayer” thus nearly corresponds to it, though we occasionally use “prayer,” “pray,” in mundane connexions. Δέησις has no limitation to religious uses, and is the narrower word; “request,” petition for desired benefits. (See Trench, N.T. Syn., s.v. προσευχή.) Not that the distinction is to be much pressed in an accumulation like this; practically he means to emphasize the one thought of a reverent approach to God about our needs.

μετὰ εὐχαριστίας. Cp. Col 2:7, περισσεύοντες ἐν εὐχαριστίᾳ: Php 3:15, ἡ εἰρήνη τοῦ θεοῦ βραβευέτω ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν … καὶ εὐχάριστοι γίνεσθε: Php 4:2, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτερεῖτε, γρηγοροῦντες ἐν αὐτῇ ἐν εὐχαριστίᾳ: 1Ti 2:1, παρακαλῶ … ποιεῖσθαι δεήσεις, προσευχάς … εὐχαριστίας. “The temper of the Christian should always be one of thanksgiving … The Psalms, in Hebrew, are the Praises (תְּהִלִּים). All prayer ought to include the element of thanksgiving, for mercies temporal and spiritual” (Bp Perowne).—The privilege of access to God is itself an abiding theme of praise.

γνωριζέσθω. Exactly as if He needed information. HE, not we, must reconcile such action on our part with His Infinity. True faith will rest (and act) on such a precept, with little anxiety about the rationale; and Scripture is full of illustrations and encouragements, from the prayers of the patriarchal saints (e.g. Genesis 18, 24) onwards.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6.] μηδέν has the emphasis. It is the accusative of the object, as τὸ πολλὰ μεριμνᾷν, Xen. Cyr. viii. 7. 12.

ἐν παντί] in every thing: see ref. 1 Thess. and note. Meyer remarks that the literally correct rendering of the Vulg. ‘in omni (neut.) oratione’ led Ambrose wrong, who gives it ‘per omnem orationem.’

τῇ προσευχῇ καὶ τῇ δεήσει] by your prayer and your supplication: or better, by the prayer and the supplication appropriate to each thing. On the difference between προσευχή and δέησις, see on Eph 6:18, 1Ti 2:1.

Not μετὰ τῆς εὐχαριστίας, because the matters themselves may not be recognized as grounds of εὐχαριστία, but it should accompany every request. Ellic., who doubts this explanation, thinks it “more simple to say that εὐχαριστία, ‘thanksgiving for past blessings,’ is in its nature more general and comprehensive, προς. and δεησ. almost necessarily more limited and specific. Hence, though εὐχαρ. occurs 12 times in St. Paul’s Epistles, it is only twice used with the article, 1Co 14:26, 2Co 4:15.” But I much prefer the other view.

τὰ αἰτήματα] = ὃ ἂν αἰτώμεθα, 1Jn 5:15. Plato, Rep. viii. p. 566, speaks of τὸ τυραννικὸν αἴτημα … αἰτεῖν τὸν δῆμον φύλακάς τινας τοῦ σώματος.

πρὸς τὸν θεόν] unto, ‘before,’ ‘coram:’ see Act 8:24.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. μηδὲν μεριμνᾶτε: ‘in nothing be anxious.’ Μεριμνᾷν occurs most frequently in the Gospels. In Paul only here and 1 Cor. From the root μερ or μαρ, which appears in the Homeric μερμηρίζειν, ‘to be anxious,’ ‘to debate anxiously.’ The verb may mean either ‘to be full of anxiety,’ or ‘to ponder or brood over.’ In N.T. usage it does not always involve the idea of worry or anxiety. See, for inst., 1Co 7:32, 1Co 7:12:25; Php 2:20. In other cases that idea is emphasised, as here, Mat 13:22; Luk 10:41. (See Prellwitz, Etymol. Wörterb. d. griech. Sprache, sub μέριμνα; Schmidt, Synon. 86, 3; W. St. on Mat 6:25.) The exhortation is pertinent always to those who live the life of faith (1Pe 5:7), and acquired additional force from the expectation of the speedy coming of the Lord.

ἐν παντὶ: ‘in everything.’ Antithesis to μηδὲν. The formula is found only in Paul. Not ‘on every occasion,’ supplying καιρῷ (see Eph 6:18), nor, as Ril., including the idea of time; nor, as Vulg., ‘in omni oratione et obsecratione,’ construing παντὶ with προς. κ. δεής. Prayer is to include all our interests, small and great. Nothing is too great for God’s power; nothing too small for his fatherly care.

τῇ προσευχῇ καὶ τῇ δεήσει: ‘by prayer and supplication.’ The (or your) prayer and the supplication appropriate to each case. In N.T. the two words are joined only by Paul. (See Eph 6:18; 1Ti 2:1, 1Ti 2:5:5; LXX Psa 6:10, 55 [54]:2.) For the distinction, see on 1:4. The dative is instrumental.

μετὰ εὐχαριστίας: ‘with thanksgiving.’ The thanksgiving is to go with the prayer, in everything (comp. Col 3:17); for although the Christian may not recognise a particular ground of thanksgiving on the special occasion of his prayer, he has always the remembrance of past favors and the consciousness of present blessings, and the knowledge that all things are working together for good for him (Rom 8:28). This more comprehensive application of εὐχαριστία may explain the absence of the article, which appears with both προσευχῇ and δεήσει, and which Paul uses with εὐχαρ. in only two instances (1Co 14:16; 2Co 4:15), where the reason is evident. Rilliet observes that the Christian, “being, as it were, suspended between blessings received and blessings hoped for, should always give thanks and always ask. Remembrance and supplication are the two necessary elements of every Christian prayer.” Thanksgiving expresses, not only the spirit of gratitude, but the spirit of submission, which excludes anxiety, because it recognises in the will of God the sum of its desires. So Calv., “Dei voluntas votorum nostrorum summa est.” Paul lays great stress upon the duty of thanksgiving. (See Rom 1:21, Rom 1:14:6; 2Co 1:11, 2Co 1:4:15, 2Co 1:9:11, 2Co 1:12; Eph 5:20; Col 1:3; 2Th 1:3.)

τὰ αἰτήματα ὑμῶν: ‘your requests.’ Only here; Luk 23:24; 1Jn 5:15. According to its termination, αἴτημα is ‘a thing requested,’ and so in all the N.T. instances. Vulg. ‘petitiones.’

In class. it sometimes has the sense of αἴτησις, ‘the act of requesting,’ which does not occur in N.T., as Plato, Repub. viii. 566 B. On the other hand, αἴτησις is found in the sense of αἴτημα, as Hdt. vii. 32; LXX 3 K. 2:16, 20.

γνωριζέσθω: ‘be declared’ or ‘made known.’ (See on 1:22.) As if God did not know them. (Comp. Mat 6:8.)

πρὸς τὸν θεόν: Not merely ‘to God,’ but implying intercourse with God, as well as the idea of direction. (See on 2:30; and comp. Mat 13:56; Mar 6:3, Mar 6:9:16; Joh 1:1; 1Co 16:6.)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be careful [μεριμνατε] . See on Mt 6:25. Rev., better, be anxious.

Prayer and supplication. General and special. See on Luk 5:33; Luk 8:38. Proseuch prayer, only of prayer to God. The two words often occur together, as Eph 6:18; 1Ti 2:1; 1Ti 5:5.

Requests [αιτηματα] . Specific details of supplication.

Unto God [προς τον θεον] . The force of prov is rather in your intercourse with God. See on with God, Joh 1:1.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.