The hidden commandment

THE HIDDEN COMMANDMENT 
There is a commandment that does not get a mention in the Ten Commandments but that is being indicated right throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, especially in the Prophets and in many Psalms (Isaiah 12:6, Psalm 31:14  John 14:27). 
It the New Testament the commandment is stated as ‘Be anxious for nothing’. 

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

It is about trusting God and having the ‘peace of God’ instead of the ‘peace of the world’, which is what Jesus stated to his disciples that he wanted us to have (John 14:27).
This is a fervent commitment that God wants us to make for our own sakes, but also for him, so that we can develop a loving and trusting relationship with him, which is what he desires above all else.

We are living in a time when there is a pressing need to appropriate God’s peace. 
The elusive peace of the world is the illusion that you can remove any threat to your safety and security and satisfaction in your personal world if you’re smart enough or tough enough or lucky enough. However it is a well known fact that watching or listening to or reading any form of news media these days is mostly an experience of hearing about all the bad things that are happening. Even when good things happen the media does not tend to report them let alone feature them because the bad news gets more attention and getting more attention in a competitive industry like news media means more success and more followers and more influence. 
There are good things that are happening, but the bad things make the news. So, pursuing the peace of the world is problematic, complex, elusive and ultimately false, and all of this of course gets magnified on social media

There is something called the negativity bias. It is that giving attention to a negative experience even if it is overwhelmingly surrounding by positive experiences will cause a longer lasting negative emotional impact upon us than the positive experience. For example if you work with ten people and nine of them say good things about you and one is always speaking negatively about you, guess what will keep you awake at night.

This condition of anxiety and uncertainty because of negative bias is the state of our global emotional existence today, particularly in times of trying to manage a global pandemic. 

There are many good things happening but the bad things make the news.

Let me to some extent offset the effect of negative bias a little by presenting some unnoticed global facts that don’t make headlines in the media. These are some of the many good things that have happened over the last forty years that go unreported.
There are plenty of sources for this information but a handy compendium of facts can be found at - Our World in Data – (Google it)

Here is a handful of good news items…
Global absolute poverty has decreased from 40% in 1980 to 10 % in 2020.

Starvation has been dramatically reduced in India and Africa and China (apart from political agendas) by the introduction of better and stronger strains of the many varieties of wheat grasses amongst many other things. 

Despite the fear of overpopulation in the1970’s and the threat of running out of resources, the world population has grown by 70% over the last forty years but has resulted in more wealth and better health and disease eradication. 

There are also many countries over the last forty years that have a more sustainable lifestyle balance regarding health and longevity and well-being.

There are no horizons to these improvements because of technological advancement and global agreement about them.

Focusing upon the bad news creates an enormous amount of personal anxiety and social instability because of the pressure of having to overcome so many obstacles that threaten our inner peace. This is not only in regard to world news but it touches deeply the anxieties within our own personal emotional and spiritual lives as we carry the burden of our own personal situations and the burdens of those we care for.

The hidden good news in the world is also a reflection of the hidden good news of our personal faith (Hebrews 11:1 faith is the assurance of God’s activity in the world of the unseen) - but we still get drawn in by the devious negative bias in our emotional and spiritual lives.

The word for the Gospel ‘The Good News’ is euaggelion. In ancient times this was the traditional message of victory that was dispatched by the conquering kings and rulers that had to be declared to all the citizens in the region. 
This would mean that everyone could now live in peace.

We live within the blessing of the ‘Gospel of Peace’.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

There is a way to predispose our mind to God’s perfect peace, whatever the problematic or dismal conditions are that exist. We cannot imagine some set of flawless and ideal circumstances or direct how everyone should behave so that we would not have one single problem in the world. What this perfect peace requires is for our hearts to be awakened to God’s perfect peace under any imperfect conditions. Then we can bring that peace into any situation and respond with effective action and God’s presence. 

How does our heart get awakened to God’s peace?
Peace means oneness, Eirene and that is the key. We share God’s life through the Holy Spirit and he awakens us to the peace and oneness of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Joined to thr lord
How can we live as though our problem or affliction is something to not worry about?
The only way is for a person to believe that someone else is taking care of that for us.

How do we know that they will sort it out just the way we want it?
We don’t. It’s not a matter of getting everything the way we want it. We have to trust that the person we hand the care over to will do the sorting out in their own perfect way. 
1Peter 5:7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 

This is a commitment. We commit our strategy of sorting it out to someone else.
The strategic activity is now being planned by experts, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
So do we forget about the whole thing and ignore what is going on?
No. 
So what do we do?
We attend to the situation responsibly, with a new measure of patience and calm, confident that God is strategizing situations for us in the world of the unseen. Then we stay on the alert to respond to any signpost that is a pointer to act upon or to speak into the situation as it evolves. One signpost may simply lead to another signpost but our patience in this is our sign of persistence in prayer as we continue to bring before him our faith that he has it all in hand, for his outcome.

We have an anointed guide, the Holy Spirit who teaches us as we go forward 
1John 2:27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

There are actually more good things than bad things happening in our lives as we see things this way, that everything is working together for God’s best for our inner life and inner peace when they are placed in God’s hands. As we trust him and partner with him in this way there are many other things that God is reordering in his hidden way in the circumstances of our lives and in the lives of those we care for. The transformation of our inner lives involves God helping us overcome the hopelessness of the past to open us up to hopefulness for the future. That overcomes anxiety – it surpasses what our mind can grasp about overcoming anxiety and allows faith and trust in God’s hidden power in us, and that surpasses all understanding. That is the peace of God.

The moment we take the anxiety back upon our-selves we have stopped having faith, and things start looking bad again and so we can end up persevering in our anxiety instead of persevering in faith. Faith is about what God is strategically doing, not what we are anxiously claiming what he should do. Faith is about God’s activity not ours. He gives – we receive. What is not of faith is sin (we miss the mark)
Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

So we pour out our anxiety to God and let him pour in his peace. We can bring to mind the ten second pause of ‘be still and know that I am God’. These precious segments or times of attention if applied more frequently and faithfully in our lives allow us to live more and more in the peace of God, being anxious for nothing. I call this presence prayer.

I was asked very recently whether fasting a good thing to do spiritually. My response was that fasting is not a supernatural activity but it is a spiritual discipline in the sense that it brings us to the place of letting something go so that we can draw closer to God. It is not transactional as in telling God you will fast so then he will do something for you. Letting go of something of self is the opposite of wanting to add something to self. We do not let go of things in order for God to add other things – we let go of things in order to gain Christ. That means food, it means time and it means anxiety. That is the cross bringing about resurrection. How much do we want to gain Christ? We don’t stop eating or using our minds or stop solving problems. We live a balanced life of thanksgiving for the blessings in our lives.  At your right hand there are pleasure forevermore (Psalm 16:11) Footy in wonderful company including The Lord’s. 

We have something to bring into each and every situation – 

A Reality regarding the facts. Face what is happening as things really are. The negative bias is a cunning ally of darkness. Afflictions and challenges are part of the pattern of real life and different challenges happens to us at different stages of life. Where these things occur God’s grace much more occurs.  

A plan of action- we attend to the situation responsibly, trusting that God is at work  doing the hidden good thing that is needed. We don’t give up simply because we are  aware of our human weakness and limitation. His strength is made perfect in our honest 
Confession of our weakness. 

A commitment to persevere. We commit to continually returning to that place of trust when anxiety tries to overwhelm us. We come to you now Lord that we may let go of things that we may gain you. Amen.