(P)Review Bible Study: Philippians 4:4-9...What, Me Worry?

    When I was a kid print was still king of media, and comic books and magazines were my doorway into adventure, laughter, and even literary classics (I had a huge collection of classical literature in comic book form).  In with my collection of Green Lantern and Batman comics I could occasionally smuggle in a Mad Magazine.  I say smuggle because my Mother never really approved of the magazine, and with good reason.  The content often skewed toward the racy side and the humor tended to be of the lowest sort, but I loved it. Spy Vs. Spy was always a treat.  The parodies of popular movies were always hilarious to me (in an eleven year old sort of way).  One of my favorite elements was the way they worked their cover-poster-boy, Alfred E. Neuman, into every cover; most of the time with his catch phrase, "What, me worry?"

The only time ever the catch phrase was altered was after the Three-Mile Island incident which they lampooned just weeks after the disaster.  Alfred is seen on the cover saying, "Yes, I am worried." while glowing green from exposure to radioactive materials.  

  With his gap toothed grin, jug ears, uneven eyes, and vacant gaze he was the very picture of casual mischief. This was not by accident.  The editor that commissioned the iconic image specifically asked for a face that would convey whimsy paired with unconcern.  The image that was created, with the caption "What, me worry?" has stuck with the magazine all the way to today. While most of what Alfred gets up to is hardly praiseworthy theology, his insistence on not worrying is worth noting. Most of us worry. In fact most of us worry a lot. I know I do. But St. Paul, in perhaps the only moment where Paul and Alfred ever agree, also recommends that we ditch the worry. He says:

Philippians 4:4-7
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, 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 your minds in Christ Jesus.

    For most of us the plea to not worry falls on deaf ears.  We just have such a hard time not worrying. Life seems to be so full of problems, concerns, and fears. In the world we live in these often times aren't even things we can do anything about. Will Iran develop nuclear weapons? I don't know. Will Social Security go bankrupt. I don't know. Who will get elected, and does it even matter? I don't know.  The list of things I cannot possibly predict or 

control goes on forever, yet somehow it comes to take hold of our minds like some sort of mental infection.  What if I told you that the command to "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice" was an invitation to meditate. The Bible is full of invitations, and even exhortations for God's people to meditate.  I know lots of you think you can't meditate, or worse yet shouldn't meditate but let me tell you:  If you worry, you meditate. You are doing the opposite of "rejoicing always"  and you are most certainly not heeding the warning to "do not worry about anything". Worry is simply meditating on the bad that might happen to us. 

Important distinction:  Biblical meditation and Eastern meditation have almost no similarity to each other ideologically.  In fact it has been noted that they are diametrically opposed.  While Eastern meditation is about becoming detached and "empty",  Biblical meditation is about becoming attached to the word of God and filled with God's presence.  

   The problem is that while most of us are great at filling our minds with possible negative outcomes, we are less apt at filling our minds with positive outcomes.  Part of the reason for this is that we have a realistic anticipation of what we can and cannot do.  We know that there is a world of things that are beyond our control and we know that these things that are beyond are control are far from unrelated to us.  They impact us every day, but we cannot impact them.  So we worry, we meditate on things that frighten us because it gives us a momentary feeling of control, even if it is fleeting and illusory.  
   This is hardly real peace.  In fact it is like so many other things that feel good while we do them, but in the end leaves us much farther worse off then when we began.  God invites us to a different way of dealing with our problems.  In God's way he wants to give us not just any peace but peace that leaves us in the safest of all places when we are done: in the very arms of Christ guarded by God himself.  As Paul says the "peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  
    We only have this peace when instead of filling our hearts and minds with this world's problems we fill ourselves with the promises and grace that Jesus himself offers us.  
    When you face trials and hardships do you meditate on your problems?  Do you focus on filling your heart and mind with all that might be bad?  When we do this we are literally meditating on distrusting God. Or, like Paul says, do you take your problems to God "by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving"?  In the process, do we fill our hearts and minds with the hope that comes from trusting God? Please note, I am not talking about the sort of name-it-and-claim-it "theology" that religious hucksters of our day peddle where they tell you to focus on your desired outcome and God "has to grant it to you".  NO.  I am talking about meditating on trusting God to provide you the strength and wisdom to face your problems withe His help.   One way or another you are going to meditate. Will you meditate on what brings you pain, or will you meditate on "peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus".

    Even Alfred E. Neuman would know the answer to that question.