When Tempted, Pray!
Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:
Scripture: Philippians 4:4-7
Today's mediation touches a particular area in my own life. Though a pastor, I am first a Christian. As a result, I am subjected to the temptations of this life and the anxieties that often come with them. I am not unusual, I suspect. Many of God's people throughout history have wrestled with the paralyzing sin of anxiety. The list would be long, but men such as John Calvin, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon wrestled with the issues of anxiety, doubt, and worry. The bible also highlights people who wrestled with it as well. People such as Jeremiah, Jonah, Job, Martha, and even Moses! Indeed, anxiety and worry are terrible things, affecting even the greatest of saints (of which I am not).
Why should we see our anxieties as actual temptations? Precisely because they lead us away from trusting God. Every Christian knows that we are to trust the Lord in everything. As the divine sovereign of heaven and earth, we know that he directs, upholds, and rules over everything by his divine providence. We know these truths theologically, but we often forget them when the storms of temptation and anxiety come crashing in on every side. Calvin comments, "we are not made of iron, so as to be unshaken by temptations. But our consolation, our relief, is to deposit, or (to speak more correctly) to unload into the bosom of God everything that harasses us. Confidence, it is true, brings tranquility to our minds, but only if we exercise ourselves in prayers. Whenever, therefore, we are assailed by any temptation, let us betake ourselves forthwith to prayer, as to a sacred refuge." (101). Thus, we heed the words of Christ when he tells us to "watch and pray lest you enter into temptation." Sometimes the temptation comes, and it may cause us to doubt and grow anxious. Sometimes we are anxious because of our lack of faith. In those times, we must flee to Christ in prayer and labor on our knees to the God who cares for us. Prayer is a demonstration of our trust and dependence on the Lord. To refuse to pray, especially during times of anxiety, is to take the burden alone, seeking to carry it to some fruitful end. That will never work. Instead, we are called to cast our cares upon the One who can bear it because he cares for his children. Therefore, child of God, when tempted to sin, pray. When temptations and the cares of this life assail you, pray. Pray often. Plead with the God of peace who calls his children to "be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to him" (Phil 4:6).