Beyond Understanding

JusJoJan 27 January 2022

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 NIV)

These are some of my favourite verses. The trouble with being anxious is that it has nothing to do with logic. There are tools and tricks to try to talk yourself out of anxiety but they don’t get to the heart of the thing. My Mom used to reason thus:

What is the worst thing that can happen to me in this situation? Can they kill me? Can they put me in prison? If the worst possible thing happens, can I cope? Will I get through it?

While these methods can work to a certain extent, they don’t touch the emotions, or the heart. In the Bible, the heart describes a person’s center for both physical and emotional-intellectual-moral activities. That is why we need a peace that affects our hearts as well as our minds.

I first noticed this distinction when I was battling with a personal problem, an unhealthy affection. I stood on this verse for a number of weeks or maybe it was months, until the strong attraction weakened.

The peace that God gives as a direct result of our prayer and petition cannot be explained. It cannot be understood. It is beyond understanding but it can be felt. It is like the touch of our Father’s hand on our shoulder.

Image by Pixabay

My Prayer

Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, today I pray for all those who are reading this post. May they experience that peace which passes understanding as Your gift. Amen.

A Change in Focus

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Prov 3:5 NIV)

My biggest challenge in photography is to get my focus right. In the following picture, the focus is not sharp on the bird’s eyes but at least the bird is more in-focus than the background trees! A change in focus can totally change a photo.

Sometimes in life, we also need to change our focus. We can either focus on the Lord, or our own understanding. Our own understanding comes naturally. It is common sense.

This is an area where I am struggling at the moment. Our family in New Zealand offered to pay for us to visit them at the end of the year, subject to our being able to procure the two-for-one fare we were able to get two years ago. It is offered once a year for 12 hours only and last year it was available on the 24th January. We prayed about it and decided that getting the two-for-one fare would be our sign of the Lord’s green light. Up until this moment, there is no sign of the special, although there is a sale until the end of January where we can save about R 3 500 per ticket, but the price is still R7 000 above the cost of a two-for- one special.

My own understanding, conventional wisdom, screams out, “Buy the tickets now, do it now, quickly before they all run out! After all, a bird in the hand … and all that.”

However, after a lot of discussion and agonizing, we have decided not to settle for second best, but rather trust the Lord to provide the best, and from our side, to do everything in our power to keep an eye on the internet and not miss the offer. Please pray for me. I’m fine now, but it’s still January and we can always change our minds, but how will I cope on the first of February? Do I trust the Lord with all my heart?

This post is part of JusJoJan