When someone tells you to relax and not worry, doesn’t that make you more anxious?

But where does that anxiousness come from? Anxiety comes from our struggle with control. When we can’t control things, we feel anxious.

Parker Palmer teaches that control is “Functional Atheism.” In his book Let Your Life Speak, he says, “‘Functional Atheism’ is saying pious words about God's presence in our lives but believing, on the contrary, that nothing good is going to happen unless we make it happen.” So, “Functional Atheism” is the belief that responsibility for everything that happens in my life rests with me. 

If any of us really looked at our inner being, we may realize that we often talk of our trust and faith in God, but our behavior contradicts our words as we take responsibility for and control things that belong to God. We might have to admit that deep in our hearts, we may doubt God will show up “in time” and wonder if we need to be the ones to make things happen. And so, we try to control things. You know...just in case.

In reality, we are in control of very little. God is in control of it all. What we are in control of is ourselves and our choices. We control whether we will trust God to be God in our lives or not. When we don’t let God be God, we fall into “Functional Atheism” and try to control even the smallest details in our lives. In that space, we are anxious and only come to God when we feel “out of control.” This often makes our prayers filled with anxiousness. Why? Because we want God to do what we want Him to do instead of what He wants to do. 

But what does God’s Word say to us about all this? Listen to the prophecy of Isaiah 30: 

“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! ... For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning (surrender) and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, and you said, “No!” ... Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”

We see from this passage that control and anxiousness are the antithesis of surrender and rest.

Surrender & Rest (Sabbath)

Our need to control everything contradicts the posture we need to have before God, destroying the very thing we seek: REST! God is calling us to “Enter My Rest...” (Hebrews 4:9-11a) But what is this “rest” that God is speaking of? “Rest” in the Bible has two meanings:

• Elimination – The elimination of hard labor, tasks, to-do lists, relentless hurry, anxiousness, worry, etc.

• Presence – To “rest upon.” God was not tired or weary from His labor. He is God. But the language of rest is linked to divine presence. Ancient Near East texts associate divine rest with temple building. Temples were built as a dwelling place for the deity. Once built, they believed the deity would come and “rest upon/in” the temple. Know this: God’s creative work was not only to build a place for His created beings to live and dwell in but a temple where He could dwell together with His people.

We (individually and collectively) are now that temple. God comes and dwells within us. He “rests” in and upon us. Breathe that in. The seventh day was the only day that did not say “and there was evening and there was morning”. This indicates that the Sabbath rest is ongoing. God invites us to enter that rest with Him. To eliminate all that distracts us from Him, and to come and dwell in His presence. We live in that rest now, and it will find its fullness when Christ comes again.

But how do we enter God’s rest? It starts with surrender. Surrender is the opposite of control and the necessary step to enter God’s rest. Surrender forces us to change our posture toward God. Instead of standing before Him with clinched fists, we kneel before him with open hands. The Bible shows us that surrender requires three things:

1. Humble Heart (1 Peter 5:6-7) – Surrender requires Humility. Humility requires us to trust the One whom we humble ourselves before. Do you trust God in theory or practice (“functional atheism”)? Perhaps anxiousness demonstrates little trust and more control.

2. Prayerful Posture (Phil. 4:6-7) – Through prayer, we surrender ourselves to God and take the proper posture before Him. Prayer demonstrates trust and humility, even in times of struggle and suffering. Remember, peace is not the absence of struggle or conflict, but peace is the presence of God through all of it. With great prayer comes great peace; with little prayer comes great anxiousness and more control.

3. Seeking Servant (Matthew 6:33) – Those who seek God first are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness over the things of this world. When we do, we humbly and prayerfully enter the world as servants of the King. Seeking only to honor and serve Him, with great joy and hope despite all that surrounds us.

Through a Humble Heart, a Prayerful Posture, and as a Seeking Servant, we can enter God’s rest that the world cannot grasp. And as we draw near to God, He draws near to us, rests in and upon us, and gives us a peace that surpasses all understanding. He calls us to Him and asks us to surrender with the promise that as the storms rage around us, we will not be easily shaken but will find rest for our souls (Psalm 62:1-8).