What's the Connection Between Forbearance and Anxiety in Philippians 4:5-6?

  Anxiety.  Or you could just call it stress.  It eats us up sometimes. No one is exempt from it. Family, kids, job, house, education, illness--you name it, everything causes it.  This past week I had my fair share of it--with job challenges, getting sick, house responsibilities, and doing taxes. And you undoubtedly had your own set of situations to deal with. 

Winter day at the marina.

    That's probably why this phrase "God's assignment" really caught my eye in chapter 60 of the Life-Study of Philippians: 

If we would have a life free of anxiety, we need to realize that all our circumstances, good or bad, have been assigned to us by God...We need to have this realization with a full assurance...If this brother has the full assurance that his circumstances come from God's assignment, he will be able to worship the Lord for His arrangement...All the sufferings we undergo are assigned to us by God for a positive purpose...Although God has assigned such sufferings, He has not assigned anxiety. After God made His assignment, Satan came in to cause anxiety through the sufferings assigned by God (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Philippians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1981, Print).

So nothing's accidental. God assigned it.  And just like in winter time--there are cold, gray and drizzly days--especially here in Washington.  And in the closing chapters of this Life-Study of  Philippians,  Witness Lee points out that in Philippians 4:5-6 you see forbearance in verse 5 and anxiety in verse 6. The footnote in the Recovery Version says that forbearance is Christ and anxiety comes from Satan to disturb us from living Christ.  

What I got out of all this was when we receive the bountiful supply of the Spirit that Paul speaks of in Philippians 1:19, we get the life supply that swallows up anxiety. This made me think of John 6:63 where the Lord says  ...the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.   Stress can't eat us up when we spend time eating the words of life!

You can listen to excerpts from the Life-Study of Philippians given in 1980 on The Life-Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.  The commentary is excellent.

Blog Update 5/22/14:  Check out the  new free book put out by Bibles for America called Knowing Christ as forbearance or A Life of Forbearance But Without Anxiety. 

Other Posts on the Life-Study of Philippians:

What is the Bountiful Supply of the Spirit in Philippians 1:19?
What Does It Mean to Magnify Christ in Philippians 1:20-23?
How Does Religion, Philosophy & Culture Relate to Philippians 3:5-6?
Have You Ever Wondered What Gaining Christ is in Philippians 3:8?
Why Does Paul Put Anxiety and Prayer Together in Philippians 4:6?
What's Paul's Secret in Philippians 4:12?
What Does It Mean to Live Christ in Philippians 1:19-21?
From the Life-Study of Philippians:  What's the Theme of the Bible?
What is the Sacrifice of Faith in Philippians 2:17?