When Kings Don’t Panic
Your anxiety won’t make God move; faith will.
Beloved Friend,
Picture this: You’re in a crisis, everything is spiraling, and you’re expecting God to at least look a little alarmed. Maybe send an angel down in a rush or shake the heavens a little. But instead? Silence. Peace. Almost as if He’s not worried. And guess what? He’s not.
God is a King. He doesn’t panic. And your anxiety won’t make Him move faster, it might actually be repelling His move.
Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Notice how it doesn’t just say pray but to do so with thanksgiving. Why? Because faith says, I trust You enough to thank You before I see the answer. Anxiety, on the other hand, says, God, You don’t see this? Should I start figuring this out myself?
The Israelites were masters at this. When they stood before the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army behind them, they panicked. “Have you brought us out here to die?” they cried (Exodus 14:11-12). But what was God’s response? “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.” (Exodus 14:15). Anxiety made them doubt, but faith was what parted the sea.
Contrast that with Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20. When faced with an army far greater than his own, he didn’t start running in circles screaming, We’re doomed! No; he sought God, declared a fast, and worshipped. And while they were singing, “Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever,” God set ambushes against their enemies.
This is what our Father responds to: trust. Not panic. Not faithless prayers wrapped in worry. But hearts that say, God, You are King. You are not shaken by what shakes me.
Even Jesus, in the middle of a life-threatening storm, slept. The disciples, full of anxiety, shook Him awake: “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38). But Jesus didn’t match their panic, He matched their problem with peace. And when He rebuked the storm, He turned to them and asked, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”(Mark 4:40).
We do this too; expecting our worry to somehow prove to God that we really need Him to act. But God is not a human king who needs pressure to make decisions. He moves when faith moves Him.
So this week, no matter what arises, let’s not be like the Israelites at the Red Sea, crying in fear. Let’s be like Jehoshaphat, standing still and seeing the salvation of the Lord. Let’s be like Jesus, sleeping in the storm because we know who is in control.
Your anxiety won’t make Him panic. Your faith will make Him move.
With thoughts of kindness,
ABBA’s Shofar