Peace? What peace?

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:4-7 ESV)

Is this true?  Why, when we have given something hard to God, do we not feel the peace?  What are we doing wrong?  More importantly, where is God and His peace?  

Well, in my experience, my anxiety is directly related to how badly I want to fix things, how much I want something to look a certain way, whether or not God does what I want.  Does the thing I have prayed about turn around immediately, come out "right", or just go away?  No.  God hasn't promised that my problem will go away.  He does promise His peace. 

Maybe my problem is my understanding of who He is and what He is about.  His ultimate goal for me is that I might be holy.  He accomplishes that goal by giving me all sorts of things, many of them difficult (See Romans 8:28-29).   Letting go of these difficult things, even into His capable hands, is not ever easy.  But it is necessary.  

Look at the first sentence in the verse.  As I am giving my problems into His hands, I am also to be rejoicing in Him.  Maybe that's where we get stuck.  We hand him our difficulties and immediately start wondering how and when He is going to answer, and wondering if there might be some little thing we can do to help.  

Rather, we should begin rejoicing.  Rejoice in the Lord!  In Jeremiah 32, God says,  “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?
(Jeremiah 32:27 ESV)   The answer that resounds throughout eternity, from the Creation of the universe by His mere Word, to the exquisite Supper of the Lamb, is NO, nothing is too hard for You, Lord God Almighty.  

Not even my anxieties, problems, sleeplessness, pain.  Nothing is too hard or too small for God to know exactly what to do, and to do it.  

So rejoice in your pain.  Rejoice in His greatness and kindness to you.  Rejoice that He is certainly big enough.  And enjoy His peace.