The Lord Is Near

Philippians 4:4-6 (ESV)

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.

I have just finished my final year at university. Towards the end of the year, two things made me particularly anxious. These were my final year project presentation and my last and only in-person exam at uni. Whilst walking on to campus the morning of my presentation, I was asking Jesus how someone who has such hope in him and knows everything is in his hands, can be filled with such anxiety. At the time I didn’t receive an answer but on reflection, the point all along was that in this period of anxiety, the Spirit of Jesus was with me and I was able to tell him how I felt and know he was listening.

At the beginning of this week, let's set ourselves to look towards Jesus and to remember that by his Spirit, he is near all the time. Because Jesus is near, we can bring our worries to him.

I was recently reminded that this verse is not so much telling us to stop being anxious - it is telling us that the Lord is near! Because the Lord is near, he takes our worries, cares and burdens! The focus is not on the problem but on the God who is right there with us in the problem.

Today, let’s focus on our God who is above the problem and yet right there with us while we’re going through it.

Prayer — Thank you for being here Jesus. Today I give you my worries knowing you are listening.