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 4:5b-7

In my lifetime there have been times that we prayed, and God miraculously answered, by healing my back so that I could return to work, blessing our children and grandchildren, so that nine out of ten are still serving the Lord and attending church regularly. But I have also begged for a daughter-in-law to be healed and yet she died, prayed for a son’s marriage, yet it still ended in divorce. At those moments, the promise of today’s Bible reading and God’s peace felt far away. But as I was listening to this chapter the other night, I noticed something which I had missed all these years. I missed it because I forgot that when Paul wrote his letter, he did not use chapters and verses. Now, usually those nifty divisions give us a great way to find a passage, but as I listened to the chapter being read, I realized that the end of verse five, gives us the reason we should have hope. He is at hand! (or in other translations, “He is near.”).

Paul urges us to pray with confidence, but not because we have great faith. Yes, faith was and always will be important, but not everyone that Jesus healed had a lot of faith. He raised a widow’s son from the dead, and we can be sure that fellow had zero faith because he was dead! But something else was at play even greater than our faith or our lack thereof. Jesus came so close to where they were that He could reach out and touch the funeral bier. Or, remember on the road to Emmaus, when two of the disciples were walking along, talking about the death of Jesus and strange reports they had heard about his resurrection. They had a lot of questions and doubts, but the Bible tells us, that Jesus came and walked along with them. We also see Mary standing outside the empty tomb weeping and asking the “gardener” where the body of Jesus was. Did Jesus show up and try to make her feel terrible about her doubts or ignore her tears? No! Jesus drew near. Do I understand all of what these passages mean? No! But they give me a peace that reaches far beyond anything that I understand. I remember that the Lord is near; He won’t allow hopes to be buried forever, he walks with us when we struggle with doubts, and he stands nearest when tears stream down our cheeks and He calls us by name!