Philippians 4:5b-6

Posted by DJL on Nov 24, 2012 in Daily Bread | 1 comment

The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

I wasn’t sure whether to include the powerful statement, “The Lord is near,” as the end of the last verse – the way it’s marked in most Bibles – or as the beginning of the next.

I don’t know that this is of ultimate significance – as undoubtedly you could connect it with either or both – but it seems to me that if you include it as part of the last verse, then the passage reads, “Let your gentleness be known to everyone [for] the Lord is near.” Here, the motivation for letting one’s gentleness be known – or, as we discussed earlier, being fair to everyone – is that the Lord is coming. This is definitely a possibility. Paul certainly imagined that the imminent appearance of the Lord should shape our behavior.

But in this case I think Paul’s encouragement to be fair to others stems from his invitation to rejoice. Joy – a palpable sense of delight in our relationship with God and each other – makes it easier to be fair, to be willing to take another’s side, to look out for the interests of others. Caught up in a sense of blessing, it is hard not to want to bless others.

And so I choose to pair Paul’s confession that the Lord is near with the verse that follows. Here it also serves as motivation, but in this case as incentive for us to release some of the regular worries we carry around like a snail does its shell. That is, precisely because the Lord is coming we do not have to worry quite so much, but rather we can bring our concerns to God, even turn them over to God with thanksgiving for the Lord’s imminent arrival.

Again, knowing that the Apostle imagined that every part of our life is affected by God’s redemption in Christ, I suspect either reading is suitable. But in my experience it so much easier for Christians to imagine that God’s arrival should prompt behavior modification rather than create a sense of joy and thanksgiving. And that, I think, is Paul’s primary belief. God’s arrival is always a matter of joy and thanksgiving – fearsome joy, at times, but joy and thanksgiving nonetheless.

The Lord is near, Paul says, so lighten up, care for each other, give your worries over to God, and give thanks, for our redemption draws near.

Prayer: Dear God, knowing that you are drawing near to us, let us also draw near to you, sharing with you our hopes and fears, joys and concerns, trusting in your will and your mercy as we know them both in and through Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen.