The Lord's Nearness and Our Good
June 28, 2021 • by Chelsea Patterson Sobolik
Where do you turn when life falls apart? When it feels overwhelming and difficult? Maybe you’re walking through a devastating loss, or navigating life with unfulfilled longings and unmet desires. Or maybe you’re weary from the long COVID-19 pandemic and all the difficulty that a global crisis has brought into your life.
I’m walking through my own difficulties this summer. I’m facing a challenging season of transition in my professional life, my husband and I are knee-deep in filling out adoption paperwork, and a family member is in the hospital. And in the midst of these challenges, I’m seeking to love the Lord and my family and my community well.
I feel weary and worn out.
So, what do we do when we’re exhausted and in pain?
We press into the presence of God.
God’s Nearness
We are people of the cross. When Jesus cried out “it is finished,” he secured for us eternal nearness to the Father. We aren’t left to wonder where to turn when life is dark and sorrows abound. Because the curtain was torn in two, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:19). That means we can pray with boldness and confidence, knowing that when we cry out, our prayers will be heard.
But there are times when we don’t know how or what to pray for. Romans 8:26 tells us that “...the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Even when we feel too weak to form prayers, the Holy Spirit is interceding on our behalf. In our moments of greatest weakness and sorrow, we are never alone.
Scripture promises that “the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Ps. 34:18). God’s nearness to us is a source of comfort and strength when life is hard.
“When Jesus cried out “it is finished,” he secured for us eternal nearness to the Father.”
An Anatomy of All the Parts of the Soul
There are times when we don’t necessarily feel God’s nearness to us. And it is then that it is absolutely vital to regularly be immersing our souls in Scripture. One of the places I consistently turn to is the book of Psalms. John Calvin called the psalms “an anatomy of all the parts of the soul” because “there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror. Or rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, in short, all the distracting emotions with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated.”
The Psalms give us language for our lament and teach us how to pray honestly before the Lord. The Psalms remind us of the character of God and foretell our Savior. In our moments of distress, we cry out because the psalmists model for us what it’s like to bring all of our feelings and emotions to God.
For Our Good
In the midst of heartache and deep disappointment, I’ve often turned to Psalm 73. In this Psalm, the author teaches us how to work out the frustrations of living in a broken and fallen world. We’re reminded of our need to regularly be in God’s presence to rightly understand the world and our emotions. If we only trust in what we can see, we are deceiving ourselves.
But the last verse of this Psalm is one I desire for my entire life to be characterised by.
“For me it is good to be near God” (Ps. 73:28)
It is for my good that I am near the Lord.
Many of us struggle with spiritual amnesia. That’s why Scripture regularly reminds us of the character and promises of God. We must engage in the spiritual discipline of remembering—who our God is, what his promises are, and how we ought to behave in light of Scripture.
In the Psalms, God tells us that he is our good shepherd and in him, we have no lack (Ps. 23:1), he is our helper and the upholder of our lives (Ps. 54:4), he is our keeper (Ps. 121:5,7), he is our strength and shield (Ps. 28:7), he is a stronghold in times of trouble (Ps. 9:9), he is our glory (Ps. 3:3), and he is our rock, our fortress and our deliver (Ps. 18:2).
“It is for my good that I am near the Lord.”
Hold Onto Hope in the Midst of Suffering
As Christians, we have a deep and abiding hope, because we know how our story ends. We’ve read the end of our story—and the end is good. In Revelation 21:3-4, we’re told that “the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away.” God is making all things new. There is a day coming when all things will be fully and finally redeemed and restored.
C.S. Lewis writes in The Last Battle “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here….Come further up, come further in!”
As we walk through the pain and struggles of this life, may we remind our souls that “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Cor. 4:17). We do not look to the things we can see, but to the unseen things, because the unseen things are eternal.
For now, we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). But there is a day coming when we will be with the Lord forever more—and oh what a glorious day it will be. Until that day, may we go further up and further into the presence of God.
God promises his nearness, both now and for eternity. May we trust in the sure and steady hope we have in him.
Chelsea Patterson Sobolik is the author of Longing for Motherhood; Holding Onto Hope in the Midst of Childlessness, and the Policy Director at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. She and her husband Michael live in Washington, D.C. When she’s not working, she enjoys reading, cooking, and being outside. Follow her on Twitter @Chelspat or on Instagram
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