My God Is Near

In January of 1856, the missionary David Livingstone found himself in real danger. A hostile chief had threatened to attack his small party as they attempted to cross the Zambesi River, and his companions urged him to flee under the cover of darkness. Livingstone was afraid. That night he opened his journal and confessed the temptation to run. Then he turned to the promise of his Saviour, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” He wrote that this was the word of a Gentleman of the most sacred honour, and so that was the end of it. He stayed. He slept. In the morning he crossed the river unharmed.

Every believer faces seasons of fear, anxiety, and discouragement. When circumstances grow dark and the pressures mount, the temptation to quit can feel overwhelming. Some are tempted to step away from their studies. Some are tempted to walk away from a calling. Others quietly withdraw from the people who love them. Fear is an adversary. It works to pull you away from your purpose and to isolate you from the work of God.

David knew this battle well. Enemies pursued him, friends forsook him, and darkness pressed in on every side. Yet David did not begin with his circumstances. He began with his God. He testified, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” The cure for overwhelming fear is not pretending the trouble does not exist. It is deliberately turning your focus away from the trouble and back to the character of God. Three truths anchored David, and they will anchor you.

First, God knows everything. He is fully aware of your financial struggles, your health problems, and the quiet anxieties you have never spoken aloud. David wrote, “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.” You do not have to explain your pain to God. He already understands it perfectly.

Second, God is always with you. Even in the darkest moments, His presence never leaves you. He promises, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God.” He even pledges to take you by the hand, “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” You may feel entirely alone. You are not.

Third, God is greater than your circumstances. He is the rock and fortress that stands above every trouble. David could say, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” When everything around you feels unsteady, God is able to set your feet on solid ground.

I have noticed that fear shrinks when it is brought into the presence of God. The troubles that tower over me at midnight look very different when I carry them into His pavilion in the morning. David did not hide his fears from God; he hid himself in God with his fears. And there, in the secret of His tabernacle, David offered what he called “sacrifices of joy.” A sacrifice costs something. Praise in a dark season is not pretence. It is trust.

The Lord is near to you today. “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” If fear has been whispering that you should quit, bring that fear to the One who knows you, who is with you, and who is greater than anything you face. Happiness in trial is not found in escaping the storm but in discovering that God is in it with you.