The Lord Is...

             Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. (Philippians 4:4)

In today’s reading of The Diving Conspiracy, one of the things that Prof. Willard points out is the availability of Jesus during His ministry on Earth. In fact, that was one of the things that irritated people most about Him. He was often so thronged with people that He and His disciples exhausted themselves. They had to find out of the way places to go to rest. People tore roofs off houses to get to Him and He didn’t object. He ministered to tax collectors, prostitutes, other sinners, and non-Jews. He spoke to women – and Samaritan women at that! He healed on the Sabbath.  

People joke about children and pets not being willing to let them go to the bathroom in peace. But when Jesus was dying, He was accessible to a thief who was dying with Him, and He made sure that His mother would be cared for. I mean, really!

But as I read about Jesus being accessible, my instant reaction was negative. As an introvert, the idea of being that accessible is a nightmare. I want to be in control of my accessibility and by extension, I think, I project my own dislike of accessibility onto Jesus. He couldn’t possibly want to be that accessible, and it would be rude of me to take advantage of His accessibility. It’s hard to imagine Him smiling at me as I walk up with my third request, complaint, or question in the last two minutes.

But on the other hand, I find it hard to imagine His being patient enough for me to spend days, or even years to come to Him about something. I can imagine Him looking at His watch and announcing that I’m two years, 35 days, and 14.5 hours late, or just shaking His head without telling me how late I am. Sometimes, I can imagine Him looking at what’s going on in the world and wondering how it is that I can’t see that He has more important things to do than listen to me whine. That’s how I feel about my situations, after all.

There’s the other side of the coin, too. The Lord is near? Near? Now? I’m not ready. The house is a mess. I need to find tiny screws and nuts to fasten my garden dividers together with. And worst of all, my attitude isn’t at its best! Can I turn off the lights and maybe He’ll come back when things aren’t quite so unready?  Except, we both know that things will never be ready.

At the same time, it’s not as though I never speak to God about anything. I pray about lots of things at random moments through the day but I think I picture it as an e-mail or text – something sent off to God that He’ll get to when He has time.

It’s something I need to work on. It’s a Battle Bible verse, reminding me that my projections are wrong. He is near. He is accessible. I need to learn to be the same.