The Things we Often Skip

Sometimes, in our familiarity with certain passages of Scripture, we miss out on an important part of it. I had that happen with me recently.

Almost all of Philippians 4:4-7 is familiar to us. It's quoted often in many different situations.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heats and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7, CSB)

But, we often actually only use verses 4 and 6-7 when we quote it. For some reason, we skip over verse 5. We read the first part about rejoicing in the Lord and then we jump to the part about not worrying. But, in the part we skip, are four words that why it is possible for us to rejoice always and why we don't need to worry.

The Lord is near.

All of this is possible because God is right there. He is near. His closeness is the reason for us to rejoice always. We can count on Him and that is reason to celebrate.

We can also let go of our worries because He is near. We're not praying to a distant God and asking Him to take our worries; we literally get to hand then over to a God Who is right there. He takes them directly from us.

We can pray with thanksgiving because God is there. His presence, His nearness, means that if we take even a moment to look for His activity in our lives, we will see it. And it can result in gratitude.

We also experience His peace because He is right there. It is His presence that changes everything. He peace isn't something we have to try to manufacture. We experience it because of His nearness in the midst of all circumstances.

You may have noticed that I've actually still skipped a part of verse 5 in what I've said. We often skip this part of the verse too. I wanted to start with what we commonly talk about and how it ties together with part we easily skip over, but this doesn't mean the first part of verse 5 doesn't also fit in with what I'm saying.

Verse 5 says, "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near." Gentleness is not something that comes naturally to us, or even is generally valued or encouraged by our society. The only way we can live it is to be dependent on God's presence with us, empowering us to live out our gentleness in a world that doesn't value it.

The Lord is near.

Really, in many ways, the four most important words in this passage. Yet, part that we too often skip in our focus on what else is said in this passage. They're words we cannot continue to skip, because they are key to understanding and living out all that these verses contain.