Over 400 years before Jesus, Zechariah foretold how God would one day come and live with men.  “‘Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion.  For I am coming, and I will live among you,’ declares the Lord.  ‘Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people.  I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you’” (Zechariah 2:10-11).

The key to overcoming anxious thoughts and fears is the promise of the presence of God.  In his letter to the Philippians, Paul writes, “The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything”.

As we reflect on this last week of Advent, we find ourselves living in a post-Christian, postmodern world which has seemingly lost its bearings.  We live in ever more fearful circumstances and are fed a constant stream of fear-based rhetoric.  Our sense of direction seems to be lost, most likely because, as a society, we have abandoned God.  Is it any wonder we are surrounded by fear and so often respond with anxiety and control?

This is the context of God’s advent.  He comes to us in the midst of our fear and says “Do not be anxious about anything”.  Why?  Because the Lord is here.  Faith that looks like this, faith that speaks of peace in a fearful world is the key to his presence among us and, even more, how he plans to express his presence to the world through us.   Who can doubt that we live in a world where fear is a much greater reality than joy or peace?  It is, therefore, our greatest privilege to live out the Gospel of true peace-shalom (literally wholeness and well being)-in every sense of the word all the while pointing others to its source; Jesus Christ.

We can do it because the Lord is truly near to us.  He first came as a tiny baby to a virgin in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago.  And Christ, by His Spirit, continues to come to us, walking with us in the midst of our struggles.  When we let him, he turns our difficult circumstances into joy and peace.  Not by taking them away, but by being Lord over them and our lives.  He is the source of our prayers and thanksgiving not our present circumstances.

Let us celebrate our Christ’s coming on this last day of Advent.  And may we be so aware of His presence as we celebrate His birth tomorrow.