Be joyful, not anxious: God is to be found. Philippians 4.

At my previous parish, two of my friends became ill with cancer. We, their church family, prayed often enough, but in the end the two friends weren’t healed, and they both died. The question is, why? Why didn’t healing happen? Why weren’t their lives spared?

In my quiet times about this, I am reminded from the pages of the gospels that Jesus healed all who encountered him. He never refused anyone, even when they didn’t belong to his own people, Israel. So why hadn’t prayer been answered? It’s an age-old question, and one that came up at Alpha the other week.

It's a natural and perfectly understandable human response to trauma to ask of God, why? The unfairness, the injustice, the suffering needs to be resolved, and the Christian turns to God. Who else is there to turn to? Friends, family, loved ones are available, but they can’t answer the question of why. So I’ve stopped asking why. It’s a pointless question because there is no answer. I am reminded of God’s words through the prophet Isaiah, my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are higher than yours. What then, is the right question to ask?

The question to ask is, where. Where are you God in this situation or in that matter? There’s turn of phrase in Greek that Paul uses in verse 6 of this morning’s passage from Philippians that literally means, towards God. It’s also used by John in the opening verses of his Gospel, often translated as, the Word was with God. It’s an expression of relationship. In other words, how are you and God together? How do you stand with him? Where are you and he in relation to each other?

To illustrate: let’s suppose there is some issue between a husband and wife. And I use the illustration of marriage because it’s a metaphor that our Lord often used to describe the Christian’s relationship with God our Father, meaning there is a covenant relationship between our Father God and ourselves as human beings. God is there for us, and we are there for him, for his delight and his care.

Now let’s suppose the issue between the husband and wife has no quick fix. It’s no good asking why, because why leads to blame and wanting to hold someone to account, which in turn is destructive. A relationship like that becomes one of head-to-head and goes nowhere. What matters more is where the two are in relationship with each other. When an issue is looked at using that platform, there is opportunity for growth, maturing in the relationship, and strengthening of the bonds of marriage. Or if the issue is between you and God, it is the maturing and strengthening of your relationship with him.

So it is more productive, of more value in trauma situations, to ask where am I in relation to those around me, than it is to ask why the situation happened, or why God allowed it, in the first place.

Let’s now turn to what St Paul says his letter to the Philippians about checking in with God and ourselves in times of trauma, anxiety or any other kind of trouble, and I’m particularly interested in verses 4-7 of his chapter 4.

The first thing to note is that Paul stresses God’s nearness. He writes that the Lord is near, close at hand. God is not remote, inaccessible, or otherwise out of reach. This answers the question where, and again it’s the relational question that is point. And because God is close by, accessible, and has created you in his image – which is why we are relational with God – it makes sense that we can bring all our concerns, problems and anxieties to him in prayer.

Paul says that we should not be anxious about any thing, and it is expressed strongly in the Greek. But in every thing, make your requests to God by prayer with thanksgiving, with the result that the peace of God will guard you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And that little word “in” is important. We are commanded to remain in Jesus, that all important mysterious point that John makes in his gospel about being in Christ. Then you will get your answer to the question about where God is with you in your particular situation. So how does all this work out in practice?

Stressed and anxious people need to establish a sense of safety, someone with whom they can lament their suffering, to interpret their experiences and acknowledge their memory, so as to not be overwhelmed by them. That person needs to establish confidence in God’s character and care for him. The Apostle Philip asked Jesus, show us the Father, and Jesus’ reply was that if you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father. In other words, if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.

The visible presence of God in Jesus appearing in human history was an historical event that demonstrated the value and dignity the God places on us his images. This reaffirmation of dignity and value is crucial for people who have experienced suffering. Your heavenly Father knows what being a human being is like because Jesus Christ was a human being. God knows pain and death and suffering and betrayal and relational difficulties. You only have to read the story of Jesus life and ministry. Do I know what it is like to go hungry for 40 days and then be severely tested by Satan? Do I know what it is like to have no place to lay my head? Do I know what it is like to be crucified and die in agony? Do I know what it is like to be betrayed to the point of death by a loved one? No, I don’t. But my saviour and my God does. And that is why God is my rock of safety to whom I can go to lament my anxieties and traumas.

It is why I have confidence that God has full empathy for me. He has been through far more than I ever will. Psalm 23 is classic: though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are [where?] with me restoring my soul beside still waters. It’s hugely relational. Why, doesn’t matter; but where does matter.

Now someone will no doubt point out to me Jesus’ cry from the cross, my God my God why have you forsaken me? It sounds like a why question, doesn’t it. But it’s more likely a where question. Father, where are you in my agony, in my death pains? Answer? The Father is in the Son’s resurrection, an historical event verified by those who saw him alive after his crucifixion. The Father could have stepped in and prevented Jesus from experiencing such a horrible death. But then where would we be in relation to God? The outcome of Jesus’ death is his, and ultimately our, resurrection to eternity. That’s where God is. Life can begin again.

When we take up Paul’s invitation to not be anxious about anything but present our requests to God, we will experience a profound transformation that leaves behind some of the enduring impacts of suffering. New meaningful attachments arise, a new self-understanding, relating to others in creative ways. Life can begin again.

An issue in my own life happened some time ago, and after a while I became exhausted asking why. There was no answer and it became a pointless exercise. So I started asking where God was in this. And the answer was clear. He was in my family; he was in this parish’s care of me in those early days; he was in my quiet times of prayer and retreat at St Marks Camperdown. And he is there as the Holy Spirit who comforts and strengthens me in my spirit, and in my experience of his love for me.

God is also in the pages of scripture. St Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1.3-4: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Life may be ordinary, but it is by no means meaningless. The prophet Jeremiah wrote of God saying, call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. And the psalmist wrote, Search me and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting.

There was man who went for a walk on a beach one day, his heart full of sorrow and his head bowed down. He noticed a lonely, single line of footprints in the sand and said to God, where are you? I’m all alone in this. And the answer came, yes there is only one set of footprints, and those were the times when I carried you.

So ask not of God, why, but where?

Philip Starks

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