Week 7 | Peace: From Distraction to Presence

In the gaze of God, we experience and know His love. The fruit is a heart that is free and has a deepening capacity for love, both love for God and love for our neighbor. In Jesus, love is about being with. Jesus’ name, given by God to His father Joseph, was Immanuel which means “God with us.” So, what does it mean to love? It means to be present with someone. However, there are types of presence that we may offer that are not loving. Judgmental presence hinders love as does anxious presence. 

So, as Jesus continued sharing about the fruit of contemplation, He shifted to talking about non-anxious presence:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”  Matthew 7:7–11

When we see these verses in isolation, we may understand them as explaining prayers of request in a general way. However, when we see it in the context of anxiety (see the end of chapter 6), Jesus is explaining why we can let go of anxiety: The Father knows how to give good gifts to those who ask Him. God the Father gives us what we need. James 1:16-17 develops this further: 

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 

James’ words are about trials and giving in to sin. In times of hardship and suffering, fear and anxiety often rule the day – leading us into sin which is living independently of God. The counsel here is to ask for wisdom: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5). Wisdom enables us to abide with Christ during trials. To this, James says, Do not be deceived into thinking that you can take care of things in your own strength and wisdom. God gives good gifts.

Because God gives good gifts (e.g., wisdom/insight), we can release anxiety and live with non-anxious presence. Anxious presence undermines relationships because it narrows possibilities, demands people show up a certain way, and puts people on edge. Quite simply, anxious presence does not give space. 

Non-anxious presence gives space for things to unfold, invites others to be where they are, and offers space where people experience freedom. Jesus offered non-anxious presence, over and over in the Gospels. One of the more familiar accounts is Jesus amid the storm on the boat:

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:35–41)

Asleep on the cushion in the storm, Jesus is not defined by the storm. In Into the Silent Land, Martin Laird referenced Psalm 125:1 (“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion”) in saying: “We are not the weather. We are the mountain.” Those with non-anxious loving presence can observe all the storms of life and not absorb them because the storms are not their identity. Firmly rooted in our identity as the beloved in whom God delights, we are able to hold the storms that bring fear to others without absorbing it for ourselves. Non-anxious presence may feel to others like we don’t care (“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”), but not entering another’s drama is deeply loving. Jesus did not rush to fix things or make everything okay but simply listened to what was happening. Being able to stay grounded means that we can offer peace as we do not react or defend ourselves and as we speak into the chaos. This kind of presence does not force or demand others to have faith but offers space for others to step into faith when they are ready.

Pause for a few moments and reflect upon a “stormy” situation in your life. Observe it without commentary or trying to fix it. Imagine Jesus with you in it. How is He with you? What is He inviting? 

Prayer: Lord, may I keep looking to You as my Prince of Peace – the One who holds my life. Amen.