His Nearness is Our Good

There are seasons when you can love Jesus and still feel disoriented, disappointed, grieving, or far from steady. After the death of Jesus, the disciples knew that same confusion. They were afraid, scattered, grieving, and trying to make sense of what had happened. But after the resurrection, Jesus did not remain distant. He came near.

In this episode, we look at the forty days after the resurrection and how the risen Christ drew near to Mary, Peter, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and those hiding behind closed doors. His nearness restored their perspective, gathered their hearts, and prepared them for what was ahead.

Psalm 73:28 says, “The nearness of God is my good.” This episode is an encouragement for anyone carrying grief, disappointment, fear, or spiritual disconnection. Jesus is not repelled by your weakness or absent in your sorrow. He still comes near, and His nearness is still our good. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So, you know, there are moments in life when everything can feel really, really unclear, right? I'm sure some of you are there right now. You know, moments when we feel alone, uh, moments when we feel abandoned, and moments when we feel like um we're lost in our own thoughts, right? We're lost in in grief, we're lost in disappointment, or we're lost in just silence, like we feel like no one is paying attention to us, or uh no one is listening to us. Um, and if we're honest, many of us know what it's like to love Jesus and still have seasons where our hearts feel just very disoriented, right? Um, you know that God is real and you know that he's faithful, you know that his word is true, but at the same time, your emotions feel unsettled, your expectations they feel a little shaken, and you're trying to find your footing in Christ again. Um I just want to I just want you to know, um, maybe this will bring a little bit of comfort, um, that that issue isn't just for today. That was actually the condition the disciples uh of Jesus were in after Jesus died. Right? They had walked with him, they had listened to him teach, they had listened to his counsel, they took his rebuke, uh, they had watched him heal the sick, they watched him cast out devils, open blind eyes, and speak with an authority that no man before had ever carried. They had left things behind to follow him as he instructed them and asked them to do. And then just like that, right? One day they had built their whole lives around the person they had built their whole lives around, um, he was gone. And even though he had told them what was coming, he gave, he gave them, he gave them prophetic foresight and insight of what was to come. The weight of the moment hit them very hard, right? It hit them heavy. They were grieving, they were confused, they were afraid, and they were scattered, right? As scripture says, like sheep without a shepherd, that's how they felt in the moment. They felt like they were without a shepherd. Some were hiding behind closed doors for fear. You can find that in John 20, 19. Luke 24, 9. Some were struggling to believe the reports that he had risen. Some were in unbelief. Some, like the two men on the road to Emmaus, they were walking in disappointment. They were trying to process what they had thought had been lost. That's Luke 24, 13 to 21. And I think that is where many people quietly live. That's where many are living right now. I know for me personally, I find myself in seasons like that on occasion as well.

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Right?

SPEAKER_00 2:52

And it's not open rebellion. It's not always total unbelief. There's some partial unbelief in there, though. But it is the ache of an unmet expectation. It's the fog of pain, it's the confusion of not knowing what God is doing, where he's leading you, or if he's present at all, right? In the sadness of feeling like heaven has gone quiet. But here's the beauty of the resurrection story, friends. I want, I want you to hear this. Jesus did not rise and then remain distant. Like he didn't on the third day, he didn't get up, roll the stone away, come out of the tomb, and then go hide up in a cave somewhere. He rose and then he came near. I want to say that again. He didn't rise and depart. He rose and he came near. And that is what the disciples needed most. That's what we need most, right? As we're in this post-resurrect uh post-resurrection day time, after celebrating, we need to come back to a place of remembering that he's near, that he's not distant. And not only that he was near once, but that he's near over and over and over again. That's what the disciples needed that the most. And that's what we need the most as well. Acts 1 3 says this that after his suffering, Jesus presented himself alive to many by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. So for 40 days, friends, the risen Christ kept coming near over and over. Think about that. For 40 days, he didn't move. He came, he stood, and he met with people intimately, uniquely and profoundly. He didn't just rise to prove a point, okay? He didn't just rise to establish victory in some religious or theological way. He rose and then he drew near to the very people who were confused, who were brokenhearted, who were afraid, and who probably felt a little unstable as well. But his nearness brought them back in. His nearness, they it steadied them. His nearness restored their perspective. His nearness turned frightened people into secure witnesses. I want to say that one again. His nearness turned frightened people, people that were hiding behind closed doors, into secure, strong witnesses. His nearness gathered back the people, gathered back together what grief, fear, and disappointment had scattered. And this is the point that I want to make tonight. That his nearness is our good. I'll say it again. Now, as a good father that he is, when he draws near, it's to reveal his character, it's to reveal his intentions toward us, it's to reveal any ways that we may need to change, that we mean we may need to adjust the way we live. It may be he draws near to reveal sin and any things that we have going on that aren't pleasing to him. But ultimately, his nearness is our good. When he draws near, he not only reveals the things that need to change, he reveals his likeness toward us, his goodness, his grace, his mercy, and his abounding love toward us. His nearness is our good. Not just his promise from afar, not just his power at a distance, and not just the memory of what he once did. It's all about his nearness. Psalm 7328 says this, but as for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge. I want to read it again. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge. What does that mean? It means his nearness is not just comforting. It is necessary. His nearness is necessary for our daily lives to keep walking and going from glory to glory, as scripture says, we need to have him near. He says, Call to me and I'll answer, right? He desires for us to call and he promised that he'll respond. His nearness is our good when we feel abandoned. His nearness is our good when we feel forgotten. His nearness is our good when life doesn't make much sense. I feel that strongly for some of you watching this right now, that life doesn't make much sense. You're just confused about which way to go and what to do. You feel like down is up and up is down. But I want to reiterate that his nearness is our good, even though things may not make much sense for you, his nearness is drawing you close and bringing clarity to every place of confusion right now. His nearness is our good when we're tempted to withdraw, to shut down, or even to give in to despair. I want you to look at Mary Magdalene for a second in the garden. She was weeping. And even when Jesus was near, she did not recognize him at first. But everything changed when he spoke her name. And you can find that account in John 20 verses 11 to 16. I want you to look at the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were sad, they were confused, and they were trying to make sense of what had just happened, what they had just witnessed. They didn't understand it. And Jesus himself came near and walked with them before they even realized who he was. You find that in Luke 24, 15, and 16. I want a side note to these two on the road to Emmaus. Jesus walked with them, and right, it's like their eyes were veiled and shielded to them. They didn't recognize who he was. He walked with them and they came to a place of communion. They came and sat around a table, and he began to break the bread. And all of a sudden their eyes were open. And what does that say to you? That his nearness is found most and found best in the place of communion, right? Before he went to the cross and did what he did, his last moments with the disciples as a group was around the communion table. He poured wine, and he met with them in a place of communion. He came back and he reveals himself first to two men that were lost, that their eyes were seemingly closed. And he reveals himself to them. Their eyes were open at the communion table, breaking bread. And then what does he say afterwards? He tells the disciples before he ascends, go to the upper room and wait. What was that place, the upper room? That place was the very place where he met with them for communion, where he showed them the bread and showed them the wine. This is my blood and this is my body. It was the very place where he told them to go back and wait. He told them to go to the place of communion, to commune with him and wait for the promise of the fire of the Holy Spirit, right? And so he's drawing us, as his nearness is our good, what he's doing by coming near is drawing us back to that place of communion, drawing us back to that place where we sit at a table with him and meet with him, lock eyes with him, and have deep conversation with the one that loves us the most. I also want you to look at the disciples behind the closed doors. They were afraid, and Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, Peace be with you. Also look at Peter, who you know his story. He denied Jesus. Jesus didn't leave him buried in shame, even though he walked away in shame. Jesus came near again, and in that nearness, Peter was restored. Not only was he restored, right, he was called to feed the sheep. And he began to go out after that account, after he was filled with power, and began to preach the gospel. So this is the pattern, friends. When people were grieving, he came near. When people were confused, he came near. When people were afraid, what did he do? He came near. When people had failed, he came near. I want to say that one again. Someone needs to hear that. When people had failed, he came near, he would pull you back in. He didn't want to leave you in shame. When people were drifting, he came near. But why? Why did he continuously come near over and over again? Because his nearness is where restoration happens. You know, there's some listening right now, and if you were honest, you would say, I love the Lord, but I feel pretty far off. Maybe someone else would say, I love him, but I've been disappointed. I'm carrying disappointment. Or maybe you would say, I've been carrying grief, I've been carrying shame. Maybe I feel abandoned. Maybe I don't know where Jesus is in this season. But the testimony of those forty days after the resurrection is this He knows how to come near to grieving people. He knows how to come near to ashamed people. He knows how to come near to fearful people, and He knows how to come near to people who do not yet know how to find their way again. He's really good at drawing close. If we would just recognize that He is, right? And His nearness is doing something. It's bringing clarity, it's bringing peace, it's bringing conviction because conviction is a part of this in order to transform and change. It's bringing healing, physical and emotional healing. His nearness is bringing healing to you right now. His nearness is bringing strength. And it's bringing people back from the edge of despair, back from confusion, back from isolation, back from the lies that they believed in in the dark. The disciples were not transformed merely by the fact of the resurrection. They were transformed by the risen Christ, drawing near to them again and again. I want to say that once more. They weren't transformed just because he rose. They were transformed because he rose and he drew close to them. And he did so over and over again. And that changed them, that transformed them, and that turned them into the people who we see doing great exploits in Scripture after they were filled with power. And I need you to understand that that is vitally important. Because there are many people who believe true things about Jesus, but are still living inwardly connected. They're still living anxious, scattered, and weak. They're still living scared. So you know it in your mind, but you don't yet know it in your heart. And he's drawing near to you today, actually, to get you to know it and understand some things that your heart has still not connected to and fully grasped or fully received. Right? So this answer is it's just it's more than information. You don't need another sermon, you don't need another podcast, you don't need another book, actually. What you need is his nearness. That is the answer to every question that you're asking right now. You need his nearness. It was his nearness in those 40 days that prepared them for what was ahead. So before Pentecost came in power, Jesus came in nearness. Let me say that again. Before Pentecost came in power, Jesus came in nearness. Many times we missed that. We missed that moment of drawing near to God and how he wants to encounter us between the resurrection and Pentecost. We look forward to Pentecost, but we don't rightly steward his nearness to us in this season in between. Before the Spirit was poured out in fire, the risen Christ gathered their hearts back into communion. Before they were sent boldly into the nations, they were brought near personally. And I believe that is where the Lord is meeting many of you right now that are listening to this. Not first in spectacle. He's not meeting you in the profound and in the wow. He's not meeting you first in the platform, and he's not meeting you in public power first. He's meeting you in nearness. Right, I love that account of Isaiah. He's looking for the voice of the Lord. It wasn't in the thunder, it wasn't in the lightning, it wasn't in the clouds. It was in the still small voice. It was in the still small voice of the Lord that he found it, and that was where he found his nearness. Nearness that heals what pain disrupted, nearness that restores what shame has damaged, nearness that reorders what fear scattered, nearness that reminds you and I that we're not abandoned, actually, that we're not forgotten, that we're not left to figure this thing out on our own. His nearness brings clarity. Jesus didn't leave his disciples in the confusion of Friday. He came near in the days that followed and brought them back in. Friday was good for everyone else, as we call it Good Friday, but for them it was very bad. And he didn't leave them stuck there because he rose and he drew near to them. He came near, as I said before, in those days that followed and brought them back in. And he's still doing so right now. He still comes near to the lonely, to the disappointed, and to the ones who feel like they missed it. He still comes near to those who are sitting behind closed doors emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. He still comes near to those who are trying to process their pain while wondering where he is. And when he comes near, things change. Not always instantly in your circumstances, right? But they change deep in your heart. The outward, he works from the inside out. And in this in this season of him drawing near, that is one of the things that he wants to cement in our lives. That he works from the inside out. He first wants to change us, right? Because from the abundance of our heart, the mouth speaks. And so he wants to change how we're pre how we're perceiving things inwardly, so that we're declaring things by faith outwardly, and then we can see the things around us change for the better and change for our good. Because when he draws near, your isolation gets interrupted, friend. When he comes near, your despair loses some of its grip continuously until it has no grip on you anymore. When he comes near, your confusion is no longer the loudest voice in the room. And hope starts breathing again. I have this tattoo in my arm. I abbreviated it. As some of you may know, Romans 15, 13, it's my life verse. It says, Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And when he draws near, that's what he does. He revives hope. His presence begins to draw us in to a hope-filled life and to renew dead things and dead dreams as well. So this is why we must not re not treat his presence like a minor thing, because his nearness is our good. His nearness is not a side blessing of Christianity. We don't just need teachings about him. We need him. It's good to listen to teachings, it's good to read books and consume podcasts. But I want you to ask yourself a question: is all the content you're consuming keeping you from the one that it's talking about? Because if it is, then things need to change and they need to shift. And you need to put more focus on the one they're talking about than simply consuming the content about him. We don't just need reminders of what he did long ago. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And when we hear the stories of old and when we read biblical accounts, it should spur us on into prayer. Like, do this again, Lord, do this in my life. What you did for them, do for me as well. We need his living presence now, not just what he did back then. We don't just need to have mental ascent or to mentally agree that he rose and he did what he did. We need to encounter the risen Christ drawing near in our actual pain, in our questions, in our grief, and in our daily living as well. So if you feel alone right now, here's a remedy. Draw near. If you feel abandoned, draw near. If you feel lost, if you have a lot of questions before the Lord and you feel like you're not getting any answers, and you feel like he's actually not listening, draw near and don't draw near for an answer. Don't draw near for a response. Draw near for the person of Jesus. If disappointment has clouded your vision, draw near. If grief has numbered your heart, draw near. And if fear has closed you off, friend, I I I want to encourage you, draw near to him. Draw near to God, he'll draw near to you. Because the same Jesus who came near to Mary and to Peter, to Thomas who doubted, and to the disciples on the road of Emmaus, to Emmaus, um. He's still the same today, and he wants to draw near to you because his nearness is our good. He's not repelled by your weakness, he's not intimidated by your questions, he's not absent in your sorrow, and he's not withholding himself from the hungry. So just draw near to him. Let him meet you where you feel most scattered, where you feel most abandoned. Let him meet you where your heart has quietly been saying, Lord, where are you? Because one of the greatest testimonies of those 40 days after his resurrection is this. Jesus knows how to bring his people back in through his nearness. I want to say that again. Jesus knows how to bring us back into him through his nearness. And maybe that is exactly what he's doing right now. His nearness is our good. It's our refuge. He's inviting us to take solace and refuge in him. His nearness is where wandering hearts get gathered again. It's where broken expectations give way to living hope. His nearness is where the lost are steadied and the lonely are met, and the fearful are made whole. So I want to encourage you, don't settle for distance. Don't settle for surviving off of yesterday's encounter. Don't settle for carrying pain without bringing it into his presence. And don't settle for believing in him when living inwardly disconnected, while living inwardly disconnected from him. And his nearness is still our good. So I just want to encourage you before I pray to get with the Lord tonight and ask him some serious questions. God, how uh how have I not recognized your nearness? How have you been attempting to draw near to me and I've pushed you away? How have I shunned your closeness and your goodness in this season? How have I been so frazzled and so preoccupied and tied up in all of these different worries and cares and concerns that I have not recognized? That you are the friend that sticks closer than a brother, as scripture says. And as you begin to just pause and take a moment and listen for his response, he's going to show you, and not only will he show you where he was and how he was drawing near to you, he's going to show you how not to make those same mistakes again so that you recognize it and you become more and more aware of his nearness and you begin to enter into that place of being close to the Lord, being ever present with him, as he's ever present with you. Right? He doesn't leave us, he doesn't forsake us, he's everywhere all at once. But we have to recognize that he's near. So, Father, I just bless the ones that are listening right now. I thank you, God, that they're coming to you honest, they're coming to you with open hearts, they're coming to you with transparency. They're choosing to draw near to you right now. I thank you, Lord, that your spirit is bringing a recalibration to their hearts right now and to their minds. That for every thought that tells them I am I am too broken or I am too wounded or I am too anxious or fearful to draw near to God, I am too any of those things for him to draw near to me. You're removing those thoughts, those wrong thoughts, those wrong patterns of thinking right now. And you're recalibrating their thought life to know that no, you desire so much to draw near to me, just like the prodigal son, when he was far off on the road walking back home, the father ran out to meet him before the son can get to him first. And that is your desire in this in this time between resurrection and Pentecost. I thank you that you're drawing so near, not just so that we know that you're close, but so that you can transform us inwardly, so that we can be faithful, strong, bold witnesses for you externally. So I thank you for this moment of transformation that you're calling everyone into because your nearness is our good. You draw close to us because you want to love us first, transform us, and then use us to represent just how good your nearness is to the lives of others. So I thank you for each one, and I thank you for divine encounters that you're going to have with them as you draw near and they respond and reciprocate in Jesus' name.