“How am I going to pay for that?”
“Why do they keep acting that way?”
“What will happen if they win the election?”
“Who will be there for me after they’re gone?”
“Where can I find a new job if they let me go?”
On any given day, our minds and hearts can overflow with worries, fears, and doubts. Those feelings can overwhelm and even paralyze us.
When I faced weeks of nightly panic attacks several years ago, it felt like my worries and anxieties were going to drown me. I felt powerless and even hopeless. God seemed incredibly distant as I desperately prayed for relief. I longed for clarity on what was happening to me and why I couldn’t make it stop.
If “God of This Place” by David Leonard had been available back then, it probably would have been on my playlist of worship songs that I turned to for solace. Leonard’s newest song describes how God is powerfully present in places where He feels especially absent.
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“You are the God of this place
Whеre I stand, heaven invadеs
Every worry, every trouble that I face today
You’re the anchor, You’re the rock that will always stay.”
When we’re anxious, worried, and panic-ridden, our feelings can feel like facts, and our emotions can feel like unchangeable truths. The Psalms offer us a reminder that these feelings and emotions are not unique to us or even this present historical moment. Long before we were born, those who worshiped God felt similarly. They left us a record of their honest confessions and the lessons they learned while pouring out their hearts to God.
Take Psalm 139, for instance. In this text, David writes about God’s complete knowledge of Him. Not only does God know all about him, but God also knows all of David’s past, and there’s nowhere David can move beyond God’s knowledge. God not only knows about David, but God is present with David.
“I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.”
Leonard echoed these lyrics in the second and third verses of “God of This Place” when he sings about trusting in God in the morning after a rough night of sleeplessness and exhaustion.
“When I arise with the breaking dawn
I put my hope in the promise
That You are there.”
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But, as I listened to the song, I was reminded of the encouragement Paul offered the believers in Philippi, a group that especially struggled with anxiety. To them, he wrote, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
Those words echo Leonard’s bridge, where He claims a forward-looking hopefulness about God’s promises and presence.
“Anywhere, anywhere
Everywhere I go
You are there, you are there
I’ve never been alone.”
I grew up in an era that seemed to diminish the importance of feelings and emotions. I remember being told my heart was deceitful and couldn’t be trusted. Things have swung to the opposite extreme in our present era. Perhaps a better approach would be paying attention to our hearts and learning to love God with them, as Jesus described in the Great Commandment recorded in Matthew 22. Loving God with all we are means bringing all we are - heart, soul, strength, and mind - together, so we can engage God in the places we expect and where we are surprised to find Him.
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David Leonard’s “God of This Place” invites us to sing the words of Jacob. In Genesis 28, David encountered God during a dream at Bethel. In the morning, he awoke and declared, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”
My prayer for you today is that you’ll encounter God. May He make you aware of His presence where you are. You’re not alone, and I pray that “God of This Place” reminds you of that truth today.
Scott Savage is a pastor, author, and speaker with the best last name in the world. Scott’s writing helps people transform difficult circumstances into places where they can thrive. He leads Cornerstone Church in Prescott, Arizona, and loves watching movies with his wife and three kids. You can begin Scott’s life-changing project,The 21 Day Gratitude Challenge, today.
