Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. —James 4:8 (NKJV)
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.— Jeremiah 29:12 (NKJV)
Ahsoka would approach me while I lay on the couch, massaging my wife's feet and pushing her nose under my hand, practically screaming for my attention. She would squeeze between me and the couch's back cushions until only the tip of her nose stuck out and was visible. She had to be pressed against me. Luigi used to jump on the bed while I did my devotion time and lay on my Bible and journal, so I had to stop to pet him and give him belly rubs. Tig comes up to me regularly and looks up at me, seeking connection through touch and loving words. So does Sonic. Sonic and Tig will crawl under the covers and fall asleep against me. They must be touching me.
Unfortunately, too often, I did not see the marvelous gift of connection for what it was and scorned their invitation. I grew frustrated and angry because their desire for connection inconvenienced me and stopped me from doing what I wanted. Now that Ahsoka and Luigi are gone, I ache for that time once again and wish I could go back and draw near to them as I should have.
As a dog Dad, I’ve had the practice of drawing near modeled for me more times than I can count. Each dog my wife and I have had has made drawing near a core part of their life. Similarly, God longs for a relationship with us. But he won't force us. He tells us that if we position ourselves for relationship and connection, he will see it and position himself to give and receive.
I used to think that God was far off on his throne, waiting for me to go the long distance to open quote, draw near to him, and close quote. But the Holy Spirit showed me he's way closer than I thought. He's beside me, waiting for me to position myself for intimacy and relationship. But as humans, we treat his calls for connection, prayer, fasting, worship, thanksgiving, Bible study, and attending church as inconveniences. We get annoyed and angry and refuse his advances like I did with my dogs. So, he draws away, and we’re left a little emptier than before until we’re so empty we’re like a barren canyon. Unfortunately, we cannot become comfortable with that.
God invites us to draw near him in James 4:8 and Jeremiah 29:12 through 14. When we do, He will draw near to us. This does not mean he is far off, and we must start walking toward him for him to start walking toward us. Instead, he is right beside us, and when we turn to him for connection, he leans forward and reaches out to us the same way TIG puts himself at my feet and looks up at me. I reach out and pet him. By no means am I saying that we’re dogs! However, the analogy is similar in terms of positioning and reaching.
Questions to Consider
· Have you allowed your agenda to lead you into viewing God's call for closeness as an inconvenience?
· Has your life with him become barren instead of filled with life and needs resurrection?
· Our Father is waiting for us to position ourselves to connect with Him. There is still time to do our first works (Revelation 2:4- 5).
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for opening my eyes to see how I have been treating you. Please forgive me, and I ask for mercy and grace to treat You as valuable and precious. Please help me, Lord, to position myself for intimacy with You. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Your turn: Has there ever been a time when you had an opportunity to connect with God and failed to take it? Have you experienced the opposite? If so, tell us how you connected and moved forward. I'd love to hear about it. Post a comment below.
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