Have you ever found yourself feeling incomplete, like there’s a part of you that just can’t seem to be filled? Friendships can’t fill it, relationships can’t fill it, experiences can’t fill it, there is simply nothing in the world that can fill that part of you. This empty space is a hole in you that can only be filled by God. It is a hole so uniquely and intricately shaped that only intimacy with God will ever fill it. Many people spend all of their lives attempting to fill this hole and never find the only way to satisfy this empty space. Even Christians who know and love God sometimes struggle with this God shaped hole because true intimacy with God can be so hard to discover. Michael D. Fiorello describes this in his article, Aspects of Intimacy with God in the Book of Job, as he states, “Intimacy with God is grounded on one’s understanding of God’s nature but this in itself does not constitute an intimate relationship” (157). Many Christians fail to realize this in their faith life and therefore, wrongly believe they do have an intimate relationship with God which leaves them still trying to fill their God shaped hole. Fiorello presents an example of the difference between an intimate relationship with God and a relationship with no intimacy using the Book of Job. He explains that the way Job simply talks with God shows the intimacy in their relationship because, “Job repeatedly struggles with God, asking God to explain why he is oppressing him and what sin he has committed. He tells God everything; every fear and every doubt, while his friends tell God nothing. ‘They only talk about God, never to Him’” (160). This statement then also tells Chris tians exactly what it means and looks like to have an intimate relationship with God. Psalm 139 exclaims, “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar . . . Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely” (Verse 1-2,4). God knows us intimately; He knows what we do, what we think, and what we say even before we say it. How then can we not seek Him in the same way? Of course, we are not God, therefore we cannot be all knowing as He is, however, we can know God just as intimately, and He wants us to! Exodus 33:14 reminds us, “[God’s] presence will go with [us], and [He] will give [us] rest.” So, we know God already knows us and that He is already with us, now it is our responsibility to bring up our end of the relationship. Hymn 73, O Lord, Thy Touch Hath Stirred My Soul, by William Higham, says, “[God] Who gives to me and gives again, and tells me, ‘Mine is thine.’” This statement is beautiful because it shows all that we can receive from intimately knowing God. God desperately wants us to find intimacy with Him, He is waiting and longing for us to turn to confide in Him. The chorus of Hymn 361, By Faith, by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Stuart Townend proclaims, “We will stand as children of the promise; we will fix our eyes on Him.” This is exactly what an intimate relationship looks like to me; I stand before my father, looking up to him and trusting him. In fact, to me, an intimate relationship with God looks like that of a father and daughter. A daughter turns to her father in complete confidence, entrusting him with her whole heart; all of her struggles and all of her joy. A father then comforts her and guides her, doing all he can to simply be there for her. This is the relationship I have found here on The World Race. Here, I am granted opportunity after opportunity to grow closer to God. I am placed in situations where I have nowhere else to turn besides God, allowing me to find the most intimate relationship with Him that I have ever known. I am blessed to hear mentor after mentor speak on new ways to find God and grow closer to Him. The World Race has challenge my perspective of an intimate relationship with the Father. As I embark on the next 7 months of this journey, I know my relationship will continue to be deepened, and for that I am thankful.
