I believe that a huge problem in the life of the world today is the rumor that God is far away. I hear phrases like “the big man upstairs” and “the good book” that paint the picture of a distant ruler who has little to no interaction with us humans besides a couple of pages of rules that he left us. After all, he’s up in heaven right? It’s as if God has become too busy to interact individually with each person. Somewhere along the line, we lost the hope for relationship that Jesus intended when he rose from the grave, and exchanged it with religion and tradition. I would like to tear down this misconception in one word: intimacy.
During most of my walk with Christ I lacked intimacy with God, and because of this my idea of him was distorted. I turned to partying as a way to feel accepted and wanted because the God I knew wasn’t around all the time. I mean who would want to serve a God that comes and goes, that’s doing things somewhere else, or that’s not too involved in your life? But when I met the Jesus of the Bible, my world changed. He wanted to know me, to have my heart and give me his. This terrified me, but also filled me with love.
God is not a God of rules and regulations, but of relationship. He desires to have an intimate connection with each and every one of us. This is seen so clearly in Psalm 139 as David displays the true character of God. He is involved in all we do: as the word reads, “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up” (139.1-2). God is never far off, but instead we can’t find a place that is apart from his Spirit. He’s not the big man upstairs, he’s the one who “formed my inward parts” and who “knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” His “eyes saw my unformed substance” and each day of our lives was formed by him (139.13,16). This rumor that God is distant cannot be farther from the truth. Take a look at the book of Job. Michael D Fiorello has an amazing commentary that goes in depth on the interaction between God and the enemy in the beginning of the book. In that, he proclaims that “the reason God created man was for fellowship” (Fiorello 163). The Lord didn’t makes us so that he could leave us alone, but he created us so that we could have a relationship with him. Not only that, but when we sinned and messed up the whole plan, he sent Jesus to die on the cross in order to restore the relationship. Intimacy with the Father is now made available through Jesus Christ, what a great God is he.
I have come to know God in such a deeper way since the start of the Race. I have finally learned to quiet my soul and just sit before the Father. It’s in these times that I get to be consumed in the presence of a holy, great, and intimate God. When the troubles of life come, I have him right beside me to lean on. As Hymn 73 reads, “Oh, why should I let sorrow reign, when such a God is mine?” I belong to him, but he is my God. This is what he meant for the world to have. Not rules and traditions, not emptiness and hollow practices, but true relationship with himself.
To paint one last picture of this I would like to share an analogy that describes perfectly the intentions God has for us. It is said that all religions are similar, that we are all climbing the same mountain towards the same God. However, in that reality no one will ever reach the top, it’s too steep. But the God of the Bible, he comes down from the top of the mountain and picks us up and takes us back with him. Jesus came “with the pow’r to break the chains of sin and death” so that we could have intimacy with the Father (Hymn 361). Let God in, know and be known by him, and it will change your life.
Works Cited
Fiorello, Michael D. “Aspects of Intimacy with God in the Book of Job.” Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, 2011, pp. 155–184.
“Hymn 73.” Hymns of Grace, Pew ed., The Master’s Seminary Press, 2011.
“Hymn 361.” Hymns of Grace, Pew ed., The Master’s Seminary Press, 2011.
