A Calling to Draw Near-A Longing for Intimacy
Sometime after we have come into our relationship with God and have been serving him for a while, we may begin to think and feel that something is missing in our relationship with God or in the practice of our religion or faith. It seems as if an inner voice is nagging at us or persistently calling to us.
We may have inner questions suggesting that there is something more. Perhaps we have become dissatisfied with what we think is the status quo of the faith within our religious community. Perhaps we are disappointed that others don’t meet our expectations. Perhaps we are disappointed in God? We find ourselves disgruntled and living on the edge of cynicism and criticism. However, we have to be very careful of such promptings because they are not the voice that is calling to us and they will lead us away from God rather than closer to him.
This inner prompting is not about other people, or a new paradigm, but about you and your personal relationship with God. There is an inner longing within you. Other people or circumstances outside of you will not meet this longing, nor at this point, are they a factor.
In Psalm 46:10, God through his Word, says: “Be still and know that I am God.” Your longing comes from God. His longing for you is transferred into you. Once we have come to God, our heart continues to yearn for a closer, deep personal knowledge (relationship) with God. It is similar to Moses and his longing to see God more.
Exodus 33:12b- 34:9 – “… You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”…
34: 4-9- “… So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
Moses wanted to see God more clearly and to be re-assured that God would be with him, would walk with him. Moses did not necessarily want to know more about God in having more factual or head knowledge about God, but rather to “see” God with the eyes of his heart, and to deepen his personal bond with God. So we need to listen to that inner voice, the calling to draw near to God. In order to do this we need to prepare our hearts to “be still before him.”
We need to make time to remove ourselves from the chaos and busyness of our schedule. We need to calm down and close out some of the other voices that are calling to us. We can explore these other callings after we have drawn closer to God, and we will be better able to hear them, see them and discern what we need to do in regard to them. But for now close out the cries of anger, discontent, busyness, etc. Instead focus on God. Look for him in the pages of the Old and New Testaments. Call out to God and ask him to help you see him in a real and more close up way. Don’t seek doctrine. Don’t seek a “second hand” relationship with him. Surely what other people have told us about a relationship with God, and what we have learned from our experience in the past is a stepping off point, but, we have to make this continually personal and not allow our relationship with God to be diluted by these other voices. We have to make it current and personal. Who do I see as I read about God? How personal is God to me today? How am I deepening my bond with God? In the book of James, the Spirit tells us a truth and gives us a promise. He says: “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” (James 4:8) Give attention to your inner longing. It may very well be the Spirit trying to draw you closer to God. Don’t cry out to God to fix it all, to answer your prayers your way. Instead cry out to God to see his greatness, to become in awe of him, to see in him what will cause you fear, yet trust him. Imagine what awe and wonder Moses had in his heart when God responded to his request to reveal more of Himself to Moses. Moses already had a relationship with God. He already experienced intimacy with God, so much so that in Ex. 33: 12b, the Spirit said that God knew Moses by name and that Moses had found favor in God’s sight. We know Moses had a personal relationship with God different from that of others. We see this in verses such as, Exodus 34:29-35, which describes the radiance of Moses face from having been with God. Yet, Moses hungered for more depth and a greater bond with God.
What about me? What about you? Where are you now, today, in seeking a deeper relationship with God?
Prepare Your Heart and Mind to Draw Near
If we want to draw closer to God and we want to prove his promise true, that is that he will draw near to us, then we need to prepare our heart for this.
Look at the context in which James 4:8 is set. We are told to draw near to God, yet there are other factors we need to consider before we can do that.
James 4:1-10- “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
In verses 1 through 4, the spirit addresses the dual nature of disciples. He draws attention to that fact that our desires and our thoughts can be very chaotic. We can be pulled into worldly and un-Spiritual thinking and living. In so doing we are breaching our covenant with God. This is akin to spiritual adultery in our relationship with God. Do not look at this “adultery” in terms of going after material things, although it can include that pursuit. But rather look even beyond that for settling for a shallow, superficial relationship with God. One that might, for all intents and purposes, be termed a practical agnosticism, in which we espouse to faith, but it, is truly just a veneer. We have drifted from actively seeking a deep, true, living faith in God because our focus and thoughts have become diluted by worldly/ un-Spiritual thinking.
So this leads to the Spirit’s next thought in verse 6-7 that we have to be humble and submitted to God. Our faith must be solely in God, in his wisdom and love. When we are not surrendered to God in trust, we play a “faith game.” We try to maneuver, negotiate and control our lives, rather than to be still and know God, rather than wait in faith on him.
Another factor that convolutes our relationship with God is Satan. We see this interference throughout scripture from Genesis through Revelation. Think of Adam, Eve, Moses, Miriam, Joshua, Saul, David and so on. Satan is so bold and vicious he even attempted to destroy Jesus oneness with God, the Father.
In James 4:7, we are commanded to “resist the devil.” We need to resist the false thoughts, emotions and accusations Satan plants in our minds. Seriously think about what lies Satan has been telling you about you and God? What distractions has he been putting in your life that draw you away from trusting God and relating to him? What emotions has he been inflaming in your mind and heart to confuse your thoughts and weaken your faith in God? Are we reading and recalling truths from God’s word so that we can distinguish these lies?
In James 4 verse 8 we see that Spirit through James’ pen telling us we must repent of these things if we are to draw near to God and he to us. We tells us to “wash your hands.” He takes it even further when he says “purify your hearts you double minded.” Our focus and perspective needs to change from seeing things our way to seeking to see them God’s way.
Prepare your heart to draw near to God, through being still and answering some of the questions posed above, through deeper study of God and through calling out to him to see him more deeply and personally than ever before. Take time to let God put you in the cleft of the rock so that you can see him.
