I read a devotional this past week that I'm sure was meant to encourage, but had quite the opposite effect. The writer said that if we aren't close to God, it's all our fault. The author ended there: if you're not close to God, it's your fault. He gave no words of hope or grace.
My husband and I have dear friends that we've had for thirty to thirty-five years - since high school and the early days of our marriage. We consider these people dear friends - not just friends, yet we don't talk to or see any of them on a regular basis. When we get together with them now whether individually or as a group, it's as if no time has passed. We are as comfortable with each other as we had been when we would see each other daily. Our hearts were knit together years ago and neither time nor space can unravel them. So it is with God. He isn't bound by time or space, so although we may turn our eyes from Him; although our lives may get hectic and we may get stressed; although we may feel far from Him, He is with us. The only thing that changes is our sense of His presence, and our sense of His presence is not the same thing as His actual presence.
I agree with the writer of that email in that sometimes we are the reason that we don't sense Him with us. We get busy. We get discouraged. We get distracted. It's life. It happens. Yet I think there are other times when He hides His face from us on purpose in order to stir our hunger for Him. Just as in the Song of Solomon, the bride doesn't realize how much she wanted to be with the bridegroom until He leaves. She had originally turned Him away. She was too tired. She didn't want to get up and open the door for Him. He leaves and she realizes what she's done. She goes out searching for Him. She has to find Him. I know that when I've gone through times like that, it has been good for me to see in myself my own desperation for God. It has been, is, and I believe will continue to be, those seasons that keep me from thinking I don't need Him or that I can do it on my own. I not only need Him; I need to know that I need Him. I need to be aware of my need for Him. It does something to my heart - and to my pride. I don't like it, but it's good for my soul.
You may not have noticed this, but people aren't always patient. We don't want to search the city as the bride in Song of Solomon did. We want God to be at our beck and call, but He loves us far too much for that. He sees the end from the beginning and knows exactly what our souls need. When we don't get what we want, it's easy instead to get a lousy attitude. Like children, we're tempted to turn our back on God and say, "Fine. Be that way. I don't need you anyway," but sooner or later we realize what a lie that is. We're not fine and we do need Him - desperately. And when we come to that point of desperation, we fall on our knees and cry out with all of our heart and all of our soul and all of our being, "I have to have You! I can't make it in this life without You!"
It's a place I hate to be . . . and I place I love more than any other.
My husband and I have dear friends that we've had for thirty to thirty-five years - since high school and the early days of our marriage. We consider these people dear friends - not just friends, yet we don't talk to or see any of them on a regular basis. When we get together with them now whether individually or as a group, it's as if no time has passed. We are as comfortable with each other as we had been when we would see each other daily. Our hearts were knit together years ago and neither time nor space can unravel them. So it is with God. He isn't bound by time or space, so although we may turn our eyes from Him; although our lives may get hectic and we may get stressed; although we may feel far from Him, He is with us. The only thing that changes is our sense of His presence, and our sense of His presence is not the same thing as His actual presence.
I agree with the writer of that email in that sometimes we are the reason that we don't sense Him with us. We get busy. We get discouraged. We get distracted. It's life. It happens. Yet I think there are other times when He hides His face from us on purpose in order to stir our hunger for Him. Just as in the Song of Solomon, the bride doesn't realize how much she wanted to be with the bridegroom until He leaves. She had originally turned Him away. She was too tired. She didn't want to get up and open the door for Him. He leaves and she realizes what she's done. She goes out searching for Him. She has to find Him. I know that when I've gone through times like that, it has been good for me to see in myself my own desperation for God. It has been, is, and I believe will continue to be, those seasons that keep me from thinking I don't need Him or that I can do it on my own. I not only need Him; I need to know that I need Him. I need to be aware of my need for Him. It does something to my heart - and to my pride. I don't like it, but it's good for my soul.
You may not have noticed this, but people aren't always patient. We don't want to search the city as the bride in Song of Solomon did. We want God to be at our beck and call, but He loves us far too much for that. He sees the end from the beginning and knows exactly what our souls need. When we don't get what we want, it's easy instead to get a lousy attitude. Like children, we're tempted to turn our back on God and say, "Fine. Be that way. I don't need you anyway," but sooner or later we realize what a lie that is. We're not fine and we do need Him - desperately. And when we come to that point of desperation, we fall on our knees and cry out with all of our heart and all of our soul and all of our being, "I have to have You! I can't make it in this life without You!"
It's a place I hate to be . . . and I place I love more than any other.
You really hit the nail on the head with this one, sissy! debz
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