The question is – is God playing ‘hard to get?’ Does he move far and close at His whim?
“Come near to God and he will come near to you” James 4:8.
“Come near to God and he will come near to you” James 4:8.
We talked a bit about this concept in our time together last Sunday, but the question is – is God playing ‘hard to get?’ Does he move far and close at His whim?
We know that we don’t earn our salvation but in fact God has known about us and loved us from before time. He has gone to great lengths to save us, and we rejoice in the fact that it isn’t our faithfulness but His that gives us hope of eternal life. So God doesn’t run away from us depending on the day. There are times when He is silent – we don’t know His eternal perspective and we simply walk by faith knowing that He knows what is really going on.
But there are other times when God seems distant because it is us who have moved. The cares of life or sinful decisions serve to alienate us from closeness to Him. James talks in verses 6 and 7 about how pride separates us, and submission is the remedy. We certainly are very changeable! This is when we make a conscious decision to pull close once again.
“You are my portion O Lord, I have promised to obey your words. I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise” Psalm 119: 57,58.
Gregory of Nyssa lived in the AD 300s and gives such a wonderful perspective on drawing close to the Lord:
“This is true perfection: not to avoid a wicked life because like slaves we servilely fear punishment, nor to do good because we hope for rewards, as if cashing in on the virtuous life by some business-like arrangement. On the contrary, disregarding all those things for which we hope and which have been reserved by promise, we regard falling from God’s friendship as the only thing dreadful and we consider becoming God’s friend the only thing worthy of honor and desire. This, as I have said, is the perfection of life.”
Maybe this is the week to consciously pull close to the Lord afresh. To ‘get things right.’ May you know that God is your friend – He is for you!
Give a listen to this song – I think it expresses the psalmist’s heart.
Pastor Leon Throness
