The mystery of His majesty
It is amazing how in the middle of a worship retreat or moving church service how easy it is to find God. But somehow after the gifted orator leaves the stage our will to believe God is near fades with the closing words of his moving message.
Our belief that God was near to us fades as quickly as the last notes of the moving worship song. The problem being that life can really take a hit on the amazing truth that God is near to us.
So is the sad reality that we have to be in the presence of a masterful preacher and angelic worship artist to experience the moving weight of His majesty?
As great as those moments are the good news is we do not. Most of our life is spent in the unexciting routines of every day or the unsavory moments of painful circumstances.
Both of these situations feeding the enemies lie that God is out of reach. The good news is that you and I don’t have to hire a personal preacher and worship team to go everywhere with us in life to feel the nearness of God. So how do we find the God of heaven when we feel like we are in the depths of hell?
Don't waste the Mountaintops
There are seasons in our life when everything is going well. Unfortunately, as much as we would hate to admit it we often use these times to become reliant on the dopamine hits of success.
We bask in the glory of these good moments. But we have to realize that life is not all mountaintops. That does not mean it is hopeless. But the degree to which the valleys of life take a hit on our faith in God is directly related to the degree to which we draw near to God on the mountaintops of life.
If we go into the battles of life close to God we are less likely to question where God stands with us based on momentary changing circumstances.
Don't fall for the mirage of moments
We have all seen the desert scenes in the movies. Where they are stranded in the desert about to die and all of a sudden see a lush water-filled place just over the horizon.
And when they get there it is just desert. Their eyes were playing tricks on them. That is a gloomy example of eyes playing tricks on people. But the good news when it comes to God being near is that sometimes what we see is not always what is to be.
Current circumstances can often create the mirage that God has lost control. Which makes us falsely believe that God has left us high and dry.
But let us pay attention to what God told His people in Isaiah 43:2. After they experienced difficult circumstances God brings them the good news of restoration.
Were the difficult circumstances due to their unfaithfulness? sometimes they were but the good news is that did not stop God from pursuing them.
In Isaiah 43:2 God states that He will not take away the waters, or keep them from having to go through the fire or keep them from the raging river. But God tells them they will come through on the other side intact because He will be with them.
This is the truth that we have to cling to. God being with us doesn’t mean that we don’t face troubling days. For if this was true troubling circumstances would always mean God has left us.
But God being with us means that God will carry us through to the other side safe and sound. And when God is with us it means that we have His power and strength available to us in trying times. If that is good news I don’t know what is.
Painful circumstances are not an indication of your proximity to God
Choose to call before you complain
Almost everyone has heard the story of the old couple driving to town in the husbands’ old pickup truck. When the wife asks him why He sits so far away from her now. he then proceeds to tell her he has not moved she did.
The same can be said of God. Oftentimes our first course of action is to complain that we feel like God is not near. Desiring God has a great article if you want to go deeper. The problem is that complaining just cements our position of pity.
It also creates a false picture that God will not answer us. The reality is that God declares in a million different ways that every time someone searches for Him with their whole heart they will find him.
That every time a person calls upon the name of the Lord He will listen. There is nothing that bends the ear of God as a humble heart calling out to Him.
So the more we complain that we feel like God has abandoned us the farther away from God we will feel. But if we choose to call upon Him the closer we will draw to Him.
The distance we feel between us and God can be closed by turning our complaints about God into moments of calling upon God.
the final evidence god is near
When we question where God is it is wise to remember what God has done to span the distance between us and him. That being the ultimate testament of love in the form of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
God loved us so much that He was willing to give up His only son to experience the wrath of God that was meant for us. For the express purpose, we would be able to be forgiven and spend eternity with Him.
So if God went through all that trouble to reconcile us to Him. To bring us to the point of being able to be in the same place as Him for all of eternity. That fact should destroy all power of the lie that God has left us high and dry.
The cross is timeless proof that God wants to be near to you.