Do you realize that God wants nothing more than to be in relationship with you? It’s true. He doesn’t need you to be good or perfect or on your best behavior. He doesn’t even require that you confess your sins in order to be in relationship with him. He simply wants you to walk toward him and enter into his embrace. He makes the first move; he extends the invitation. But he leaves it up to us as to whether or not we will answer yes. He patiently waits for us to turn back toward him, where he is waiting with open arms.
So what gets in the way of our coming closer to him? What’s stopping us from being in a close, personal, intimate relationship with God?
Busyness.
Distraction.
An incessant drive to produce and accomplish.
An inability to rest.
We miss God’s invitation to come closer because we don’t make time amid our busy, noisy, go-go-go world to stop and listen for his voice. As Shelly Miller says in her beautiful book Rhythms of Rest (stay tuned next week for more about this book and a giveway!), “God is patiently waiting for you to slow down so he can express his love for you.”
God’s love, his invitation, is there. It sits like an unopened envelope in a mailbox. “Come closer,” he invites. And he waits for us to slow, to listen, to say yes.
I used this one word “close” from the verse you use today, for my One Word for last year. And what a great book to help us come closer to God — “Rhythms of Rest” !
“We miss God’s invitation to come closer because we don’t make time amid our busy, noisy, go-go-go world to stop and listen for his voice.”
So true, Michelle.
I’ve been thinking lately about the ubiquitous nature of Podcasts–they’re everywhere! Everyone is doing a podcast. There’s Periscope, too, and not Facebook live (haven’t seen yours yet, but the snapshot of your purple blouse looked lovely). I can’t possibly hear God when my eyes and ears are filled every moment of the day. I need some down time. When I walk, I purposely don’t even listen to worship music anymore–I need the time to process my thoughts, pray about what’s on my heart and sometimes I hear a word from the Lord.
It’s a noisy world and it seems to be getting noisier. I’m so glad you’re spreading the word–that Shelly is spreading the word–about rest and slowing. Oh, how we need it.