God Comes Near and Stays Close

God is trustworthy: He is sovereign, He is wise, He is just and He is good. Well, when you put it this way, this sounds like He is so far away and removed from me. I am so far from sovereignty; I have no power over anything. I am certainly not wise, though by his grace I am occasionally. He has an inherent justice, while I actually do want favor all the time and to favor those I like, those I love. And then good, well, I think that means I need to be nice and kind. I know I have given you many examples of how I have fallen short of being good. Yet God is all of these things (and more!). How can I possibly begin to trust Him, trust that he is interested in whatever I want to entrust him?

He came close and stayed

My small group has begun a new Bible Study and it opens with some thoughts on creation, with the image that God has not just created from a distance, waving his arms like an orchestra conductor. He came close. He got intimate. ‘The Spirit of God hovered over the waters,’ Gen 1:2 says. God didn’t wait for man to come close. He has been interested in his creation from the very beginning. He hovered over the waters, he formed man and breathed into his nostrils, he planted a garden (Gen 2:5-10). He was intimately involved with His creation from the beginning. And he stayed involved.

God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve (Gen 3:8), He led through Moses and Joshua, He spoke through prophets (1 Kings 17, Jer 1:11-3), He raised up kings (1 Sam 10:1, 1 Sam 16:1), He came in flesh himself (John 1:14). God came in flesh himself; he again walked with man and woman in Jesus Christ. Once He reconciled us to himself through death, burial and resurrection, He sent another to walk with us, not juts beside us, but within us. The Holy Spirit continues this close-ness that began in the garden (John 14:16-17). So, though God as sovereign, wise, just and good seems so far away, he is right here.

God cares about me and you

God is not just way up there somewhere; He is right here now. Always. He cares so much that he has chosen to walk with us through all of this. He cares much more than we do about what is happening to us and around us. You are worth so much more than you can imagine, he knows you and loves you. As Matthew 10:29-31 says, ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.’ Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid to trust him. Do not be afraid to live in His light.

He is trustworthy

He cares immensely about you. About me. He came close and remains close. He is trustworthy. He cares about you and your microcosm. He wants to be part of it, he wants you to lean on him. ‘But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit,’ Jeremiah 17:7-8. God withstands the good and the bad, the droughts and storms, the unemployment and promotions, the deaths and births. He knows. He cares. We can trust in Him.