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Intimacy with God

We have all heard songs about being close to God in an intimate relationship.  These songs tend to focus on the feeling of being close to God in a father-child relationship. That is wonderful and lines up with the scriptural reference to God as our Abba 'Daddy' Father. "Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father'" Galatians 4:6.  But there is more to intimacy than just feeling close to our Heavenly Father. Being close to God means that we can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly and with greater understanding. 

Let me use an example from the realities of child rearing. Parents of children old enough to walk have all experienced the phenomenon of yelling at a child.  While it is not the most intimate expressions of parent-child relationships it is sometimes completely necessary. There are times that a child has wandered away from their parent and the only way the parent can effectively guide, correct or encourage the child is by yelling to them. The parent's feelings of love are just the same as if the child were standing right next to them, but the delivery of the parent's feelings are very different. 

If a child is farther away a parent's cries to them become shorter and more intense.  The parent that is trying to keep their child from imminent danger might sound angry as they scream for the child to stop or get out of the way.  The parent that is encouraging their child at a sporting event will often call out their child's name along with terse words of instruction and encouragement. Proximity limits the intimacy of the messages and the child might not even be able to hear the parent among all the competing noises and voices. 

If a child is in close proximity to their parent the parent can whisper words of love, hope, guidance and encouragement that sink deep into the child's soul. In the same way the closer we are to God the more we can hear his heart for us.  When we allow there to be distance between God our Father and us he still tries to communicate with us but his messages sound more like the parent who is yelling from afar. What causes the distance between us and God? Disobedience and distraction are the main culprits. When we allow our hearts to be drawn into sinful mindsets or patterns of thinking which focus on earthly issues God's voice necessarily becomes more distant and harder to understand.  When we as his children allow our heavenly Father to remove the disobedience and distractions in our lives we are able to hear more than his distant calls. 

When we are close to God he is able to give us direction about many different aspects of our lives and our impact upon others.  The more distant we become because of disobedience or distraction the less intimate his messages to us become. Why do we allow this distance to develop? Typically it is because in intimate moments with God in prayer, worship or Bible study - God whispers that we need to let go of a something that is hurting us or others, and we do not want to let go of it.  Or God challenges us to take a step of faith that would stretch us, and we simply do not want to do it.  At first we can justify our decision to ignore God our Father, but little by little what God has whispered becomes more of a wedge between us and our father.  He continues to talk to us, but the messages begin to lose the familiarity and intimacy we once enjoyed.  

The apostle James said, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you" James 4:8.  When we draw near to God he will draw near to us, but read on to the next verse, "Grieve, mourn and wail. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom" James 4:9.  When we draw near to God and he draws near to us, we will again hear what God was trying to say to us when we were last close to him. We may have spent the last days, months or years hearing God's voice yelling warnings from afar, but now we can hear what matters most to us and those that God has put into our lives. James shows that true intimacy with God is not just a feeling, it is a depth of relationship, a depth of listening. The next verse shows God's father-like love for us, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up" James 4:10.  King David wrote this in Psalm 51:10-12 after hearing God's distant cries and choosing to draw near to God so God could draw near to him, 
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, 
and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 
Do not cast me from your presence 
or take your Holy Spirit from me. 
Restore to me the joy of your salvation 
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."
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