Proximity - Drawing Near to God

If you have children, you have likely had the occasion of calling one of your children from another room of floor of the house and having them yell back "YES?" attempting to have a conversation with you from where they are. this may go on a stanza or two until you finally realize, "hey wait a minute, I'm not going to talk to you from down here, up there or in there, you need to come HERE!" When I call one of my children, I expect them to not just answer, but to come see what I want. Of course they never want to pull themselves away from their activities and their devices - and don't let them have their headphones or earbuds plugged into their ears. They won't even hear me call at all and I have to go to them shouting to get their attention.

This is how we are with God (Yikes!)

In order to know God, His Way and His Will for us, we must be positioned to hear His voice. And when He calls, we must not just answer Him but be ready to go and see what He wants. In our comfort and busyness, plugged up to our devices, we fail often to hearken to God's Voice by stopping what we are doing and coming, standing, kneeling or just pausing and being still before Him and giving Him our undivided attention. The Lord may bid us to come away with Him daily. Will we hearken to His Voice and come? Or will we prefer our creature comforts? Sadly, more often than not, we choose the latter.

What if we put those things down that distract us from God's Presence and responding to His call? What if we pause before we even turn to them and just make space to see if perchance He may want to sup with us? We need God daily - no exceptions. It is only by responding by drawing close to Him and coming to see what He will say that we can know His heart, cultivate our relationship with Him and carry out His Will. But first, we have to be positioned in expectancy to hear Him at any time. It is like when we are expecting a call, we make sure we are in a place or position to hear when the call comes. We may do things like turn the TV down, make sure our ringer isn't off, or quiet the children so we don't miss the call when it comes. God is not going to shout to us from afar. It is only in close proximity that we can feel His Breath, hear His Heartbeat and receive revelation, wisdom and instruction.

Next time He calls, don't answer from afar. be like the prophet Samuel who as a young boy heard his name called in the night. Thinking it was the priest Eli, he responded by going to him to see what he wanted. This happened multiple times until Eli told Samuel, that it was the Lord who was calling him. The next time Samuel heard his name, He simply answered, "speak, for thy servant heareth." Samuel learned to hear the Lord's voice and answered Him. The Lord is as close as His voice, only we must be in position and expect His call so that we can draw near to hear Him. Listen intently for Him, holding all your activities and amusements loosely so that you can run to His Presence when He summons you.