Just Stay Close: Don’t run, don’t hide.
I don’t know about you, but I have had a frequent sense that I can only come into God’s presence if I am ‘clean’, if I’m behaving well. Or at least, I need to be prepared and ready to do a behavioural turnaround, if I’m going to brave His presence. That I cannot approach Him still stubbornly holding onto stuff that goes against His ideals, that He might not like.
But I’ve also been hearing Him whisper that this is just not true.
With Adam and Eve, when they broke God’s commands and ate from the tree, He came to find them and sought them out. Genesis does not record frequent walks in Eden between God, Adam and Eve. But when they had eaten from that tree, He came and called out to them and asked where they had gone. He initiated contact, wanted a conversation, and invited them to come out of hiding.
It wasn’t sin that separated them. It was shame. They ran and hid. But God came close.
And then there’s Jesus. He came into this mess, came right into the thick of it. God intentionally approached all the people that religion said God wouldn’t go near. The prostitutes, the tax collectors betraying their own. Up close, within touching distance, with no regard for social and religious rules. Touching lepers who had not been touched in years. People in the middle of a struggle, with no sign of change, of behavioural turnaround. He said ‘forgive them’ even as He was being killed on a tree. There was no sign of repentance there either. He doesn’t run from sin, anger, or hatred. He has absolutely no regard for His own ego, for His own safety. His love is like no other. It is no human love. He runs towards, not away. Like the Father with the prodigal son. Always running towards.
He’s been urging me to come close, whatever I’m doing, whatever I’m feeling, however messy and ugly. Whatever your secret, hidden, dark places, He’s there with you too. He ushers you to just come close, don’t run, don’t hide. Emmanuel, God is always with you and always with me.
Genesis 3: Adam & Eve, Matthew 11:28: Come to Me