Approaching Vanishing Point or Drawing Near?

“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...”

~Hebrews 10:22a (NIV).

At different times of year, and certainly as we approach the year’s end, we can be stopped in our tracks like deer in headlights to suddenly discover our proximity to God is at vanishing point. We wonder, “Just how did it get so bad?”

It might have been weeks or months since we sought some reflective solitude to just ‘be’ with God.

Our very next thought is usually, “How do I quickly get back on track?”

‘Looking’ at a Wonderful Truth

A millisecond is all it takes for us to see our innocence in all this. Sure, we’ve been swept up in all manner of ‘life’ and left God behind (so far as our journey with him is concerned). Life’s gotten bigger for reasons that are valid. We’re all busy doing life the best we can.

A wonderful truth persists through eternity for all those saved to the Saviour: cleansed from our guilty conscience, we draw close and God reciprocates (James 4:8). He’s never been away, but such are we that we must feel this Lord to truly enjoy life.

Drawing Near, Simply, by Drawing Away

When all is awry, and even when it isn’t but we’re still not close to God, drawing near is simple from the mechanistic viewpoint. This is our approach: to see logically and clearly... the direction ahead—go to the Lord.

I wrote an article, That Fabulous Art of Withdrawal, relating to aspects often necessary for the experience of peace with God, via the action-oriented acknowledgement that sees us alone—always—with God.

Drawing near to God, for many, many people, necessarily means drawing away from the world. And whether that is a physical drawing away, or just for a time, or in some other way, it’s a self-divined activity in both coming to know ourselves and to heed what it is God’s calling us to do in the instance, given our self-knowledge.

Drawing Near Without Escape

Still for some there’s the need to draw near in the midst of a world that simply won’t go away. It is fortunate for us that God’s in the business of dealing with ‘the impossible’.

If we tend toward the fact that God’s there, in our midst, we don’t need to escape at all. Drawing near at this time of year, or at any time for that matter, is not hard. Staring into a mirror is where we’ll find the Spirit.

Thirty quiet seconds is all it takes.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.