Close to You

Our youngest son is having breathing troubles.  He has asthma, and as he did a breathing treatment this morning, I had him in my lap.....well, sort of......as much as an almost 10 year old can be in your lap!  Anyway, we were in the rocking chair.  As he did the treatment, I told him how I missed rocking him and the three older children.  I thought to myself about all of those hours and hours and hours I had rocked each of them.  It seems like yesterday, but then it seems like forever ago.  I miss that.  If you're a mom or a grandmother, maybe you do, too.  There's just something about holding and rocking a little one that we moms and grandmothers crave.  It's the nurturing and caring for part about us that makes us unique.  God made us just that way.

It's hard for us to imagine how much God loves us.  But as I thought about the past rocking of my babies this morning, my mind went to God's love for us.  He wants us close to Him.  He wants to hold and comfort us - just as we want to do for our own kids.  But, like our own kids grow up and aren't as needy, sometimes it's as if we "grow up" and feel like at times we don't need that care and love from God.  We may not say it, but our actions often show it.  But then something bad happens, and there we go.....right back to Him.  Why do we only want His love and care when things are rough?  Just like a child growing up, they try to 'break away' and become independent until something happens and they get hurt, then there they come running back to us, don't they?

So, it's human nature for us to try to do it all alone.  It's human nature for us to try to be independent.  And in some ways we must become more independent - able to function in the world, but never should we become people who believe we're doing it all alone.  Our independence from others, should come from our dependence on God.  We should consider Him not only as a Father, but also as our friend, our helper, our support system, our counselor (through His Spirit living in us), and an example - the example we have through Jesus' life on earth.

God wants His children near to Him...Always.  He wants us to crave to be near Him.  He wants us to need Him and to rely on Him.  Yes, just like my children have done, we will "grow up" and become more and more mature.  But our spiritual maturity only means we're getting closer and closer to Him and more and more like His Son, Jesus.  It will never mean we're moving further away from Him.  It will never mean we're relying less and less on Him.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. 

James 4:8a

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹ and having a High Priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 

Hebrews 10:19-22