God’s Presence Is Promised
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 4:8 NIV
What a blessed promise and provision this is! It means that each of us can come close to God, with the assurance that He will come close to us—so close that we become conscious of an intimate, personal relationship with Him.
This is the greatest experience we can know, to have this sense of a personal relationship between God and ourselves. The conception is filled with rich meaning.
Every Christian’s life is closely bound up with the life of God because in Him we live and move and have our being. He breathed into us the breath of life. He has put something within us that is like unto Himself, something capable of developing into the rich quality of Christ-like character. That “something” is actually Someone—the Holy Spirit.
Because God is the giver and source of our life, He has a legitimate claim upon our lives. He is our Father, and He has the right to expect us to be loyal and loving children. Because I am His child, He longs to have fellowship with me.
The story of the Prodigal Son is a revelation of God’s desire for human fellowship. He yearns over His children who have wandered far from Him and longs for them to come home and be near to Him.
All through the Bible we see God’s patience and perseverance as He pursues misguided and obstinate men and women—men and women who were born to a high destiny as His sons and daughters, but who strayed from His side. From Genesis to Revelation God is constantly saying to such, “Return to me, and I will return to you.”
Incredible as it may seem, God wants our companionship. He wants to have us close to Him. He wants to be a Father to us, to shield us, to protect us, to counsel us, and to guide us in our way through life.
Our Father and our God, please keep me ever close to You. I want each prayer to be like a long conversation that ends all too soon. I want to walk with You, sing with You, laugh with You, cry with You. I love You, Lord. And I love Your beloved Son, Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).