At Hand

Do you find yourself fueling your day with the dreams of tomorrow? Do you find yourself powering through your day with caffeine? Do you find yourself numbing your feelings with alcohol? Or gossip? Or stress-relief techniques?  Do you find yourself dreaming of the future so that you don't have to submit to the reality of the present?  Do you find yourself looking to the world as a solution to the world?  

Often I find that when I am in my deepest yearning for peace and comfort, I numb my current state with something of the earth. Isn't it so funny how we believe that the answer to pain, sadness and grief can be found in the place where those feelings originate?

We have been called as followers of Jesus to submit ourselves to God. We have been commanded to seek Him in the midst of our tired and weary state. 

"Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." James 4: 7-8 

When we draw near to the earth, it does not draw nearer to us. When we seek comfort from the earth, the comfort does not grow in the knowledge of what our world is. In fact, isn't the opposite true?  Yet, our God lavishes His love and His peace on us as we submit to Him and find our answer in Him. Our world is a stagnant world. It cannot grow close to us. It cannot comfort us. It cannot turn our mourning into laughter.  

Let us always remember that our God yearns for the spirit that He has made to dwell within us!  (James 4:5) When we befriend the world, we lose the precious connection God planted within us from our conception.  The Spirit in us as believers is only nurtured after submission to God. By befriending the world and seeking its aid for our distress, we show our God that HE is not GOOD enough! We show the world that HE cannot SATISFY! Yet the reality is that the entire time we grieve, and cry and seek understanding from our world, He looks at us from afar saying, "Child...I am JEALOUS for you and the spirit within you!"

Why do we not seek him when we need energy? Why do we not seek him when we face confusion? 

Even when the world seems closer and "at hand", our GOD is even closer than that. While the earth stands still, our God seeks us with all of himself. And, who can be closer than that..?