Dear Friends: Think of the happiest moments in your life. Do certain faces or voices accompany those memories? Most likely they do because for most of us, our happiest memories involve other people. We remember with a smile trips we have taken with our families, days of playing together at the beach, special holiday celebrations, long talks with a spouse, bringing home a new baby, opening our home to guests, and so on. An overwhelming majority of our happiest memories involve relationships. God’s heart Will it surprise you to know that God is like we are that way? He takes great pleasure in relationships. That means he takes great pleasure in relating to us! And just in case we would not have figured that out on our own, he spells it out very clearly in the Bible which says that even before the world was made, God chose us to be adopted into his family and, then the verse says, “What pleasure he took in planning this!” (Ephesians 1:5 The Message). In other words, he put together the plan of redemption and made us his children not because he felt obligated to do so, but because he wanted to. It pleases him to have us close. As human beings, we like to be with people who like to be with us. If we can see God as someone who loves to have us with him (and he does), we will begin to approach our relationship with him with new light and new energy. Knowing him is not an obligation, it’s a joy! Our preparation But, you may protest entering into a love relationship with God. You ask, “Isn’t God to be reverenced and feared? Isn’t he the judge of all the earth?” Definite “yeses” to both of those questions. There is nothing like being in the presence of God to reveal to us our own sin and powerlessness. However, we are told that if we confess our sins, we will be made clean and then we can enter into full fellowship and friendship with God (I John 1:9). If we take God up on his offer to get the sin question out of the way by honest confession, the judgment of God is no longer something we fear. We still acknowledge his greatness and approach him with awe, but as soon as we begin to get overwhelmed with his power, he comes to us as a gentle shepherd or a loving parent and calms our fears. Unfolding relationship Even as we revere God as holy and mighty, we accept his invitation to come into his presence and, when we do, we feel his pleasure at our being there. Then, two aspects of our relationship with him begin to unfold: communication and serving. Conversation between friends One of the ways that God shows his pleasure in our company is by making sure that our communication with him is two-way. We are comfortable in relating to him in prayer, but if we do all the talking, it’s not much of a relationship, is it? In fact, I can imagine God listening as I go on and on in prayer, just wishing I would pause long enough to let him get a word in edgewise! God wants to talk to us! In fact he says, “If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you” (Proverbs 1:23). This is an amazing concept. I have poured out my heart to God many times without realizing that he was willing to pour his heart out to me if I would be responsive to his nudges and would give him an opportunity to speak. And then just think about how we, as mere humans, benefit by being let in on God’s thoughts. What greater wisdom and understanding could we have than to know what God is thinking? We simply have to pause to listen. Over time and with practice, we learn to recognize the voice of God as he speaks to our hearts and through our minds. The give and take of conversation and the sharing of our innermost thoughts and feelings is what real relationship is all about. And that’s the kind of relationship God wants to enjoy with me. Being there for each other Being there for each other is an aspect of friendship that we value in our human relationships. That same characteristic brings pleasure to both God and us in our relationship with him. How can we “be there” for God? Looking at the life instructions he gives in the Bible is one way to gain insight into how we can be his supportive friends. He asks that we live with one another in unity, that we help the poor and needy, and that we spread his message to others in the world. He also asks that we get to know him and understand his perspective on living our lives and on relating to him. If we want to please God, we will begin to take seriously the ways in which we can show him our love. Paul says it this way, “We make it our goal to please him . . .” (II Corinthians 5:9a). The other side of the coin is that God wants to “be there” for us, too. He tells us to bring our needs and our desires to him, to talk to him about what troubles us, and to ask him to intervene by his provision, his action, his power, and his love. He has promised that, if we do that, he will respond; and being able to give us our desires will bring him pleasure. ”. . . I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight” (Jeremiah 9:24b). Love’s power Knowing that God takes pleasure in me is a strong motivation for my relationship with him. He has told us how much he loves us and has demonstrated it to the extreme by the sending of Jesus to make a way for us to be reconciled to God. We have to believe that his love is still there, is genuine, and is for us. We take him at his word and move toward him as an exercise of faith.
That’s relationship. And, best of all, it is relationship initiated by the almighty God who will never let us down, never change his mind about loving us, and will always have our best interest at heart. It is safe to trust him! I pray these thoughts will be an encouragement to you as you move toward God in a more personal, more trusting, and more loving way today! Bev |
