Title: Draw Close to God
Contents
Among the stories of C. S. Lewis, there is a famous anecdote called 'The House under the Cliff'. There was a house at the bottom of a mountain cliff. This house is at the bottom of a cliff and you can't go straight there. If you jump off a cliff, you will go, but you won't be able to go alive. You have to go around the ridge to get to this house. When you return, you move away from your home. But the farther away is the nearer. Approaching God is not going fast, but when we go with the right attitude, we can meet God most fully. Getting closer is not a physical distance, but a distance of the mind and the distance of the soul. Getting close means living right.
There was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. Thousands of people must have been pushing, touching, shaking hands, and even hugging Jesus as he passed by. But they were not close to Jesus. Only this woman was close to Jesus. Jesus asked his disciples, "Who touched me?" The disciples said, "There are so many people pushing me around, but who do you think touched me?" Jesus knew that someone had touched him. Just because you're geographically close doesn't mean you're close. Physical touch does not mean touching.
Getting closer to God is possible through the encounter of the soul with God. You have to become one spiritually to get closer. Sometimes he has to suffer in order to draw near to God. Psalm 19:71 says, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes." Suffering makes us learn Your statutes. sometimes it makes you die. In fact, it comes closest to death. Lazarus died and was placed in Abraham's bosom. I went the closest. Return to the soil where man died. It's the closest thing to come back.
Teresa of Avila said, "God is nearer than I am to me, and God loves me more than I love me." The closer you get to God, the bigger God will appear. Why does God look small? Why Minimize God? Because I didn't come close. Why don't you believe in God? Because they do not have God in their hearts.
Draw close to God.
Verse 8 says: "Draw close to God." It says that Christians must resist and stay away from the devil and, on the contrary, draw near to God under the new covenant. Can both God and the devil be close? Can you do both away? One goes away and the other comes closer.
My in-laws did not lead a religious life even when I got married. Excluding the father-in-law and mother-in-law, there were as many as 10 family members, including grandfather and grandmother, living in a small house. My mother-in-law went to the temple under the influence of her grandmother. If something big happened, he went to the temple and received the day. Of course, the house also had a new liquor complex. However, the way God changed the family was unique. All the elders in my wife's family did not believe in Jesus, but the current sisters-in-law and brother-in-law have been living a religious life. Then, when my second sister-in-law was getting married, my father-in-law took me by the hand and said: "Honey, Seobang Choi! We must believe in Jesus now," he said. So would I have answered, "Father, no, absolutely no"? You're welcome. I also held the father-in-law's hand and said this. “Yes. Father, you did a great job,” I once answered while crying. So now I am serving as a finance deacon in a small church near my house.
That's right. When I did not know God, the first thing I did after meeting the Lord was to destroy the Shinjuji complex in my house. In the meantime, I have completely burned down everything related to the idol. As he drew near to God, he removed everything that had to do with demons. So is the world. The closer you get to the world, the further away you are from God. But please believe that if you draw near to God, the world will move away from you.
We call God our Father. Are you a good child if you stay away from your father? If you stay away from your father, you are an illegitimate child. Who is the most filial? Children who take care of their parents closely are the filial sons. Isn't it said that there is no filial piety that is far away? Can we not treat God as a father while calling God Father? Heavenly Father is most pleased when we are near. Drawing close to God is the best way to stay away from the world, sin, pleasure, and temptation. When you come close to God, your sins are forgiven. To receive the forgiveness of sins from God, you must come near. Hymn 205 also has these lyrics. "Come to Jesus and forgive all your sins". If you come close to God, your problems will be solved. Even children are at fault when they try to distance themselves from their parents. When we try to turn away from God, something is wrong. Get closer and the problem will be solved.
Luke 15:1 says, "All the tax collectors and sinners are coming near to hear the word." Those who come near are the loving ones. Those who love Jesus draw near. A woman who was a sinner came close to Jesus, broke the alabaster, and poured perfume on Jesus' feet. People criticized her for wasting expensive perfume, but Jesus said she was doing this because she loved her so much. What's the difference between "Come closer" and "Hey, get away"? The difference in love. If you love me, I tell you to come closer sometime. If you love me, you will come closer even if you don't say that. But if you don't love them, they tell you to leave. If I don't love you, I don't want to go even if I tell you to come closer. Love brings you closer. You say you don't want your husband to come near you when you're older? Isn't it because of love? Sometimes it is beautiful to see an elderly couple holding hands and walking together on the street or in a park. It's really cool to see one side being uncomfortable, pushing a wheelchair and walking around affectionately. When there is little love, when the love cools down, you tend to hate being close to it.
If you look in the winter next to the car, there is a phrase that says, "The object you see in the mirror is closer than it appears." The side mirror of the car is a convex mirror, which widens the field of view, making it appear wider. On the other hand, although the field of view is wide, objects appear small and distant. But in reality it is close. God is in heaven and he is not far from us. God is near to us. God seems far away, but He is with me, He seems to be with me, but He is within me. We must draw near to this God. We believe that this is grace and blessing for us.
When I draw near to God, God draws near to me.
Also, in verse 8 it says, “And he will draw near to you.” This seems to be conditional. When we draw near to God, it sounds like God's promise to draw near to us. But must we draw near to God in order for God to draw near to us? This means that God is always close to us, but as we draw near, we will come to know God who is near.
God appears to Jacob, who deceives his father and brother and leaves him far away. In Genesis 28:15, God says, "I am with you, I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." He promises to stay close to Jacob. Verse 16 says, "Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely the LORD is here, and I did not know it." The God who is by your side, the God who is near you, but I do not know it. After realizing this fact, I know that God is near.
There is a story in the philosopher Schopenhauer's fable called 'The Porcupine Dilemma'. A pair of porcupines are dead on a very cold winter day. A porcupine is an animal with thorn-like hairs all over its body, called 'needle mole'. If you get close to each other, your body will sting, and if you stay apart, you'll be cold to the point of death. Two porcupines froze to death after repeating close and far. Because their whole body is covered with thorn-like hairs, they hurt if you get too close. If you're too far away, you get cold. It does not hurt and keeps an appropriate distance to maintain body temperature. Human relationships are easy to hurt if you are too close, and easy to become a stranger if you are too far away. Keeping your distance is essential for relationships.
But God is different. God is good no matter how close you are. God is good to be near. It is safe to be close to God. Being close to God is my happiness. God is different from us. Even if you get close, it won't hurt you and you don't have to keep your distance.
Psalm 145:18 says, "The Lord is near to all who ask him, to all who ask him in truth." The literal meaning of the word "truthfully" is "in the truth." God is near to those who ask with sincerity and not hypocrisy. We need our sincerity to draw near to God.
Look at Michelangelo's 'The Creation'. It depicts God reaching out and sending Adam into the world. The hands of God and Adam are only a few centimeters apart. The hand of God and Adam aptly describes our relationship with God. It's a hand that seems to be the closest, but feels like it's about to touch, but doesn't seem to reach it. No matter how close you are, you can't hold it, and if you don't reach it, it's the farthest hand. All other creatures live hand in hand with God, but only humans seem to hold on to them and live their lives by missing out.
Among the gospel hymns, there is a song called 'I don't know what will happen tomorrow'. "I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, I live day by day. Misfortunes and misfortunes don't go my way. Even though I go through a tough road, I am tired and I have no end. Lord Jesus, hold my arm and hold my hand. I don't know about tomorrow. I don't know the future. Father. Support me and give me a smooth path." The more you hear this praise, the better it is, and the more you sing it, the more grace overflows. I really don't know what will happen tomorrow. Are you anxious and anxious? Please draw close to God. If God holds my hand, everything will be fine. If the Lord sustains me, I will be flat. I hope that we will have the grace to live close to the Lord, hold His hand, and enjoy the blessings in the future like a mist in every moment of our remaining moments.