Last week’s sermon looked at Immanuel; God drawing near to us. This begged the question; ‘what’s stopping us from drawing near to Him?’ Surely we should want a deeper relationship with the God who gave so much to be in a deeper relationship with us. So how do we draw nearer to God?
There are four ways people draw nearer to God in the Bible; which different churches emphasise.
There is:
(i) religious practices, emphasised by the Roman Catholic or Anglo-Catholic churches,
(ii) human reason, emphasised by liberal churches,
(iii) spiritual experiences, emphasised by Pentecostals, and
(iv) God’s word, emphasised by evangelicals.
But what does the Bible say is the main way?
In Exodus 33:18, Moses asks to see God’s glory; presumably to experience a deeper connection with God. When God passes in front of Moses in Ex 34:5-8, he does not feel God, or experience God, or even see God; Moses hears God.
When the prophet Elijah travels to the same mountain, and stays in the same cave (1 Kings 19:9), God also reveals himself to this chosen prophet. Yet again, God does not give him something to feel (‘the Lord was not in the wind’), or experience (‘the Lord was not in the earthquake’), or see (‘the Lord was not in the fire’); he gives Elijah something to hear (‘a gentle whisper’).
The main way people experienced a deeper connection (or relationship) with God in the Bible is through his word. As such, if we wish to draw nearer to God, the best way to do so is through spending more time in God’s word; either through private devotionals, a small group, or church on Sunday. What’s stopping us?
Brendan McLaughlin
