Right here

It's what we were made for.

When I stop, when I still myself, when I sit under the weight of a blue sky hovering beneath eternity, I can feel deep within what creation already knows.

Him.

God is Love, and His love longed to lavish itself, to share the delight and wonder and endless joy of loving and being loved. He dreamed us up, thought about us, counted the hairs on our head and planned our days. He breathed His breath into us, gave us the life that comes from love. His breath is the core of our creation. It is the center of who we are.

He made us to be with Him.

He made us to be free to love Him back.

Isn't this what we all long for? To be loved back? Why should God be any different?

The One who IS Love longing for our love?

And longing to show us how His love can make us--and keep us--whole.

But if we learned anything from the Garden, it is that we are too quick to forget.

We wonder now why God hides Himself. If He is Love, if He wants us so very much, why can't we see Him, hear His voice? Why doesn't He just come to us and put our doubts to rest?

But now I wonder . . . If we could see Him face to face, would we have no choice but to fall at His feet? If He appeared before us as He truly is, would our sin-scarred eyes be able to bear it? Could it be that our weak selves would not hold together at the sound of His voice?

I wonder if He really wants a belief like that.

Wouldn't a God of love, a God who wants to be loved back, pursue us in gentler ways, ways that give us the chance to choose Him? Ways that reveal not only His might but His grace, His mercy, His creativity?

He comes to us, sometimes softly but always powerfully, in ways we can bear. He asks us to seek, and He is always ready to be found. He labors over each of us, preparing the unique path that will draw us to Him, if only we will look for it.

We forget Him so quickly, but He is always working to remind us.

Paul addressed the people of Athens who worshipped the God they knew existed but didn't understand:

"The One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 

"God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in hope that they might grope for Him and perhaps find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17: 24-28).

He is not worshipped with our hands because He wants our hearts. He doesn't need anything from us. But He wants our love.

We are His offspring, fallen and broken, but made from His breath. He has put eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). When you seek Him, when you still yourself to receive Him, you will know it.

You will see Him in the creation around you as it yearns upward toward its Creator, singing the song of His love.

You will find Him in the people who love you and even the people who don't, sin-weary souls who bear the stamp of His image.

You will know Him in His Word, His breath of life and hope, our love story.

You will experience His Spirit within you. You will see Him working in the time and place He chose for you. Sometimes it seems like groping in the darkness. But only in Him will we find our true selves.

The holy is among us. He wants us; He waits for us; He speaks to us in endless creative ways. And the best part is, we are free to love Him back.

Or not.

You can't go into a love like this halfheartedly. He gave all, and He wants all. He knows we will only be truly satisfied when we are all in.

He offers so much more than we could ever understand. Someday He will return to put all our suffering in its place. But first He wants to love us gently, so when we see Him face to face, we will already know Him. Then He will make us perfect as we were meant to be, so we can bear Him. Love Him. Be with Him.

He is here with us now, never far from us, waiting only for us to reach out, grope for Him, and find Him.

He is right here.

Day 21 of Abide: 31 Days of Resting in Him

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