Intimacy with God

In an article about intimacy, the author said that the least intimate conversation is when talk is about things or events like the weather, similar to conversations on an elevator between strangers. The intimacy deepens slightly when people tell one another how they feel about those things or events.

According to this author, intimacy deepens as conversation becomes more personal. “I feel” statements take it there. The deepest intimacy is when people can share how they feel about one another.

Using this measurement, the Bible clearly shows that God and His people are in an intimate relationship. Scripture is filled with statements of how God feels about us, and how His people feel about Him, particularly in the Psalms.

The friendship (or ‘secret counsel’) of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. (Psalm 25:14)

This describes intimacy. We who know Jesus Christ are in awe of God but not standing far away and God, who hears our reverence, makes known to us His love. It is a two-way sharing of our deepest feelings toward one another.

Chambers says the last mark of intimacy is to confide secret joys. At first reading, I thought I do this, but realize I’m more prone to tell Him my secret burdens. When have I shared with Him what gives me great joy? Perhaps the closest is when singing worship songs.

But there are two sides to this. Do I listen for God’s secret joys? I certainly know what brings Him great displeasure, but have I caught His joy — even His small delights?

I think so, at least sometimes. When I go for a walk in the wildlife preserve and see flowers in bloom, surely the joy I feel comes from what He puts in my heart by the Holy Spirit. He must smile at sunsets and children and snow-topped mountains. I rejoice when I create something; obviously God does too. I’m convinced that I feel His joy because He shares it with me.

Sometimes God prompts me to do or say something to another person. When I follow through, His voice isn’t loud, but I can sense Him saying, “Well done, Elsie” — telling me that He is pleased. These are intimate conversations.

Chambers says intimacy is often in the small things because God knows every detail of our lives. He guides us in our ordinary choices and checks us when we move out of His will. Intimacy is just knowing what He wants, and on His side, knowing what I need. Intimacy is walking hand in hand, often saying the same things at the same time and recognizing the harmony. It is moving in confidence knowing He will put a check to stop me if I missed His thoughts on a certain thing.

Intimacy is also being sure of God’s presence and certain that His hand is on my life. In this way, intimacy is totally connected to faith. That is, when God tells me what He thinks of me, faith prompts me to agree with Him. When He tells me that I have sinned, faith responds with confession (agreeing with God) and repentance. When He says He loves me with unconditional love, faith also believes what He says and stops all silly efforts to earn His favor. Because of faith and intimacy with God, I can live in confidence of being His beloved child.

Rejoicing in my salvation

Deuteronomy 7:1–8:20; 2 Corinthians 2:12–17; Psalm 34:1–22

When I entered the kingdom of God, He wanted me to deal with all the ungodly things in my life. This is pictured in the life of the Israelites: “When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.” (Deuteronomy 7:1–2)

It would not happen all at once. Imagine a new Christian being totally holy in an instant. His family and friends might do something drastic. God knows that. He said to the Israelites . . .

The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. (Deuteronomy 7:22–24)

The other reason that it takes time is that pride is deeply entrenched, at least mine is. To that, He says . . .

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord . . . Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him . . . Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery . . .  Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8: 2–3, 5–6, 11–14, 17–18)

My grandmother used to say, “Too old too soon, too late smart.” After years of God dealing with my pride, I understand the depth of what “little by little” means. I also understand that some people cannot deal with great changes in another person. For them as well as for me, “little by little” is much easier.

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:14–16)

God is so good. We celebrate the resurrection today (and every day) and with the psalmist must joyfully say: “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!  . . . The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.” (Psalm 34:1-8, 22) 

Joy needs no reasons . . .

We are waiting for our connecting flight from Heathrow in London to Edinburgh in Scotland. I have a few minutes to be still and pay attention to what God wants me to think about and do today.

It is an unselfish thing, according to my devotional reading. He simply wants me to be joyful when others are joyful.

The verse is, “Rejoice with those who rejoice” (Romans 12:15). On the surface, this seems a command to be people-centered, to forget about myself so that when others are happy about something, I can be happy with them. However, I think this goes deeper than that.

I just started reading a book about the passion of God for His glory. It says something that I have been thinking about for a long time; that God is a joyful God and takes great delight in giving us His joy. Our problem is that we are terribly preoccupied by trying to be happy without His help.

Once I thought if I had a big house I would be happy. For many people, that big house could be a fancy car or a solid marriage or a trip around the world. The dreams and wishes come and go, but whatever we want, it is seldom God. Oh, I want Him too, but how long it has taken me to realize that He is all I need.

Move the clock ahead a few hours. (My time in Heathrow was cut short because someone announced that the departure gate for our flight changed and we had to hike 10-12 minutes to another one.) We are in a quaint little cottage in Perth. It is lightly but steadily raining. The flowers are in full bloom. Everything is green and lovely and very, very wet.

I’ve been thinking all afternoon about the joy of God. As I do, He seems to be delighted that I am because He is flooding me with it. Our hosts are joyful too. I just noticed that they have filled the bookshelf in our suite with Christian books. The reason for their joy is almost certainly because they know the God who gives joy. They have it, and it is easy to be joyful with them.

This is what this verse means. Oh, it could be that I should be happy when a friend wins a prize or accomplishes something remarkable, but “rejoice with those who rejoice” is about sharing the joy of Jesus with others who have His joy. This is a joy that doesn’t need a reason. It is just here in our hearts. God is with us and when we share in His joy, He is glorified because we are demonstrating what He is like.

God needs no reasons for joy because this is part of who He is. Circumstances can’t mess with His joy because He knows all about everything and what He is going to do about all of it. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows that ultimately, Jesus wins, and I know it too. It would take a lot more than a damp day in Scotland to rob me of His joy, and even of the delight in being able to share it with others.