Orange Moon Saturday, March 9, 2024 "Draw Nigh"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"Draw Nigh"

"God comes close in proximity, revealing and calling.  Only to those who respond, however, does He draw nigh personally."   

      

      

     In terms of spiritual proximity, God forever dwells with and within born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

    "I am with you always… I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5).

    In terms of realized presence and response, conversely, we must "draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto you" (James 4:8).  We would not want it any other way.  God made human beings for real relationship with Him wherein He lives with us more closely than we can comprehend through Christ, but wherein we play a vital role in the fellowship of Heart to heart.  We are only truly alive when such Presence makes our spirits His home.  We only truly live when we walk in the light of such a glory of grace.  Consider the experience of Moses in the Old Testament:

  "And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.  And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses" (Exodus 3:2-4).  

  

    God revealed Himself in a wondrous fashion to Moses.  However, He did not personally commune with Moses until He saw response in the man He purposed to lead Israel out of Eygpt.  Moses "turned aside to see" and then "God called him out of the midst of the bush."  In proximity, Moses found himself in God's presence.  Only when he responded to the Lord's remarkable revelation, however, did God draw nigh in terms of personal fellowship.  

      Consider also John and Andrew in the New Testament.  

     "Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!  And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.  Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto Him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest Thou?  He saith unto them, Come and see" (John 1:35-39).

   Again, the Lord "saw them following" and requesting.  He then spoke and invited John and Andrew into nearness and close communion.  The principle shines throughout the pages of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation.  God comes close in proximity, revealing and calling.  Only to those who respond, however, does He draw nigh personally.  

    "And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here am I.  And He said…".

(Genesis 22:11-12)

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" ( Revelation 3:20).

   The Spirit of God, the Word of God, the church of God, and the creation of God all beckon to us in this day - "Draw nigh unto God."   Every believer's realization of such grace awaits our response by faith that results in "He will draw nigh unto you."  Our Heavenly Father made us and redeemed us through Christ for such living and loving fellowship of Heart to heart.  "The prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).  Let us not miss this, the opportunity of a lifetime, leading to an eternity wherein - if given opportunity to look back on our earthly sojourn - we will want to know that we often responded to the bush that burned, the Voice that invited, and the One whose knock found us opening and supping with Him.

Father, are You there?

No, My child, I am not there,

I am here, nearer than any other.

And I will always be not there, but here,

of this you can be sure, 

and this you will discover

as the years roll on, and eternity draws nigh,

I am with you always, 

so near, so much nearer than any other.

"When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek."

(Psalm 27:8)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.

(James 1:13)

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