Prayer: Father, keep me in the moment and let me not reflect fondly on the day’s past. May I live in today and stay close to You. In Yeshua’s name, amen.
Reading: Job 29 key: vs. 2-4
2 “O that I could be as in the months gone by,
as in the days when God watched over me,
3 when His lamp shone above my head,
when by His light I walked through darkness;
4 as I was in the days of my prime,
when God’s intimate friendship was upon my tent,
Attention: Have you ever been around someone who lives in the past? I had just graduated from high school and found myself leading my church’s youth group. The Youth Pastor resigned, and I was asked by the Senior Pastor about pastoring the youth group (high school) for the summer till I headed off to college. I received it as a compliment, but it was more than I was prepared to oversee. I led a weekly Bible study and took the youth to camp, but it set me back spiritually because I discovered the incongruity of life outside the church walls.
I also received no mentoring from the Senior Pastor. He was near retirement and while he had pastored for years and had great denominational credentials, he was not able to manage the changes and influence which the 60’s brought to the church culture. The few conversations which we had were how great the church was in the forties and fifties. He did not relate to the move of God in the Jesus culture of the late sixties and early seventies.
Listening to Job brought that time in my life back to memory. “O that I could be as in the months gone by, as in the days when God watched over me, …when God’s intimate friendship was upon my tent, when Shaddai was still with me, and my children surrounded me.” He felt he had an idyllic life. No worries, no concerns. And then it all changed in a moment. For many of us, that moment happened a couple of years ago and what we called normalcy has not returned, even though we long for it.
What Job is going to learn is that God never left him, and He has never left us. We can run from him and hide like Adam. We can run and be swallowed by a giant fish, like Jonah. Truth is, we cannot hide or escape from God. If there is distance, it is we who have distanced ourselves from God. If you want God to be closer, it is you who needs to draw near to Him. It is all our doing, not God forsaking us.
Remember, it was Yeshua who said these words before His ascension into heaven, “And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20b).”
Action: When I feel distance between God and myself, all I must do is to draw near to Him!
Yield: I am surrendered to stay close and draw near to God.
Engaged: I am engaged with the Holy Spirit daily when I am in His Word and journaling.
Relationship: God is always near me. Intimate, full relationship is when I draw near to Him.
Prayer: Father, may I always realize You are near to me. That You dwell in me as Your tabernacle. Draw me near to You. Amen.
Memory Verse: Jacob (James) 4:8a
8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.
Music Video: Kari Jobe—I Am Not Alone
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”