Experiencing God's Presence #60

Experiencing God's Presence #60

The time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.

John 4:23

I’ve heard it argued—usually by incognito skeptics and critics in online conversations—that the “you” in God’s calling and promises is almost always plural and that it refers to the group as a whole rather than the individuals within the group. In other words, God has related in Scripture to Israel and the church but not one-to-one with people. Individuals can experience Him indirectly and impersonally by getting in on God’s plan for His people as a whole. But an intimate, personal relationship with Him isn’t scriptural.

What complete nonsense. Groups can’t have a heart-to-heart, face-to-face relationship. Only individual people can do that. That’s why we were made in God’s image—to relate to Him. In Scripture, we see Him coming to comfort Hagar in the desert, appealing through Paul on behalf of a slave named Onesimus, or, as in the verse above, tenderly reaching out to an outcast woman at a well. It’s true that God has a big-picture plan for Israel, other nations, and His church, but the God who made His universe out of amazingly intricate atoms and cell structures certainly has His eye on each of us as individual people. He is an intensely intimate God.

If you wonder sometimes if God is interested in connecting with others but not with you or if He’s interested in the big picture but not the details of your life, remember Jesus’ one-on-one interactions with a woman at a well, with lepers and outcasts, with disciples whom He loved, and more. Jesus, the exact representation of God, got personal with people. And He is always passionate about those who will come to Him in spirit and in truth.

Lord, You are the God of macro-universes and micro-organisms, and You have chosen to relate specifically to me. You do care about the details of my life and want to meet me in them, so I present them to You as a place for us to connect.