Where are you?

Last week we looked at James 4:8 which says, “Move your heart closer and closer to God, and He will come even closer to you.” Or in another translation it says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Did you know there is a second part to that verse? Isn’t it funny how sometimes we know one part of scripture but can miss the context because we stop halfway through the verse at the good part.

James 4:7-8 actually says, “So then, surrender to God. Stand up to the devil and resist him and he will flee in agony. Move your heart closer and closer to God, and he will come even closer to you. But make sure you cleanse your life, you sinners, and keep your heart pure and stop doubting.” In the New Living Translation verses 7-8 say, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

James 4 is actually a chapter about repentance. It is a chapter full of confrontation and it exposes the secret sins that lay hidden in our hearts. It does not make sense that right in the middle of talking about the fallen human condition and all the stuff that goes on inside us that no one sees, James talks about us drawing closer to God. Moving our hearts closer and closer to God. What did James know that we don’t know?

We know for a fact that sin makes us want to pull away as far as we can get from God. We see this in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. They were living their best lives in the garden and God would come and walk and talk with them. Imagine what that must have been like, to be in a state where they were not marked by sin, they had a perfect relationship with the perfect Father.

Things were real good, up until the serpent came and killed their vibe. Genesis 3:7-9 says, “At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?””

This is what happened when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Before they knew it, they were hiding from the very God they used to walk and laugh with. Why? Sin gets in the way of our intimacy with God. Instead of desiring intimacy with God (into-me-see) we start hiding. In our own way, silly as it may be, we think if we hide Papa God does not see it. God did not ask Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” because He didn’t know where they were. He asked because they had spiritually distanced themselves from Him. He could feel the separation and it broke His heart that He could no longer enjoy the relationship of closeness He once had with them. I can hear God’s voice break as He asked that question. The question He already knew the answer to.

Like Adam and Eve after the fall, we were all stuck in a place where we could not, in our sin filled bodies come to our Holy God and enjoy this relationship of closeness with Him. That is all until Jesus entered the chat. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was a game changer for us. Now, just like Adam and Eve pre-sin, we can enjoy a close relationship with our Father.

So James knew that as humans we do sin, but we do not need to stay stuck in the place of sin because we have Jesus who has given us power over sin and death. We get to say, “No!” to the devil. The Bible would not tell us to resist the devil if we did not already have the power to do so. James 4 does not ask us to be perfect and sinless. It says don’t turn a blind eye to your stuff. Be humble. Surrender to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. How do you do this? By drawing closer and closer to God.

Drawing closer to God shows humility. It says God, You can look at me (into-me-see). I am not perfect but here I am. God in turn moves closer to us. When He does this, He does not pretend we are not messed up, but He gives us opportunity to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow, no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. That’s an old hymn. The blood of Jesus cleanses us. It washes us white as snow. It empowers us to live life in close relationship with God because we know God is not out to get us. He is out to love us. He is just looking for ways to love us like we’ve never been loved and draw us even closer to Himself. God wants you in His life. How crazy is that. The Creator of everything seen and unseen, wants you all to Himself because He just loves you so much.

Now if knowing that doesn’t bring you closer to God, I don’t know what will!

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.