know him

Day 18 of 

When you are a child you are warned against talking to strangers, and for good reason.  Your parents love you and want to keep you safe.  They know you are not capable of protecting yourself against 'bad things' that could happen, and that you have not yet developed the capabilities to discern the people and environments around you. They give you rules to follow, tools to use, and lists of safe people to ask for help, until you begin to grow up and are better able to navigate the world around you.

As you grow in age, you grow in relationship.  I grew up in a small town, and the friends I made in early elementary school were the friends I still had when I graduated high school.  New ones were added as people moved to town, and some were lost as people moved away.  The natural process of growing apart took place with some, as different interests were developed and teenage romance entered the picture, but for the most part I spent anywhere from 10-18 years (depending on the friend) with a group of people I knew well.

Then college came, and with it came moving away from home for the first time. Four short years later, marriage, and another big move to a new place.  In both of those times there was a blank slate for new relationships.  The people I met were new, didn't know me, and I didn't know them, so I had to start over the process of gaining and giving trust.  This is an important step in building relationship.  Yes, I do and always will believe that God has called me (and you) to be transparent with our stories for our good and for His glory, but we are also warned to not give dogs what is sacred, and not throw our pearls before swine, because they may trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces (Matthew 7:6). So you have to foster relationships before you can form them. 

You have to develop a relationship before you can open yourself to it.  You have to feel safe before you give of yourself and your innermost thoughts.  Yes, it can take time and patience, but it, more than anything else, takes presence.  It takes being with that person to grow in relationship.  You can not grow without contact, without sharing space, even if that space is on a computer screen through skype at a distance of thousands of miles and multiple timezones. Without a connection to each other, the relationship or friendship is over before it begins.

What about our relationship with God?

Abiding in our Savior, resting in the shadow of His wings, means a direct, close contact, relationship with Him.  But our sinful flesh fights against that resting place because we don't understand the beauty of that relationship. We don't trust it because we haven't gotten to know Him.  There is no safer place than with the Savior. With our Lord, we are able to develop the best relationship...the only relationship that truly matters.  

Seek Him.   Share space with Him.  Know Him.

If you are His child, if you are a Child of The King, that relationship is already there.  

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in realms because we are united with Christ (Ephesians 1:3)

I am so thankful for that direct line.  I am so thankful there is a Father in heaven who knows me completely and has given me every way to know Him.  Even when I didn't understand, I was already in the shadow of His wings.  I am so thankful for the God in Psalm 33.  For the Hope it gives me in knowing what He has done and how He sees me.  I pray you know that Hope as well.

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.  (Psalm 33:22)

His Hope is there to cling to.  Know Him and Cling.