Coming Near

“Draw near to God,

He will draw near to you.”

James 4:8

She was lovely, sitting on the floor in front of me, quietly coaching me on basic Arabic vocabulary.  Suddenly the room cleared and we were alone.  Leaning in, she quietly asked,  “You know Jesus?”   In this place where Followers were not welcome, I hesitated.  Was it a trap?

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Tell me!”

Without knowing much about her nation’s faith, I began at the beginning….where sin entered the world…distancing us from God. I touched on the many messengers who God had sent throughout time, longing to draw us back to Himself.  And then, choosing to “come Himself…”   She finished those two words along with me.  Tears filled her eyes.      “You speak of God as One so near to you.  We only know of Him as so high above us…so far from us.”

As our time ended, I prayed for her….that God would come near to her, and that she would come to know Him. . .as near.  With tears running down her cheeks, she quickly asked that I write the words I had prayed so that she could pray them herself.

A year later, we saw each other again.  She said,  “I pray this prayer every day, and my mom and dad like this prayer very much, so we all pray it together every day.”

 This world is filled with people who long to experience God coming near to them.  Yet, they have not known how that could be possible.

We who have come to know Him as the One Who Draws Near to us carry the great privilege of knowing Him “near.”   May we live this . . . and share this . . .in our world, to our world, where so many have never known it was possible to be near.