Posted 4/25/21
Something strange is going on in the world. I cannot see it, I do not hear it, but I have a strong sense of its presence. I do not intend to sound “spooky,” I am only expressing something that I feel to be very much alive, yet unseen.
Someone once said that the time to learn to defend yourself is not when the attacker attacks. A darkness is looming, but not yet released, nor revealed. Now, more than ever, having a close personal relationship with the godhead is of paramount importance.
I recall a billboard many years ago before people were so easily offended at what something did not say, or who was left out, that said something like this. Desperate men (said when it was still implied male and female) pray. Prayer keeps you desperate.
Prayer is talking to God. The more you talk to him, the more you in-tune you become to him answering you. This cannot be an “I’ll give it a try,” routine. The time is now to believe that God is God. That belief starts with a desire to believe. Someone once said to God when asked about a particular matter in their life, I am willing to be made willing. What a powerful response.
They were saying, God, I am not there, but I am certainly willing to get there. Perhaps this is the first step in a close personal relationship, willingness to get there. There has been so much water—as it were—passed under the bridge of life since the time Jesus told his disciples on a Judean hillside to return to the city and wait for the promise of the Father, the outpouring of God the Holy Spirit.
The waiting has tried the very hearts of humanity. Some have given up, believing a lie and walking away. Others have taken matters into their own hands forging religious ideas and ideologies that have turned many away from God, all in an attempt to bring humanity to him.
The Bible says to be still and know that God is God. It is a choice to believe that God is God. It takes a willingness to trust him, who you do not see, to be there as he said he will be.
There is a story in the Old Testament about a man named Enoch. Enoch got so close to God that one day he was gone, simply vanished. It is an incredible story. In the language of the King James Bible, it says, “Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him.”
How is this possible? A guy is there one day and gone the next, it does not make sense. (Talk about a case for the X files) The rest of the story brings some understanding to Enoch’s disappearance. The Bible states that at the age of 65-years old, Enoch has a son. After that son is born, Enoch begins to call on God, reaching out to him, talking to him. Enoch did this for 300-years (difficult to wrap the brain around, I know).
Every day, day after day, Enoch reaches out to God, talking to him. He did not “try” to get close to God, he got close to God. Enoch must have been willing to be made willing, and God took him to task.
Can you imagine the journey Enoch was on? Can you imagine him having days of throwing up his hands, saying I quit? I suppose we will have to ask him once we get to heaven. The point is, Enoch waited, persisted, and at some point, in the journey found God.
Why would Enoch do such a thing? The answer is because God is real, and being close to a real God is far better than anything else this world can offer. The Bible states that after Jesus (God the Son) rose from the dead, that he proved that he was alive in many ways (the Bible does not describe what those ways are) visiting the disciples from time to time.
Now here is some good-ole 20th-century psychology, If Enoch can do it, so can you! But it is true, you can do it. Are you willing? If your answer is no, then, are you willing to be made willing? Can you wait—as long as it takes—for God to keep his word and meet with you? Can you persist long enough to ward off the naysayers, be they family, friend, or foe, until you hear the still small voice of God speaking to you?
I believe you can, and I am banking on you doing so. Drawing close to God, one day at a time. Jesus is alive; allow him to prove to you that he is. It begins with a willing heart, and it continues with a determination to see it through.