Its Friday…How Much Intensity We Will Accept

It’s Christmas, what are you asking God for? Do you know what His beloved, treasured people – Israel – asked for? They asked not to hear His voice or see His face anymore. The intimacy was too overwhelming, His holiness too heavy. His presence got to be too much for them, and they thought they were going to die.

“This is what you asked of The LORD your God.”  (Deuteronomy 18:16)

God agreed with them (v.17). It probably wasn’t because He needed a little more space – in fact, He likely desired even greater intimacy – but because they weren’t ready for the weight of His glory, He agreed. They actually might have died. They were not the holy, separate people God had called them to be, and His presence was more uncomfortable than it should have been. They were wilderness wonderers whose parents complained about God’s works and disbelieved His promises, and though the second generation was not guilty of such crimes, they were raised by people of weak faith. The manifest presence of God would blow their circuits. Yes, this was a good request.

So God promised to send His presence in a different format. The Incarnation – Jesus, the God Man – didn’t come for many centuries, but it put the voice and fire of God into the midst of God’s people. They couldn’t handle it in the wilderness, and many of them couldn’t handle it when Jesus came. But God, in His mercy, at least gave them an option that wouldn’t kill them immediately. He sent His Presence in the form of a Person.

The question we must all consider is How Much Intensity We Will Accept in our relationship with God. He sent Jesus to us, and Jesus sent His Spirit into us. Many of us have mountaintop experiences with Him, only to distance ourselves a few days later. Why? Maybe because His Presence is too much to take. We want a certain level of intimacy, but when it’s too intense, we get uncomfortable.

What are you asking of The LORD for this Christmas? God will draw you as close as you want to get. If you ask Him to back off, sadly He will – for a time. If you ask for a deeper, closer relationship, you will find that He wants it as much as you do.

Have a memorable weekend. Make it better by worshiping The LORD with those who enjoy asking Him – “Get Closer” because they know they are most fulfilled and satisfied when He does.

All For Jesus – Nothing More, Nothing Less, Nothing Else.

“He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, The King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15b-16)