Are You Trying To Punish God Today?

James 4:8 "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you..."

I was thinking about why this scripture was written the way it was. It's very purposeful. It's not God draws near first and then us. Why? I truly believe it's because there isn't a time where God is unwilling to draw near to us, but the same can not be said about us.

Removing our presence from people happens for many reasons. Maybe it's out of not being able to control our words, so time to cool off is needed. Also it could be a sense of shame and/or fear that causes us to withdraw ourselves. Now in some cases, withdrawal is not a terrible idea. There are some unhealthy situations and relationships that I don't believe God calls us to subject ourselves to continued abuse. Yet, this is not one of those scenarios I am addressing. I'm speaking directly to withdrawal of presence as punishment. How often do we as people become agitated, upset, offended, or angry with someone, and one of our first responses is to cut off our presence from them? We equate presence with whether someone is deserving. If you treat me right I'll stick by you. The moment you do me wrong, I'm gone.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they hid from God. They were ashamed because they were now aware of their nakedness and what they had done. But the bible does not say God withdrew Himself too. God was the wronged party in this case. He was aware of what they had done before, during, and after they had done it. Despite that fact, God did not cross His arms at His creation and give them a time out from Him until He thought they learned their lesson. No instead, God killed an animal to cover them. God came to us despite the fact that we were in the wrong. That is indicative of God. God came 99% and they only needed to come 1%. God's history is actually doing most of the work to reconcile with us.

Now we live in a post Jesus and as a result post "law" world. We no longer have to sacrifice an animal for reconciliation due to sin. Technically all we have to do since Jesus' sacrifice is confession (repentance). Why? Because Jesus' death repaired and restored the actions of Eden. God killed an animal to cover Adam and Eve, but it did not cleanse them. God sacrificed once and for all Jesus on the cross so there could finally be a cleansing of our sins. It's the difference between covering up that my body is dirty by putting on new clothes versus taking a bath and washing away all the dirt once and for all. The law was a covering, but Jesus was a cleansing.

Now God does seek for us to not repeat the actions we needed to repent of, but even in that, we aren't meant to do that alone. We have God's word (Ps 119:11), the Holy Spirit (John 14:26, 1 John2:2) inside us, and other believers (James 5:16) all to help us stay on track. God has done the 99% for us just like He did for Adam and Eve. In light of all this we somehow still can hold God off at a distance just like we do people. When we feel God has wronged us, abandoned us, hurt us, or offended us we are tempted to withdraw our presence from Him as punishment. However if we have a proper understanding of who God is, we know that God is never the one in the wrong. Oftentimes and most times it is our ego and expectations that got disappointed or offended. God didn't do it our way so we're done with Him...or at least until He's served His time...or we need Him again!

So as I look back on James 4:8, it makes perfect sense why it's written for us to draw near to God first. God has already come 99% towards us. Us drawing near to Him is actually the least amount of work. It is a minimal amount of effort when you take in account all that God has already done for us. Now the next time I feel myself wanting to run from God I should pause to reflect on the why. Did I sin and feel ashamed like Adam and Eve were? Do I feel God did me wrong somehow and He doesn't deserve my prayers or praise right now? With either response, they are wrong responses.

Thankfully we can find solace in Numbers 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor the son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? " This scripture is quoted a lot, but what I want to key in on is that God does not possess our selfish human traits. The way we expect people to wrong us, offend us or hurt us can not be transferred to God. This makes the argument to withdraw from Him because He is in the wrong a mute point. It will never be a valid argument.

So today if you are running from God because of something you did, draw near to Him. If today you are running from God because He hurt you, stop it! Those thoughts are lies from the enemy. God will never hurt us to be hurtful or let us down, but our expectations of what He will do in the way we want it done may be let down. However those are two different things, and not the same. Don't withdraw from Him today. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you.