#2 God is Closer Than You Think

Welcome back. Today's week two in our series, 10 Things Every Christian Should Know. Last week we looked at the great truth that God is bigger than you think. Today's great truth: God is closer than you think.

This truth should both thrill us and scare us to death. It should thrill us because He is with us and we are never alone. It should scare us because when we are misbehaving, He is there and aware. Do you remember the last line in the book of Matthew? Jesus said, "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

The big word is omnipresent. God is everywhere. Sadly, we forget that God is always with us. Isn't that ridiculous, to forget the presence of God? Now, when we forget, trouble comes. You know that as well as I do.

Jeannie and I had not been married too long, and we went to a wedding in north Mississippi. At the reception I saw an old friend from college named Ann, and I walked over to see her, and I left my wife standing alone. I was in trouble with a capital T. Jeannie was mad, and she felt ignored, and I got defensive, and it was on. And I was wrong. I forgot about my wife for a moment.

About a decade later, my phone rang at the office. It was the principal at the elementary school. He was bringing my son home. I forgot to pick him up. Now, if you know me, you know that I truly love my wife and I love my children. Forgetting them is not an option.

And while I'm confessing my sins, I need to admit that there are times when I have forgotten that God was with me. Psalms 139 is a psalm where David pondered the presence of God. If you watched last week, you saw that David was the only one who remembered that God was with his people. This psalm was written later on in David's life, as he looks back and reflects.

So in Psalm 139, I begin at verse 7, and David says, "I can never escape from your spirit. I can never get away from your presence. If I go up to the heaven, you are there. If I go down to the grave, you were there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night, but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To the night shines brightest day. Darkness and light are all the same to you.

"You made all the delicate, innermost parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous. How well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born."

David says, "Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O Lord. They cannot be numbered. I can't even count them. They outnumber the grand grains of sand. And when I wake up, you're still with me." Isn't that beautiful? God is always with us.

I've been reading an old classic, Practicing the Presence of God. It's a small book written by a monk, Brother Lawrence. It was written almost 400 years ago. Brother Lawrence maintained that we should continually communicate with God. He felt that it was silly to think that times of prayer should be different from any other time.

First Thessalonians 5:17 was one of his favorite verses. It says to "pray without ceasing," and Brother Launch based his life on that verse. He called it a holy habit. He was determined to never forget that God was always there.

He also loved the scripture from John 15, verses 4 and 5. I'm going to read it from a modern translation, The Message. It says this: "Live in me. Make your home and me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear fruit by itself, but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me." Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. When you are joined with me and I with you, the relation is intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing."

And one letter that Brother Lawrence wrote to a friend, he said, "You're not the only one who is troubled with wandering thoughts. Our mind is extremely wandering. It wanders." So I can relate to that, can't you? One minute we're praying, and then the next we're wondering what's for dinner, or where our keys are. What was that person's name?

Brother Lawrence advised his friend, and I quote, "I believe one remedy for this is to humbly confess our faults and beg God's mercy and help." That's great advice. We must realize that God wants us to be close to Him. He wants us to be aware. That is His desire; that is His will. We need to ask God for His help in recognizing His presence.

The first part of James chapter 4 tells us, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." But there's a battle in our thoughts, isn't there? Every moment of every day, so many things to distract us from God, way more than when Brother Lawrence lived.

I once had a habit. Every time I got into my truck, I would reach to turn on the radio. And driving is a great time to pray, especially in Atlanta, Georgia. To make sure I would remove the radio distraction, I ended up taking the knob off the radio that would turn it on.

All of us need to be careful. We need to be careful to limit our screen time: our phones, our tablets, our computers, our TVs. They can get in the way of our connection to God if we let them. So what can you do?

Well, believe what the Bible says. When God promises that He is always with you, He is. Pray that God will give you the desire to always stay connected. Remove distractions.

As the New Testament begins, Matthew chapter 1, we find these words in verse 23 about the birth of Christ: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us." God is with us, closer than you think.

Let's pray together. God, help us to never panic, to never worry, to never feel alone or outnumbered, because you are with us. Help us to be convinced of it and to live that way. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

God bless you. We'll see you next week.