Like a lot of parents right now, I am facing a much too quiet house. One that is missing the footsteps, laughs, and presence of my college-aged daughter. Saturday, we made the trip to return her to college and we all struggled with the juxtaposition of sadness and excitement. Tears flowed freely in our home the week preceding as we tried to spend as much time together as possible. I miss my cooking partner. My HGTV-watching buddy. My errands companion. And of course, my shopping accomplice! I miss my daughter. And a piece of my heart is with her and won’t return until she’s back under our roof.
In moments like this, I get a glimpse of what it must feel like to God when his children aren’t close. When we aren’t in relationship with Him. When we are farther away than He’d like. And while incomprehensible to me, the Father loves us more than we can earthly love. So, the drowning love I feel for my daughter is a drop in the bucket to the love our Father in Heaven feels for us. The longing I have to hold my daughter, to see her face in the morning, and say prayers together at night is eclipsed by the longing our Father has to circle us in relationship.
The first of the Ten Commandments is “You shall have no other Gods before me.” God isn’t calling us to make time for Him, He is calling us to focus on Him. He knows if we place other things before Him, our lives will not yield the fruit He has planned for us. He wants the best for us and knows the only way to truly live our most meaningful lives is to live them in relationship with Him.
In Acts 17:22-28, Paul is sharing a sermon at Athens. This was a sermon to heathens, that worshipped false gods, and were without the true God in the world. “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So, you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.”
God did all this so that, “…they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him.” God actively pursues His children. The Bible is full of scripture demonstrating God’s desire to be with us; to be in a meaningful relationship with us. To talk with us. To walk with us. To carry our burdens. To dance with our joys. To sing over us with gladness.
James 4:8 tells us, “Come near to God and He will come near to you.”
Hebrews 13:5 says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
And John 3:16 tells us all we will ever need to know about the depth and breadth of love from our Father in Heaven: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that we might not perish but have everlasting life.”
I left a piece of my heart on a college campus on Saturday. God gave His whole heart that you and I might be in relationship with Him. He didn’t make a small sacrifice for our love and friendship; He made the ultimate sacrifice. Imagine being asked to make such a sacrifice for a world that would ignore you. Ridicule you. Blaspheme your name. Yet God made that sacrifice willingly because His love for you is beyond human comprehension. It cannot be measured by limited human systems. It cannot be explained by the wisest scholars.
It must simply be accepted as a truth so bold and awesome that our only response is to run into His arms, settle into His lap, and live in relationship.
Just as I look forward to the texts, calls, and facetime chats with my daughter, God longs to hear your voice. He wants to be the first one to greet you in the morning. The last one to talk with you at night. The one you run to in times of sadness, confusion, and doubt. The person with whom you celebrate. He wants you to know that He desires to bless you beyond your wildest imagination!
Like this mama’s heart, I truly believe God’s heart aches when His children are far away. You have a piece of God’s heart. We all do. And when we choose the distractions and false idols of the world over the Father, I believe He grieves.
His arms ache to hold you, child. His heart yearns for your praise. And His love is ready to rain down on you in a torrent of peace and joy.
Don’t keep Him waiting.