5 Steps Closer to God – Taking Step 3

Question: can we know God in the midst of the cut and thrust of life? Right in the middle of what we do each day – be it work, bringing up children, ministry … whatever it is that occupies us. The great tragedy is that many have accepted a poverty of actual relationship with Jesus in their day to day life.

Over the years, I’ve done quite a bit of Information Technology and Management consulting work (that’s the background that I’ve come from).

Some of the organisations that I worked with were tough places – the pressure was on. I could be sitting in a meeting in some boardroom looking out over Sydney Harbour and the city … and you’re dealing with tough, corporate issues in a highly charged political atmosphere as powerful interests collide.

And if you asked me “Berni does your wife still love you while you’re in there?” the answer is of course: “Yes she does!”

I mean I may only be able to give her a fleeting thought in the middle of all that cut and thrust. But in a split second I can just picture her and think of her and the knowledge of her love for me just warms me. It’s a joy, a delight during a break to give her a quick call on the mobile phone. Just to hear her voice and connect with her and have a quick chat is awesome. It might be only thirty seconds, but out there in the cut and thrust of life I can do that. I can connect with her even though she doesn’t sit in that boardroom with me having that same meeting.

And even if I can’t call her, even if I don’t have time to think for five minutes about her, I can remember her love in a split second and it’s fantastic. We can be close when we’re apart.

Well it’s exactly the same with God … only God goes one step further.

Jacqui can’t be with me in that meeting but God can be and He is. Because that’s His promise – a promise that I believe with all my heart. Sometimes if you’re a mum alone at home changing a dirty nappy and your husband’s off at work, he can’t be there in the middle of the day when you’re dealing with all that stuff, but God can…and God is. God’s there. Just in the same way that God is sitting with me in a difficult business meeting.

In fact, God is one big step closer than anyone else ever can be; He’s there in that room. He’s there in me … and in you! And when I sit in that meeting – and it’s tough, and my mind’s working at a million miles an hour, and I’m trying to help my clients, and maybe the politics are difficult – in a split second, in just a quick fleeting moment, I can turn my heart towards Christ and just know that He is my Saviour.

Can I tell you that that brings the most incredible, indescribable joy and peace. His Holy Spirit just floods over me and fills me. God is in that place. And because I am walking in His promises, because I can recall that He’s with me, it’s awesome! It’s a simple faith in Him. Nothing more. Nothing less.

And I don’t need a mobile phone to talk to God; we can chat in an instant, anywhere. I can just say, “Ah thank you Lord that was awesome”. Or sometimes I’m in a meeting and I can go “Help, God!” or “Lord I just don’t know what to say, what should I say?” And in a split second He is in there with me. His gentle voice speaks in my heart … guides me this way … leads me that way.

And whatever your situation is; whether it’s nappies or business meetings – whatever – God is in this place with you. It’s a promise – an unbreakable promise. He will never leave you or forsake you if you have placed your faith in His Son Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 13:5)

Taking a step – this third step – towards Him is simple. Really!