God’s Call For Intimacy

Our work, our worship, and our ministry must be an overflow of our intimacy with God. The Christian’s fruitfulness and faithfulness should come from a heart that is madly in-love with Christ.

Why do we need intimacy with God?

I used to think that God is always angry and impatient. The result of this false belief in my spiritual life is that I am always afraid of Him and I do not want to be close to Him. I realized that I am unconsciously shaping God according to my own image. I am an impatient and angry person who have a low tolerance for mistakes and failures. I thought that God is like me.

The truth is, God is so unlike any one of us. He is not like us. That is the meaning of the word “holy” – “kadosh” – God is “wholly other”, God is totally “different”, God is “unique”, God is “set apart”, God is so “unlike” us.

That is why we need intimacy with God. The more we know God in a deeper way, the more we can live with the truth of who He really is.

Yes, God is so great and vast that there will always be something we’re discovering about Him in this lifetime. We may not be able to know everything about Him now, but that does not mean we can’t know Him better. God is making Himself known to His creation.

The closest words for the concept of intimacy with God is the word “yada” in Hebrew and “ginosko” in Greek. These words mean “to ‘know’ in a deep and intimate way”.

God calls us to spiritual intimacy with Him. He desires and longs for us to be close to Him.

This invitation was expressed in Psalms 42. This is one of the many passages in the Bible that calls us to a deep “relational trust” with God. The writer of this poetry is emotionally bombarded by discouragement, by doubt, by depression, and by desperation. Yet, because of his intimacy with God, because of His deep knowledge of God, because of His passion for God, he was able to spiritually find safety, security, and satisfaction amidst the darkness that surrounds him.

1. INTIMACY WITH GOD MAKES US SATISFIED.

“As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God.” (Psalm 42:1-2)

Every person longs for fulfillment and satisfaction in life. Part of being human is that we desire, we long, we crave, we thirst for things that we think will make us satisfied or fulfilled in life. Whether it is winning in that game we love, or achieving that goal we are working for, or buying that stuff we have been looking for, or fulfilling that dream we have been waiting for, or getting that recognition we want.

Biologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists all describe humans as passionate beings. We are passionately pursuing things that we think will truly satisfy us. We desire success, fame, wealth, acceptance, belongingness, love, safety, security, recognition. We desire good food, good friendship, good sex, good fun, good career, good family, and good things. To be human is to seek fulfillment, satisfaction, and happiness.

We were created for intimacy!

All our human cravings, desires, longings are all pointers to or indicators of something that will deeply satisfy. Deep within each of our passionate pursuits and intimate desires are actually cravings for the One who is source of true fulfillment and genuine happiness in life.