Closer Than You Think

So far away, yet so near.

“And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” Jer. 29:13

God is definitely invisible to our physical eyes. No one has even seen Him (I John 4:12), but is He playing “Hide and Seek?”

If God did not want to be found, we would never find Him. But He does want to be found. He is a “findable” God. In Jesus, we might even say that He is the “approachable God.” The avenue to find Him is through the heart’s response to the cross. We begin a search for Him from the heart, and we find His heart, and welcome Him into our hearts, all made possible by what Jesus did for us on Calvary.

Many “search for God.” They take such elaborate steps. Some have crossed oceans and walked across continents in search of the truth. Don’t you feel silly when you have spent all day looking for something that was right in front of you?

Just after my first “God-glimpse” on the day of my conversion, I realized that He had always been there, pursuing me, waiting for my response, but I was too caught up in myself to notice. I came to know Jehovah Shammah. “The God who is present.”

Reach out to God, and He will reach out to you.

Homely?

Did He look like this? Probably not.

“He had no stately form or majesty. That we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.” Isaiah 53:2

Let’s face it, it’s hard to think of Jesus as physically unattractive, or maybe even homely.

We do not know the specifics of what Jesus looked like, but this scripture seems to suggest that He was not notably handsome. Why? The world system puts great stock in physical attractiveness. If you are extra handsome or beautiful, you have a good chance of becoming a movie star or a model, a politician or charismatic leader, a successful salesperson, or at least the object of many prolonged stares.

Jesus’s lack of “stately form,” “majesty,” or “attractive appearance” was part of the plan. This passage from Isaiah implies that those who followed Jesus were attracted to His person, to unseen fire, the power, the “charisma” of the Holy Spirit’s anointing.

In many of our meditations, we have been glimpsing the pure beauty of holiness, the majesty of His very presence, the awesome light of His glory. Yet when the Living Word of God is made flesh, what happens? He chooses not to be attractive physically (or rich or educated or any rational explanation for his drawing huge crowds). In this meditation, we get a glimpse of His humility.