Living In Harmony With God

    I saw a grandfather holding his grandson. The man was standing with his arms holding the child. On the man’s face you could see complete contentment. The boy had melted onto his grandfather’s shoulder. His eyes were open. He was perfectly still. It appeared as though he had no cares or worries. He was just happy about where he was. Both were exactly where they wanted to be. What a beautiful picture of two lives in harmony.

This is not unlike some of the images that the Bible uses to describe God’s relationship with mankind. “When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son… Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms… I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them” (Hos. 11:1-4). This passage serves to contrast God’s care with the disobedience of Israel. We can see the tenderness of God in this description. We see this also in Jesus’ teaching. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling” (Matt. 23:37). We see the care and concern of God contrasted with a hard-hearted people. God used eagles to describe this in Moses’ day. “He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. The LORD alone guided him…” (Deut. 32:10-12). These passages point to the type of relationship that God wants.

It is obvious that He was willing to pay the price to have this relationship restored after man’s sin. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). God wants that close relationship with us.  Many of us want it and have it. When we walk in obedience, we have what so many before us have missed out on. “For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Eph. 5:8-10). God still sees us as His dear children. God wants to live in harmony with us. The only thing standing in the way of that relationship is us. We impede such great blessings by our own childish stubbornness. We must surrender, put away our self-will and walk in obedience. Then, we can live in harmony with God of this world. Then, we can be perfectly content and exactly where we both want to be.  ~Josh Blackmer