Psalms 63:1-8. It reads, O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely. This scripture held my attention, particularly because of verse 6, “I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.” This verse jumped out at me and convicted my spirit with God saying, “Is this how you think about me?” I began to feel sorrowful because I can’t recall lying awake all night just thinking about God only.
I have thought about God many times at different moments but never throughout an entire night, at least, not without other thoughts getting in the way. I’ve shown the Lord my gratefulness over and over again. I’ve expressed my warmest deepest love to him in my moments but have I ever had him on my mind all night. I’m not talking about all night prayer. In this instance, it’s a cop out. I’m speaking about “God being on your mind through an entire night, without distraction, like you think of someone you love”. To be honest with God and myself, I’ve only lied awake at night like that when I felt like I was in love with someone and I couldn’t get them off my mind because it felt good to love them. The more thoughts I had about them, (how we related, how he made me feel, how I made him feel, what was said between the two of us, and reviewing the special moments we shared and exchanged) the more euphoric love I felt, almost like this Psalm. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t just throughout an entire night. It was night and day, day and night for days on hand!
If you read Psalm 63:1-8 again, it doesn’t necessarily sound like King David is speaking about God; it could appear that he’s speaking about a love interest. God said to my spirit, “This is Intimacy with God. This is how you’ve been trying to get people to relate to me. This is how I want you to relate to me. This is the Intimacy I want. This is the relationship I want.” There is no doubt that we all love God. However, there is a term that we use loosely on earth that should be real with God. That term is “being in love”. Are you in love with God? With us, in relationships “to love” is more of the mind or like a noun but “to be in love” is more like the heart or like a verb. You can “feel it”!!!
When you first meet a man or woman with whom you feel a great connection with doesn’t it almost feel like a suffering type of love? You may not ever even express it but you can feel it. That person is always on your mind. You can’t wait to talk to him/her or hear from them. You already know the things you want to say before you talk to them. You look forward to those intimate moments to come and you’d die if they ever stop. It’s as if you are “CONSUMED” with the person. This is what God wants from us!!! God wants you to be in love with Him. He wants to always be on your mind. He wants you to look forward to your talks with Him and the intimate moments that you share with Him. He wants you to be prepared to what you’re going to say to Him and the questions that you would have for Him.
God said that David was a man after His own heart. Can you understand why now? There is no hidden agenda in David’s love for God. It is unexplainably deep, genuine, it is unique, and it is without influence. And why is that? Because it is “Intimate”. Intimacy is the condition of being Intimate. Intimate can be described as: someone to whom private matters are confided; marked by close acquaintance, association, or familiarity; thoroughly acquainted with through study or experience; devoted; faithful; affectionate; confidential; loving; close.
Intimacy can not be established without the act of being intimate. However, the Lord is saying, “my people have a problem with Intimacy”. Being intimate causes one to open one’s self up to another individual without resolve, pride, fear, hurt, and/or pain. This is a challenge for most people. It doesn’t matter how many successful relationships you have. Relationships aren’t a good key that you don’t have problems with Intimacy. It just shows that you know how to maintain relationships to a certain degree without them falling apart (at least for a period of time). In today’s society, “falling apart” happens very easy. Being intimate causes one to have to give away a piece or parts of who they are and trust it with another. Most people do not give of themselves completely to anyone because of bad past life experiences. In a relationship with God, they do the same thing because it’s hard to be one way with people and another way with God. Most people relate to God as they relate to other human beings.
What is one of the number one issues in relationships between people? It is communication. Why can’t people communicate effectively with one another? Because most of the time, people are securing themselves from being hurt based on what they’ve experienced. And even when it looks like they’re communicating, they still can be avoiding openness and being genuine. People can look like their close while being miles away “in heart” from each other. This is what happens in relationship to God. We all look like we’re close while we’re miles away in heart. There’s too much distance between you and God!! I assure you this; the way that you treat people is most likely the same way you relate to God!
And so I ask, “God, what do you want us to do?” God says, “OPENESS”. Lay your heart open before God and let Him see YOU! Do not be afraid to let God see you!! Pray about your insecurities regarding deep levels of Intimacy. Why does it hurt you to be closer to people than you already are? What does distance do for you? For the relationships you are already in, monitor how you relate to other people who want to be close to you or seek closeness with you. I’m speaking of all types of relationships. Explore what makes you draw back from people, push people away, push God away, and/or withdraw into yourself. The truth of the matter is this; you can’t have true love until you grow in Intimacy with God first. He’s the foundation for all relationships! Study, learn, and experience who God is on your own! Others can tell you who God is, what God said, what God will do but there is nothing like knowing and experiencing for your self. You will never know Intimacy until this is accomplished.
Dear God, I pray that your people can have that special and unique relationship through Intimacy with You. Forgive us for putting the qualities of man upon you that we push You away. Help us in our insecurities in being close with You, while we lack intimacy with the people we love and who love us. Help us Lord to overcome our fears, hurts, pains, and past experiences that rendered our spiritual and loving hearts un-repairable. We need to understand the realness of ‘being in love’ beginning with You. We desire to be as close to You as to have You on our mind as much as we are on Yours. For we know that this is the only way to survive in such a world until Jesus return. Give us the strength, the courage, and the inspiration to change! In Jesus name, Amen and Amen.