I can know many things about someone else. I can study his life and his accomplishments, but unless I have a personal relationship with that person, there are things about him I will never discover.
For instance, the first American president I remember was Dwight D. Eisenhower, a five star Army General in WWII who served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. He became President in 1953 and served until 1961. I respected and admired him, but I didn’t know him personally.
My father also served in that war, but was known by few people outsid
e his family. I knew him as no one else knew him. He introduced me to Christ and loved me. My personal relationship with my father had a larger impact on my life than knowing everything I could ever learn about President Eisenhower.
When my father was dying, I knew he wanted me to be near him. I didn’t have to say much. In fact, he couldn’t talk to me. He was on a breathing machine. The doctors told me that before I got there, he had been struggling. He had pulled out all the tubes and tried to get out of bed. He fought the doctors. When he saw me, everything changed. He stopped struggling. He relaxed. His daughter that he loved was near.
You may be sure God is sovereign, good and righteous and that His Son died so that whoever would believe on Him would become a child of His. Many people know this about God but they don’t know God. Until you come to understand that He loves you personally, you will never feel blessed. In turn, you will not be able to bless others if you don’t have the assurance in your life that God is personally interested in you.
I know the value of feeling my Father’s presence. I talk a lot to God, but not always. I know if He needs to say something to me or I need to say something to Him we can talk. All I really need to know is that He is near.
Psalm 119 is full of revelations of how majestic God is, but the psalmist also describes God as a very personal God. As He addresses God directly, he says that God will enlarge his heart (v. 32), has caused him to hope (v. 49), is his portion (v. 57), God’s hands made him (v. 93) and God Himself has taught him (v. 93). His very last personal reference to his relationship to God is that God is near. That is enough.
You are near, O Lord, and Your commandments are truth (Psalm 119:151).
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