No one needs to tell us that we are a busy people. Our lives are so filled with activities that we find little time for meditation or communion with God. I must confess that I even had a problem with this as a full-time Preacher. Every week’s beginning I began my week thinking: I have two sermons to prepare for. Then, I have two Bible classes to prepare for. Then, there are the counseling sessions, and Bible studies in people’s homes, or at the Church building. Then the unexpected hospital visit, or the funeral to prepare for that wasn’t anticipated. Then I realize. Oh, I have to weed the garden, mow the lawn, fix something, or clean something.” At the end of the week I would think, “Did I do anything with my family this past week? Did I take time out to spend time with them?

In my rush, to get all these things done, and most of them spiritual, did I take time to talk with God? How much time did I commune with God this week while I was about His business? All of us can tell about that same story? And as a result God can become to seem like a mere shadow, someone who is far away, unreal.

Think about that! The Creator of the universe. The sustainer of all life. The Great “I AM,” the Alpha and Omega. The Beginning and End of everything we call “Life,” looked upon as someone we don’t have time for! As we search the Word of God we should not come away with that view of God! However, we do have a slight problem in coming away from God’s Word in this area, if we do not understand the relationship that God has with His children.

(1). God is the Creator of all people, but all people are not His Children. This is why Jesus could make this statement to the Jewish leaders of His day: “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie. He speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God hears God’s Words; you therefore hear them not, because you are not of God.” (John 4:44-47).

(2). THERE IS THE VIEW OF GOD’S GREATNESS.”

In our reading of the scriptures we can be “Overwhelmed,” with the Majesty and Greatness of God! The infinity of His Power together with other infinite qualities, develops within us an awe and reverence for a God who is “Great.”

David felt that awe and reverence when he wrote these words, “O Lord, our God, how excellent is thy Name in all the earth, who has set Thy glory upon the heavens! … When I consider the heavens, the works of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visit and care for him? (Psalm 8).

When we read these words, and look around us, and say as the Psalmist: “The Heavens declare the Glory of God; and the skies proclaim the work of His hands” (Psalm 19:1). We may have the tendency to feel that God is too Great, Too Busy, Too far away and distant,” for us to have any type of communion with Him.” But there is another view of God that we get from the scriptures. It is this view that we busy mortals, who are pressured on every side, cannot afford to miss!

(3). THERE IS THE VIEW OF GOD’S NEARNESS.”

(Acts 17:24-27) The Apostle Paul gives us these assuring words: “The God who made the world, and all things in it, since He is Lord of Heaven and Earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served with human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself give to all life and breath and all things; and He made from one, every Nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, if haply they should feel after Him and find Him, THOUGH HE IS NOT FAR FROM EACH ONE OF US.”

Even though God remains God, and man always remains man. Even though we are sometimes overwhelmed by God’s “Greatness,” there is also a “Nearness,” that God would want us to know about because He is also “Our Father,” and we are still “His

Children!” Even after this concept is difficult to understand is there an everyday example, a Parable from life, that can help us better understand the “Nearness,” and the “Greatness of an awesome God?” I believe there is. And I know I am using a very crude example, but that is all we have to use sometimes in explaining “Spiritual Truths with Earthly examples,” that is why I used the word Parable. Jesus used them, so I feel I am not stepping too far out of bounds by using this example.

The President of the United States is the First Citizen of this Nation. His name and reputation is known far and wide. Potentates from all over the world seek an audience with him. Whenever he speaks, a Nation, and many times the entire world eagerly listens. Wherever he goes he draws a crowd of people who are assembled, if for nothing more than to get a glimpse of him. A letter bearing his signature is passed on proudly to one’s children and grandchildren. A few moments of private conference with him is considered to be the experience of a lifetime!

YET, ON THE OTHER HAND, the members of his own family do not find it difficult to be in his presence. He may be “The President of the United States” to some, but to his family he is “Daddy, Hubby, Son, Brother, Uncle, Cousin, Nephew and so on.” President Teddy Roosevelt was one of the most influential of American Presidents; yet, his biography tells how, at the end of the day, he would change his clothes, go into the nursery, get down on his hands and knees and play “Horsey,” with his children.

This suggests, at least something, about how God can have infinite power, and at the same time have a wonderful “Nearness,” with His Children. In fact, did you know that is how God wants us to feel about Him? Did you know that God has actually given His Children the privilege of calling Him, “Daddy?” (Romans 8:14-18; Galatians 4:4-7).

And what does that word “ABBA” mean? That is the Jewish name for “Daddy.” If a Christian feels separated from God, then they do not understand the relationship that exists between them and their Heavenly Father. The do not understand the Benefits, Responsibilities, that are all part of God’s Family. They suffer because they are not availing themselves to God’s Love, God’s Care, God’s Peace. They do not understand what Jesus said, when He said, “My peace I give to you. Not the peace that the world has to offer, but my peace which passes all of man’s understanding” (John 14:27).

When God does not feel near. When there seems to be miles, and miles between a Christian and their Heavenly Father. Perhaps they need to ask: “Who Moved.” How many of you had chores to do when you were growing up? What happened when those chores were not done? Did you know we also have chores to do in God’s Family? (Matthew 25:31-46).