Copyright © 2022 Michael A. Brown
‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty.’ (Ps. 91:1 AV)
‘Love the LORD your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’
(Deut. 6:5)
To have
a place where we can meet regularly with God in the intimacy of our soul with
his Spirit, is the thing which God himself yearns for and desires above all
other things. It is for just such
intimacy with him that we were created in the beginning. When God created the first couple, he would
walk in the garden in the cool of the day seeking to be with them, to walk and
talk with them (Gen. 3:8). This desire
of his for a place and time of quiet, loving intimacy with us is also reflected
in the great commandment above (Deut. 6:5).
God
is love and he is deeply loving (1 John 4:8,16), and so his desire is for a
close, loving relationship with us. And,
of course, it was precisely to reconcile and restore us into such a close,
loving relationship with God that Jesus died on the cross and rose again. So our first and primary call as God’s
children is to live in close, loving fellowship with Jesus:
‘God…
has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord…’ (1
Cor. 1:9)
God
delights in believers who desire to nurture and develop a life of consistent
intimacy with him. He yearns to have us
for himself, because it is for this that we were both created and redeemed, and
he delights when he finds in us a real hunger and yearning to seek fellowship
with him in the secret place:
‘Or do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, “The
Spirit that He placed in us jealously desireth us for his own?”’ (Jas. 4:5 Alford)
‘My heart says of you, “Seek
his face!” Your face, LORD, will I seek.’ (Ps. 27:8)
However,
our very human tendency to be busy or constantly occupied (as the Ephesian
believers seem to have been), and our carnal human desires for the things of
life and this world (which cause us to share our affection for God with the things
of the world), lead us away from intimacy with God. This makes our heart grow cold towards him and
leaves us in danger of forfeiting his blessing upon us:
‘Do not love the world or anything in
the world. If anyone loves the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.’ (1 John 3:15)
‘I know your deeds, your hard work and your
perseverance… Yet I hold this against
you: You have forsaken your first love…
Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and
remove your lampstand from its place.’ (Rev. 2:2,4-5)
Our
natural human orientation towards work and activity, which causes us so often
to not value as we should the relationships that we have with those around us,
inevitably results in loss of intimacy and closeness with them, so these
relationships slowly but surely become distant, dry and cold. It is much the same with God: we lose our
place of intimacy with him or simply fail to nurture it at all, when we focus
ourselves and the meaning of our life on activities and busyness or on the
things of this world.
The
consequence of this lack of intimacy with God is, of course, utterly
predictable, and, if we are honest with ourselves, we all know it so well: we
dry up spiritually, and our churches and work for God also then become dry and
lifeless, lacking his tangible presence and power. Ultimately our choice is simple: either we
learn to nurture and develop consistent intimacy with God in our spiritual
life, or we continue in our endless busyness and/or the carnality of our love
for the things of the world, and thereby lose out on what we could potentially
have in and through a close walk with God.
For
any marriage relationship to fulfil its God-given meaning, of being one in
spirit with our spouse, there has to be a time and place of regular intimacy where
the couple draw aside and are alone together, away from everything and everyone
else. This is the place where,
figuratively speaking, the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign is on the door.
No
marriage relationship can ever be stronger than its place of intimacy. This is the real heart of it all, where the
relationship is made or begins to break down; where problems and issues are
faced, talked through and resolved; where forgiveness is sought and given;
where affection, love and commitment are renewed and restored; where deep and
free joy is experienced through the expression of love; where tender affections
are expressed and two hearts are warmed again; where quality time together
brings strength to each other and to the union of two souls in one; where real
heart communication takes place – one speaks and knows that the other is truly listening
– where heart touches heart; where covenant vows are honoured, and out of which
fruitfulness is created.
Without
such a place of regular intimacy, there can be no marriage in its fullest
meaning. There may be a dry, empty shell
involving the lives of two people which may still look very much to outsiders
like a marriage, but it is not the real thing as God intended it to be and to
become. And if they are honest, the two
partners themselves know this deep down within…
If a couple is to nurture a healthy and strong marriage it all boils
down to this: the willingness on the part of each to meet regularly in
committed, quality time with the other to build up, strengthen and develop what
has been created between them:
‘His
left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me.’
(Song 2:6)
‘My
lover spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with
me…” “Arise, come, my darling; my
beautiful one, come with me.”’ (Song 2:10,13)
‘My
lover is mine and I am his.’ (Song 2:16, 6:3)
‘…I
found the one my heart loves. I held him
and would not let him go…’ (Song 3:4)
‘I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me. Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages.’ (Song 7:10-11)
Experience
in a marital relationship teaches us that, whatever else we need to do with our
time in terms of work and activities in the regular course of daily life, if
our marriage is to survive, last the course and continue to be blessed and
fruitful without drying up and dying off from within, then regular quality
times for the renewal of intimacy with our spouse have to be given a place of
priority. This really is more important
than anything else we have or do in life.
A
marriage in which two souls are bound together as one in organic, inner heart
union, and which is healthy and happy, is invariably characterised by regular
times of close intimacy between the couple and by a commitment to each other to
maintaining this intimacy as the years go by.
Such a relationship is blessed and fruitful, and fulfils God’s intention
for it. It is also invariably a blessing
and encouragement to the many other people who know the couple and have
opportunity to regularly observe their relationship.
All
of this is also true of our covenant relationship with God, in which we have
been drawn into an inner union of spirit with the presence and life of God,
through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us (1 Cor. 6:17,19). To have been indwelled by the Holy Spirit, is
to have been indwelled by the Spirit of love for God. So yearning, love and affection for God are
birthed within us by the Holy Spirit, causing us to want to seek God and to
hunger and thirst for his word and presence:
‘As
the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living
God. When can I go and meet God?’
(Ps. 42:1-2)
‘O God,
you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs
for you…’ (Ps. 63:1)
‘My
soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry
out for the living God.’ (Ps. 84:2)
The
Holy Spirit within us will always want to draw us aside regularly into a place
of quiet intimacy with God, so that we share in fellowship with the Father and
the Son (1 John 1:3). Intimacy
with God is the heart of all true devotion, and he longs that we learn
to cultivate such closeness with him. If
we draw near to God, he always responds by drawing near to us (Jas. 4:8). The seeking of a quiet place of solitude,
together with the appropriate confession of any sin and failure in our life,
allows us to draw close to God and to enter into his loving presence.
An
old Scottish preacher expressed it this way:
‘Be much alone with God. Do
not put Him off with a quarter of an hour morning and evening. Take time to get thoroughly acquainted. Talk everything over with Him. Pour out every wish, thought, plan, and doubt
to Him. He wants converse with His
creatures. Shall His creatures not want
converse with Him? He wants, not merely
to be on “good terms” with you, if one may use man’s phrase, but to be
intimate. Shall you decline the intimacy
and be satisfied with mere acquaintance?
What! Intimate with the world,
with friends, with neighbours, but not with God? That would look ill indeed. Folly, to prefer the clay to the potter, the
marble to the sculptor, this little earth and its lesser creatures to the
mighty Maker of the universe, the great “All and in all.”’[1]
The
heart of developing intimacy with God is knowing that it is a relationship
based on and built on mutual love. God
is love, and he wants us to be assured of his love for us; there is no fear in
this love (cf. 1 John 4:18). He loves us
deeply, and we love him back. We will
always seek to be with someone that we love.
Our heart yearns and longs for them, and moves us to seek them out. When our love for God is strong and warm, the
carnal things of the world lose the grip and power of their attraction. We want him more than we want them. So we seek him out and we stay and linger in
his presence, simply because we want him and want to be with him. We are alive unto God. We sit with him, talk with him and walk with
him. We enjoy him (cf. John 15:9-11).
All
true worship and adoration of God is simply an expression of deep heart love
and affection for him. Expressing this
love for God to him in praise, blessing, adoration, thanksgiving and worship
(and especially by praying in the spirit and singing in tongues) causes the
Holy Spirit within us to respond: he warms our heart and envelopes us through
and through with his presence (Eph. 5:18-20).
The stresses of the day melt away and the internal voices and noises of
our own soul, caused by daily living, are quietened and stilled, bringing us
into a place of deep peace and free joy in God’s presence.
It
is in this place that our heart is cleansed through confession and our
spiritual strength is refreshed and renewed.
We whisper our love to God and are assured in return of his love for
us. We can open up and pour out our
heart to him, telling him our innermost thoughts and concerns. As we become vulnerable before him in his
presence, we can receive healing for any inner wounds we are carrying. As we relax in his presence and focus on
being with him, we become close enough to him to sense his inner promptings and
to hear the whispers of the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to
us. We surrender ourselves into
submission and obedience to his word and will (John 14:23). We can pray, cry out and intercede for the
needs and situations of other people (cf. Rom. 8:26-27). As we read and meditate on the Scriptures,
they come alive and the Lord speaks to us through them, satisfying our soul,
strengthening our faith, and giving us revelation and deeper understanding: ‘The LORD confides in those who fear him; he
makes his covenant known to them.’ (Ps. 25:14).
When
we emerge from our time spent with God we are spiritually refreshed and have
peace in our heart. We feel deeply
blessed. There is a radiance, a glow, an
inner beauty, a spiritual lightness, peace and calmness, a sensitivity, and a
warmth of love both for God and for people that grows within us as we
consistently meet with God in this way. Spending
time in intimacy with God satisfies the deepest yearnings and needs of our
heart to know and to be known. The
joy and peace of true love for God in our life can often be tangibly seen,
sensed or felt by others, and it has a winsome attractiveness about it. Others see or sense the presence of Christ
and his love in us, and this presence can then overflow and minister to others
through us.
Learning
to maintain such a regular time and place of intimacy with God keeps our
relationship with him warm and close, and our spiritual life therefore remains
fresh, free and peaceful, and it takes striving out of our life and
ministry. Returning frequently to this
same place of soul intimacy where we have met with God before is the key to
maintaining intimacy with him and it keeps us in touch with his living
presence. We keep ourselves in the love
of God (Jude v.21). In doing this our
heart is filled again and again to overflowing with love and praise for God,
and it keeps us consistently in that place of inner stillness and peace that
God desires should characterise our life.
Copyright Notice
THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW
INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica,
Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King
James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are
vested in the Crown. Reproduced by
permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.
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