How to Draw Near to God: 3 Simple Tips
My family bought me Gerber daisies for Mother’s Day last year. The coral blossoms stood like beacons of hope on a dining room table cluttered with puzzles, markers, and an array of toys that seemed to have no rhyme or reason. This morning, I sat at that table with hard questions about how to draw near to God in the middle of my messy life.
The disorganized table was the perfect metaphor for life that spring: piles of chaos with hope for new beginnings rising out of the mess.
Sometimes this is what we all need most: a reminder that from the chaos, God will bring something new and vibrant to life.
It was some combination of worn-thin and broken that had me paralyzed that morning with the daisies climbing higher in a silent and immeasurable way. Sometimes, the most important kind of growth can’t be seen in a day – it takes time, a slow climb heavenward – so slow you won’t notice over days or even weeks. But one day, if you keep pressing forward, you’ll look back and see that you’re not even close to where you once were.
How to Draw Near to God Amid a Full Life
That was the morning I read these words:
This is my comfort in my affliction,
That Your word has revived me. (Psalm 119:50)
And these words jumped from the page like God himself had penned them just for me.
I’d been afflicted over the past months. I was in need of revival, the kind of revival that breathes life into a worn-out soul.
I counted the places I’d turned for comfort in my affliction over the past months: the distraction of long seasons of more than one television series, small daily goals like forcing my body to walk a mile down the road on even the worst days, good food, one-word prayers for help, the encouragement of others, thoughtful devotions, and some days, plain old complaining.
While not everything on my list was wrong or unapproved by God, the question resonated: Can I really say that the comfort in my affliction has been that the Word of God has revived me?
How to Draw Near to God: 3 Tips
I want to be a woman who finds God on the mountaintops and in the valleys of life. Sadly, when I numb myself by turning to entertainment or some empty pastime to fill the void in my soul, I miss God.
God wants to revive me in my empty seasons, and he wants to revive you too. He wants you to search for him, and he promises you will find him. The secret is to search in the right places.
God wants to revive me in my empty seasons, and he wants to revive you too. He wants you to search for him, and he promises you will find him. #findingGod Share on XMaybe you don’t want to hear it today, but I have to say it. If you want to find God, the most palpable place to encounter him is in his written word. His Word is his love letter to you. It is your guide for life. It is also your guide for finding him.
Let’s look at three very simple ways to draw near to God by turning to his written Word.
1. We learn how to draw near to God in his Word by staying.
For many of us, a large part of the problem when it comes to our relationship with God’s Word is that we rush through reading. It’s one more item on the day’s list of thousands of things to do.
I’ve heard writers say that to be a good writer, they follow this rule: “Write or do nothing.”
In other words, when they sit down for a designated amount of time for writing, they can do one of two things: write or do nothing at all.
They don’t allow themselves to get up to fold laundry, scroll over to an online article, or check the weather. It is writing or nothing.
In the same way, set apart a time of day in which you have two options: interact with God through the Bible, or do nothing.
Don’t hop over to social media or scroll through your Pinterest feed. Refrain from working on your grocery list or clip coupons. Don’t cut your time short. Set an amount of time before you sit down, and take the full time to be still with God’s Word.
This kind of time opens your heart and mind to receive impressions from the Lord, to let his Word sink into the marrow of your bones.
2. We move beyond boredom.
Most of us have experienced an instance (or more) in which Bible time felt boring (Read my journey with this struggle here). Especially if you commit to staying with God through your full quiet time, you might find yourself staring blankly at the text. This is where most of us stop short.
We get bored, so we conclude God doesn’t have anything to say to us on this particular day, we close the Bible, and we move on to the next errand of the day.
But what if we didn’t stop at boredom? What might happen if we committed to sitting through our Bible time, even when boredom strikes? Share on XMy experience is that this is often where I find the greatest breakthroughs in interacting with God’s Word.
I read a passage I’ve read a hundred times, and I stare at the words, feeling very little. However, when I sit with those words, ask God to illuminate those words, and pray for life to come to those words, I’m often led to one of the following:
Sometimes I notice something I’ve never noticed before, and I spend the rest of my time studying the original language, journaling, or reading life-giving commentaries on the text. Other times, I’m nudged to commit a part of a passage to memory. I write it down and post it where I’ll see it.
Best of all, I often experience deep and life-changing encounters with Christ when I push through the boredom. He leads me to enter into the text, and I experience a healing touch in my soul. He leads me to authentic praise, worship, and the sweet place of communion with him. I find myself anything but bored.
3. We learn how to draw near to God by arriving hungry.
A five-course meal is deeply satisfying to a hungry body, but if you show up at the table full of junk food, you might find yourself squirming to make it through the final course. This is how it is with the Word of God.
Fill yourself up on all that this world offers for comfort, and your appetite will dwindle. Make it a point to pray for spiritual hunger. Open the pages of your Bible with a hunger to hear what God has to say to you every time you open it – whether you’re in a season of affliction or a season of ease. Come hungry, and you will be fed.
The morning with the Gerber daisies leads me to Psalm 119, and I sit with these words for 30 minutes. I list the dozens of ways God’s Word revives me. I’m taken through memories of difficult seasons. These memories offer hope for a light that is rising on the eastern horizon of my soul.
I put off work for that half-hour and offer the kids the grace of the extra screen time. When it’s time for the next part of the day, I am still weary. I am still in the season of struggle. But there is a subtle shift in my soul, and it feels like life springing up with the daisies.
For a list of ten additional tips to help you learn how to draw near to God, join me here. I also have a free devotional to help you start your journey:
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