When God Gets Personal

One consistent theme in the Bible is that God pursues us. I believe that God defines love as a pursuing force that is not dependent upon my response back. God is going to continue to pursue and love me anyway because He is love.

Who amongst you thought from the title that this was an article about God getting all up in your business and that caused some dread inside of you because you don’t want God getting personal with you because you deserve a God-led beat down? Wrong! God desires to get personal with you because He is love and you are worthy of that love. Shame is triggering that dread inside of you. Shame lies. Shame prompts us to toss away the good gifts we are given. And this is also true, God is with you in your shame. (Hebrews 12:2, 1 John 2:28.) You can’t get away from this pursuing love no matter how far your shame tries to hide you from God’s gaze at you.

But this is not what this blog is about. It is about how God is so personal in His pursuit of us.

For me, I can point back to many events, many memories in my life when I knew that I knew that God was for me. I know from my practice of trusting the Promiser that these were gifts to me reminding me that God was for me. But here is a wrestling truth about some of these memories. I realize they could also be interpreted as coincidences. Or that I read too much into a situation. Or that I spun a thing to make it look like it was spiritual and a sign from God.

I also “hate” how numbed Christians do this often. They see the hand of God in so many things that could simply be just a part of life–or worse. They see the hand of God as something that blesses them but leaves thousands of others in wreckage and chaos. I’m all for praising God for all things. I’m all for gratitude in all the things that happen day in and day out. But I try to not attach God’s will to every little thing. Because then I also have to attach God’s will to every bad thing—and that leads to some bad theology I would be inadvertently teaching.

Then this story happened. One of my graduated teens is going through a painful break up with a boyfriend she thought would stay with her a lifetime. The pain is real even though the relationship was really a trainwreck. She’s in a lot of pain right now.

On day 6 of this new reality of life without him and life without her plans, she randomly received a random check for escrow reimbursement that was 45 cents more than the rent he is no longer paying at her place. She clearly saw God’s hand in this and said, “Maybe it’s God’s way of saying this was meant to be this way.” I could only say yes. God is so personal in His pursuit. This spoke loudly of God’s pursuit of her.

There have been many times in my life that I have been broke and have prayed for God to bless me with a surprise check in the mail. I have never received one. I have always made it through and have never been destitute. It is hard for me to remember a blessing I received that has been so specific in a dark and vulnerably painful time. Yet this girl got this and my own kids have received such happenings time and time again. Whether it is a specific answer to a life issue from a stranger at a barber shop to a supernatural visit in a prison cell. I have never received something like this. Maybe you have?

This I also know. God speaks loudest to the prodigals. Every prodigal will tell you. As far as she was running from God, she was never more aware of God and God’s pursuit of her life.

So my girl gets this random check in the mail telling her once again that God is for her. This is personal. This is a personal pursuit of her from a loving God who is for her. I am jealous. And I am grateful. May she live in the truth that she is worthy of this pursuit, surrender the control of her life—which is led by shame—to God’s way, and find her love for a lifetime who will also pursue her without her having to contort herself to find love.

(Photo by Amy on Unsplash)

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