The God Who Draws Near — And the Distance We Have Created

Before we can talk about growing closer to God, we must first be honest about something that is deeply uncomfortable for many Christians to admit: there is often a very real distance between us and God, and in most cases, that distance is not something He created. We created it. And we have often been so busy, so distracted, so comfortable in our lukewarm Christianity that we have failed to even recognize how far we have drifted.

The remarkable thing about God — the thing that should move us to our knees — is that He is not distant by nature. He is not cold, or detached, or hard to reach. From the very beginning of creation, God's design was intimacy. He walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. He spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with a friend. He dwelt in the midst of His people. And in the fullness of time, He became flesh and walked among us. The entire arc of Scripture is the story of a God who relentlessly pursues closeness with His people.

James 4:8 (ESV)  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Read that verse slowly. "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." There is a profound and sobering truth embedded in those words. God promises to draw near, but the first movement is ours. James is not writing to unbelievers here — he is writing to people who already know God, who have already been saved, and yet who have allowed their walk with Him to drift into something shallow and compromised. The very fact that this call was necessary tells us everything we need to know about the condition of the church, both in James's day and in ours.

The question we must confront is this: why is there distance? What has happened? Often, it is not one dramatic falling away. It is the accumulation of small compromises. A prayer life that has slowly been reduced to a few hurried sentences. A Bible that sits on a shelf or a phone app that goes unopened for days. A willingness to fill our lives with entertainment, social media, busyness, and distraction — while telling ourselves that we are still close to God because we attend church on Sundays.

Revelation 3:15-16 (NASB 1995)  I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

These are the words of Jesus Himself to the church at Laodicea — a church that was, by all outward appearances, doing just fine. They were not apostate. They were not openly immoral. They simply were not hot. And that lukewarmness — that comfortable, self-satisfied mediocrity — was deeply offensive to God. Do not gloss over that. He said He would spit them out of His mouth. The language is visceral because the truth it communicates is severe: a half-hearted relationship with God is not acceptable. It is not the fallback position. It is a problem that must be dealt with.

Here is what I want you to understand: God has never moved away from you. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is as available, as present, as near as He has ever been. If there is distance, we must have the courage to acknowledge that we are the ones who have stepped back. We are the ones who have allowed the world to crowd Him out. And we are the ones who must make the decision to turn back — fully, honestly, without reservation.

Psalm 27:4 (ESV)  One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

David's singular focus was God. Not God plus his kingdom. Not God plus his reputation. Not God when it was convenient. God alone was the consuming passion of David's life — and yet even David drifted, stumbled, and fell. The difference was that David always came back. He always returned to that place of raw, desperate hunger for God's presence above all else. That is the posture this study calls you to rediscover.

As we begin, I want to challenge you to do something before we go any further. I want you to be honest — genuinely, uncomfortably honest — about where you are right now in your walk with God. Not where you used to be. Not where you hope to be someday. Where you are right now. Is He truly first? Is your heart truly tender toward Him? Or has comfort, busyness, and self-sufficiency quietly built a wall?

Lamentations 3:40 (NASB 1995)  Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the LORD.

That is the invitation. Examine. Probe. Return. Not with shame, but with honesty. Not with self-condemnation, but with a genuine desire to change. Because the God who draws near is waiting — and He is more than worth every sacrifice it takes to get there.