Open To Me

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with Me." (Rev. 3:20, MKJV)

Do you ever keep God at arm’s length? Are you like me—with one hand you beckon God closer and with the other you hold Him at bay? And the percentage of “get away, get away, get away” varies with the percentage of “come here, come here, come here.”

Why do we do that?

~ Lack of trust. Perhaps we didn’t have particularly loving and accepting authorities as children and we’ve learned not to trust those over us.
~ Insecurities. (see number one above)
~ Fear of intimacy. (see that good old number one above)
~ Fear of failure. Somehow we’ve decided that after salvation, it’s our job to work hard enough to be accepted by God. We’re afraid of messing that up. We won’t be good enough. We won’t be faithful. We’ll fail and then where will we be?
~ Fear of rejection. But God will never reject us. (see Heb. 13:5)

But I’ve been challenged lately as God asks me to let Him into my day no matter what. Even my angry days. Ever have those? You’re not sure why, but you wake up irritated. Sheesh! What happened? Who knows? Where’s God on a day like that? He's right there. Are we letting Him get close?

How about your cave days? Do you have those? There are days when I’m actually not in a place to be social, emotionally I mean—cave days. Where’s God on your cave days?

What about sad days? Who knows why, but your heart aches all day. And you can’t really trace it to any instance in particular. No one has necessarily died. But you can’t shake the heartache. Do you hole up on days like that? Where’s God on those days?

The other morning, I flipped to one of my favorite Scriptures because it shows me Jesus’s heart for people:

"Open for Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My perfect one; For My head is covered with dew, My locks with the drops of the night." (Song 5:1, MKJV)

He wants to be closer to us. He wants intimacy, to have us let Him into our tough moments. Needy moments are different. It’s easy for me to invite him into my fearful or needy moments. But the other times, not as much. But that’s where He’s calling me. Into intimacy with Him during the ugly moments. That’s what they are. Where I’m not at my best. Where I’m a mess. Where I’m imperfect. I’d rather keep myself from Him then. He wants to free me from those cycles of suffering.

So, it comes down to a choice: will I open to Him? Will you?