Praise God Who is Near

During the so-called Age of Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries, a great many thinkers and philosophers began to exalt the limits and capacities of human, especially reason and empiricism.  As reason and the perfectibility of man were heralded, a new stream of pseudo-Christianity arose that had a huge affect on how the world, particularly the leaders of a certain fledgling North American nation, thought about God.  This ideal has been called Deism and while their are very few who would still call themselves Deists, the philosophies of this heresy are still in play today.

Deism, very simply, is the idea that God the Father created creation and then left it alone.  A common word-picture used to describe Deism is to think that God wound the clock of creation and then closed it within a glass case ne'er to be touched or interrupted or tinkered with.  In its essence, Deism would say that God is transcendent over creation in that He is the creator but He is not imminent in that He has never and will never become involved with creation.  It can quickly be seen that this type of spiritual philosophy is still widespread today in the vast numbers of people who think of God as some far away being who is either too busy or too disinterested to become involved in our petty human affairs.

To be sure, this is blatantly false and grossly heretical.  For starters, Christ, the Son of God sent by the Father God to atone for the sin of mankind, is clear evidence of God's intimate involvement with and in the world.  Moreover, God is immensely near.  In fact, the Bible is direct and unified in expressing how ever-present God always is, particularly to those who call on Him and the brokenhearted (Deut. 31:6; Psa. 16:8, 34:18, 46:1, 145:18).  This should always be on our minds and be the reliable source of our constant comfort, security, and hope.  For God is always near.  His omnipresence deems that He is always everywhere.  Wherever we are, there He is.  This should be more than comforting, it should be overwhelming.  To consider that the Holy Lord, who is infinite and without need, is here with us for us should rock us with love to our very cores.  Let us praise the Lord for who He is and for being near us to love us!  Praise God!