As you go through your day, do you ever relate your interactions with other people to your interaction with God? I think doing so helps us to better relate to Him. As God’s children, the kind of relationship we are supposed to have with Him is mirrored by the kinds of relationships we are supposed to have with one another. There are two primary human relationships that are symbolic of the relationship between us and God. One is the relationship between husband and wife and the other is the relationship between parent and child. I would like to use a recent interaction with one of my children in order to illustrate how I think God feels about us coming to Him and how we should do that.
A few days ago, when I got up early one morning, I had a text, that had been sent at 11:25PM, from my daughter, Elizabeth. Her mother and I divorced, many years ago. She is 18 years old, in her second semester at a local community college, and she lives with her mother. Her text said “Hey dad our dryers broke and I got an 8am in the morning. Could I stop by and dry my clothes at your house before class and get them after?”. We exchanged a couple texts, where I said of course she could and she thanked me, etcetera.
Let me unpack this a little. I could talk all day about her first words, “hey dad”. I don’t care that they were sent at 11:25PM. I love that she sent them at 11:25PM. She knows that she can reach out, any time, about anything, and it’s OK. About the “hey dad”. When I read that, before I even got any farther, my heart basically said this. Oh yeah, that’s my girl, and I’m her dad and I’m so proud to be her dad, and she wants me for something, and I don’t even know what it is, but I just have joy at her reaching out. I probably smiled. I smile every time I say her name, reflexively. As I’m typing this, I just said her name, out loud, “Elizabeth”, and I felt myself smile. I literally can’t help it.
I am completely blind and so sound and touch are, by far, my primary senses. When she came through the door, I heard the sound of her laundry basket hitting the laundry room floor and, before I could even reach for her, I felt her arms around me and her head on my shoulder. Very little gives me more joy than that. We got in a surprising amount of conversation in the next 5 minutes, about work and school and such, while she loaded her laundry, and I got another hug as she left. What she wanted was a small thing, to me, but not to her. As she left, she said “Thank you, I don’t know what I would have done”. I was happy to help. I’m glad their dryer broke. As a result, I got the joy of her reaching out, a hug and a kiss, some good conversation, and another hug and kiss, all that in exchange for a little electricity and a little wear and tear on the washer and dryer. I think I got a pretty good deal. Oh, I got more conversation and another hug and kiss when she came back to get her clothes. You know the really amazing part of all that? She had no idea what she did. She made my day. She thought I helped her but, actually, she helped me.
I think God kinda likes it when our dryer breaks. Often, it’s something more serious than a dryer, and He does not enjoy the pain we experience, but He loves the interaction it brings with Him. He loves the “Hey Dad” and the intimacy with Him that follows. You may reach out to Him a lot. You may sometimes feel like you’re burdening Him but you’re not. I think He has the same basic reaction that I had when Elizabeth reached out to me late that night. Not any kind of annoyance, just joy. Think about that the next time you pray to Him.
Let’s look at a little Scripture related to this.
Hebrews 4
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
One paraphrase of Hebrews 4:14-16 is that, because Jesus lived as a human, God understands our struggles, and because of His sacrifice, we are able to come boldly before God, to seek help in those struggles. As I said, Elizabeth texted me at 11:25PM. One might call that bold. If you have my number and you are not my wife or one of my children, do not call or text me at 11:25PM. Unlike the case with Elizabeth, I will not get joy out of it. But she knew that she could do that and it was OK. She is my child. If she needs me, I want to hear from her, whenever that might be, and she knows that. God feels the same way about us. He tells us to come boldly before Him, in our time of need.
1 Thessalonians 5
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
You may think that what you need help with is too small to bother God with but nothing is too small for Him. Elizabeth wanted to come put her clothes in the dryer. I considered that small. She considered it big. We were both right, from our own prospectives. Think about this, as it relates to communicating with God. For the One Who spoke the universe into existence, what would be considered a big thing? To Him, relatively speaking, everything is small. And yet, Paul tells us to pray without ceasing (verse 17). God knows that His little things are our big things and so they are a big deal to Him. He wants us to talk to Him about all of them. I don’t think Paul meant for us to literally never, for one second, stop praying. The way I think of it is keeping the channel open. If something happens that you’re thankful for, take a second and thank Him (verse 18). If something happens that scares you or that you aren’t sure how to handle, take a second and ask Him to help you. And certainly there’s a time to be on your knees before Him but you can do this, without stopping, just as you go through your day. And I can tell you, from a lot of personal experience, that prayer does work. The answer will be in God’s time, and it doesn’t always look like what we may have envisioned, but He is listening and He does answer.
1 Peter 5
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
We are to come to God boldly (Hebrews 4:16) but we are also to humble ourselves before Him (1 Peter 5:6). Let me tell you something else about my girl. Respect is a big thing to her. She is comfortable texting me at 11:25PM but, also, when talking to me, even in texts, she always says yes sir and no sir, etcetera. I told her once “You are 18 years old, you don’t have to call me sir any more” and she said “I know I don’t have to but I want to, it’s a respect thing”. And so it should be concerning our relationship with God, bold but respectful.
When we come to Him in this way, we are to cast all our cares (also can mean anxiety) on Him, because He cares for us. And have no doubt, He truly does care for us. Think about all He endured on Calvary. He didn’t willingly go through that then to turn His back on us now.
There are many reasons for and consequences of human interpersonal relationships mirroring human God relationships. One of those is that looking at human interpersonal relationships can help us to understand human God relationships and help us to relate to Him better. It is my hope and prayer that this story about my daughter and I will help you in this way.
