‘The Immediacy of God’

Daily Devotional – Monday, May 3, 2021

“I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name.” (Isaiah 65:1, NLT)

How often have I come to the end of my day only to realize that I have missed spending any significant time talking with God. Each morning, I spend time reading from his word, yet it still cannot replace conversation—both talking to and listening for God’s voice. And while I may send up sporadic praises, requests and thanksgiving, these do not negate the need to stop what I’m doing to spend deliberate, uninterrupted time with my heavenly father each and every day. But I wonder, how many of us fall into the habit of treating prayer like text messaging instead of making the phone call? How many of us spend time talking to God at all?

Prayer is a spiritual discipline. Just as you could go a full day without talking to your spouse, those of us who are married know that it is not enough simply to share the same space for healthy relationships to flourish. We must spend time in conversation—talking and listening. God is with us, always, ready to help. Isaiah goes so far as to describe God as calling out, “Here I am, here I am!” in his desire to get our attention.

Have you heard God’s voice calling you to spend some quiet time with him? Just the two of you? He isn’t inattentive, but we won’t experience his help if we don’t ask. He isn’t hiding, but we’ll never find him if we don’t look. The ability to spend time with the Sovereign God of the universe—our ever-immediate Father—is an incredible privilege that we too often overlook and even dismiss. However, when we do so, we miss out on so much!
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If we only could realize how much God loves it when we pray, we would be hard-pressed to ‘forget.’ If we’re too busy or too distracted to spend time with God, it’s time to evaluate our priorities. Only those who spend purposeful time with him should expect to hear his voice, experience his help and know his immediacy as he intended for us to at the beginning of Creation. Haven’t been hearing from God lately? The real question is, has he been hearing from you?
~ Pastor Jane