The "With Us" God

Every year at Christmas time The Lord brings to my mind something to focus on about Him. It took me a long time figure that out because every year a certain theme would resonate over and over again in my mind. I always assumed that it was from a word from my pastor or something that media was hammering in my head until a few years ago I paid attention and it seemed to come out of nowhere. Just random thoughts. I usually share this with Alex and that becomes our focus for the Christmas season.

This year I have had "Immanuel" on my mind. I remember hearing Beth Moore teach on this from her study, "Jesus The One and Only" and she kept calling Him "The With Us God". This Christmas, I kept thinking about The With Us God. Over and over in Scripture God tells us that He is with us.  One of my favorite verses is Joshua 1:9, "9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
 In Genesis 26:24 and 28:15, God tells Abraham that He will be with Him. Joshua 3:7, God informs Joshua that He would be with him in the same way He was with Moses. The angel of the LORD appears to Gideon in Judges 6:12 and lets Him know that God is with him. He promises to be with Israel in Isaiah 41:10. 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, He was first introduced in Matthew 1:23 as Immanuel, "God With Us". And when the Word ascended into Heaven in Matthew 28:20, He told His disciples, "... behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

He is with us. He is with us always. God has always been about making a way to dwell with us until we could dwell with Him. From the garden of Eden where He walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, to appearing to Moses and talking to him as a friend, to the Tent of Meeting, The Most Holy Place, to sending His Son  as an offering... God coming down in human form to walk around with us, teach us, sacrifice Himself and die as the punishment for our sins so that we could be blameless and holy and be with Him eternally. 

God doesn't need us. He loves us. He desires a relationship with us because of that love. He pursues us. I am amazed and in awe. 

This Christmas has been a blur of crazy and sickness and overwhelming tiredness... but in the midst of it all I have been extremely aware of His Presence. Not a fleeting presence that comes with the Christmas season, but an awareness that He is with me. In the crazy. In the sickness. In the laughter and the so tired I can't think straight. He is with me because He loves me and likes hanging out with me. He is the "With me God". He made a way to be with me until I can join Him eternally in Heaven. 

He made a way for you too. He is the With Us God.

Shades and Shadows

I am studying right now in the books of the Law, mostly Genesis and Exodus right now. I am studying the Tabernacle and learning how God has chosen to dwell with us until we can finally dwell with Him and am amazed that the God of the universe wants to make His dwelling among us!! All throughout Scripture He actively pursues us and chooses to be in relationship with His people. Not because He needs us but because He delights in us! That in and of itself is MIND-BLOWING! But in my studying last night, I was led to something new. I was watching the original taping of Beth Moore's Bible study, "A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place" and something she was teaching grabbed my mind and I have been unable to let it go. She was teaching from Genesis (among other places.. she likes to jump around!) The one thing that really caught my attention was from Genesis 1:27... 27 So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. I have known this verse for as long as I can remember and quoted it many times, picturing in my mind that somehow God looks human-like in some perfect and organically wonderful way. However, that is not the idea of the Hebrew word for "image". When I think of image I think of my "mirror image", a replica of what my real face looks like. The Hebrew word for image is "tṣelem" meaning "from an unused root meaning to shade". We are created in His shade or shadow. There are so many derogatory comments that come to mind when we think about living in someone's shadow or stand in the shade of another but when we think about the shade of Yahweh, WOW! There are a couple of things that Beth pointed out that I wanted to share. God created us to be in His shadow. We don't have to live in anyone's shadow except for God's. We need to walk so closely with God that we are safe in His shadow. Psalm 91 "The Protection of the Most High 1 The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty 2 I will say to the Lord , “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” ... 4 He will cover you with His feathers; you will take refuge under His wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield. I love this! We are created in His shadow, His shade. I think of the times Scripture references finding refuge in the shade, how God shaded Israel by day for 40 years in the wilderness by a pillar of cloud, how He provided shade for Jonah.... I just realized that these 2 are examples of how He provided protection even when His people were disobedient. Israel was wandering in the wilderness because of their sin and Jonah had been disobedient to God, then obeyed and then pouted. God is faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him. Even in discipline, God protects us. Even when we disobey or have sinful attitudes, He provides for us. From now on, when I think of God creating me in His image, it will not be with pictures of Him in my human likeness but with an image in my mind of Him creating me to dwell closely in His shadow. The shadow of His wings that provide shade, rest, security, and most importantly, the nearness of HIM who came to dwell with me until I can one day ultimately dwell with Him. What a mighty God we have. So tender. So awesome. How can we not stand in awe?