But you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are true. (Ps. 119.151)

How does the eternal God step into our everyday lives? Infinite. Immortal. Invisible. His divine attributes make him inaccessible to us in our frail humanity. We are not infinite. We have a beginning. And even in our birth we are born dead in sin. We are mortal. We are spirit, like our God who made us in His image, but we are bound to our material. Our bodies confine our souls like temporary housing. God is Spirit.

The Psalmist seeking the face of God in his epic poem declares that God is near, but even in this, God is still distant. He revealed Himself through His word spoken through prophets. He drew His people near by illuminating the hearts of men and women with His Spirit, speaking revelation into being. They printed each letter of His holy law and discovered in it their incapacity to ascend to his holiness. Only through a substitute could atonement be found.

And this is Jesus, the Son of God. He is Immanuel, literally God with us. He is the very fullness of the Lord God's nearness to us! He is the infinite placed in finite frame. He is the immortal One, whose death and resurrection, gives us rebirth and eternal life. He is the invisible made visible. The Word made flesh. The Light that pierces the darkness. His Spirit can indwell us because of Him. We can come before the Lord God in all Christ’s holiness. We are brought near to the Father by Jesus, our Immanuel.

Jesus, thank you for coming near to me even when I was far away.