Our family is a bit of an anomaly: we live in the neighborhood in which I was raised, which happens to be the same neighborhood where both of Lauren’s parents (and grandparents) used to live. For the entirety of both of our lives, at least one of us has lived here or had a family member who lived in this neighborhood. This place has been where now four generations of our family has lived. We know the geographic location in which we live with an intimacy that is unusual given the usually transitory nature of modern society.
While it’s fairly amazing to think of the fact four generations of our family have lived on the same street, it is even more awe-inspiring to consider that God has sought to be the dwelling place for all of humanity from the moment at which we were first created to dwell in His presence. Think about what that means from the perspective of Scripture: at first God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. After the Israelites left their slavery in Egypt, He gave to them the law of the Old Testament, which was further explained through the words of the prophets. When even the Law was not able to bring humanity into the relationship that God sought for us, “he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:7-8).
Each step of the journey from Creation to right now, God has sought to reach us in the best ways possible, to call out to us in such a way that we might be able to draw near to Him and to dwell in his presence. That call, that desire, will continue until the time at which the full culmination of the Kingdom of God occurs at Christ’s return. There has never been a moment when the Lord has not looked for ways to draw us near.
While it is wonderful to know all of that information, many of us still struggle to feel comfortable with making God our dwelling place. We know that He desires for us to be with Him. We want to listen and to respond, yet something holds us back. For me this struggle comes in my desire to be in control. I need to be able to step away from my continued belief that I know what is best for me and to trust that the Lord, the one who “brought forth the whole world,” knows better than I do.