Where are you going today? Doing anything special? I always find that even the mundane is more fun when I have someone along to share it with. Yesterday, Dave and I had lots of errands to run and we enjoyed it more because we were “with” each other.
We are never alone even in the dullest or most difficult moments. We have a promise that God is with us. That’s what His name means:
“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us].” Isaiah 7:14 AMP
Immanuel, God with us!
God came to walk with Adam in the cool of the day; then He came and walked and talked with Abraham and Moses, David and Daniel, Enoch and Elijah, you and me. God loves being with His people. It’s only fitting that one of His names should mean God with us. That was His goal – to have relationship with us, to walk and talk with us, friend to friend, Father to child.
Do you recall the first time your child didn’t want you around? I remember hearing our toddlers say “I do this”. It was cute but then when they were in their teens, they got too big to need my presence or it wasn’t cool to have their folks hanging out with them. It hurt. I can only imagine how much it must hurt the Father when we exclude Him from our activities, not wanting Him around, taking the attitude “I’ve got this”.
He’ll let us try to handle things, sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail but He’s always there. He never leaves us alone – that’s who He is, that’s what He does.
“God has said, “I will never leave you; I will never run away from you.” Hebrews 13:5b ERV
Friends may come and go; relationships change. Death may separate us from the ones we love. But the Lord will be with us forever and when we have Him, He takes care of the rest.
What’s on your list of things to do today?
Take Him along. Lunch with a friend, bring the extra guest. Need some down time, the two of you can sit quietly together, after all He IS Immanuel! He’ll be excited you’ve included Him in your plans.