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"It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to
own their dependence upon the overruling power of God and
to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures
and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed
whose God is the Lord." --Abraham Lincoln
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God Among Us
Jill Carattini

I can't begin to estimate how many times I have attempted to encourage
someone with the assurance of God's nearness. God is with you. God is
near. God is among us. It is an astonishing attribute of the God we
profess, a comforting attribute. "God is our refuge and strength," writes
the psalmist, "an ever-present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). "The Lord is
near," the Apostle tells the Philippians, "Do not be anxious" (4:5-6).
That there is one who draws near is a testimony echoed throughout
Scripture, and it is a witness in which many of us understandably draw
hope. Thus, you can imagine my surprise when my assurance of God's
presence in the life of a struggling friend was met with her honest
rejoinder: "Is that supposed to encourage me?"

I had forgotten an essential ingredient in the assurance that comes from
nearness. Nearness in and of itself is not assuring. The degree of
comfort and assurance (or instruction and conviction) we draw from those
near us is wholly contingent on who it is that has drawn near. For
some, that God is near resembles more a threat than a promise. My friend's
perception of God at that moment was perhaps closer to Julian Huxley's than
King David's. For Huxley, God resembled "not a ruler, but the last fading
smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat." For David, God's nearness was clearly
thought his good (cf. Psalm 73:28).

The attributes of God are qualities that cannot be taken as removed from
one another. They are not traits that exist individually but
simultaneously. God is both near us and "among us" as Isaiah writes; He
is also far from us and beyond us--in knowledge, in grandeur, in
immensity. "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God
far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?"
declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" (Jeremiah 23:23-24).


The one who both dwells among us and in the highest heavens is also
good and wise and holy. God as we discover Him in
Scripture, God of whose nearness we speak, is in and of Himself "infinite
in being, glory, blessedness and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal,
unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, knowing all
things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth."(1) Like Him there is
no other; He is wholly other.

After the candid response from my friend, I realized how important it is
to clarify what we mean--whom we speak of--when we say "God." My friend
needed not only to know that God is near but that He is merciful; not only
that He is sovereign but that He is good. She needed to hear the "who"
behind the promise, beyond the attribute. And I needed the candid
reminder that the attributes we study, the biblical promises we cling to,
the words we count on to comfort or restore, are pale in comparison--and
meaningful only--because of the one they describe. The promise
that God is among us is only promising because it is this God who
is among us.

For several months I have kept near my desk a prayer written by Dietrich
Bonhoeffer. The prayer depicts the one beside whom we live and before
whom we pray:

Lord Jesus, come yourself, and dwell with us, be human as we
are, and overcome what overwhelms us. Come into the midst of my evil,
come close to my unfaithfulness. Share my sin, which I hate and which I
cannot leave. Be my brother, Thou Holy God. Be my brother in the kingdom
of evil and suffering and death. Come with me in my death, come with me in
my suffering, come with me as I struggle with evil. And make me holy and
pure, despite my sin and death.

It is this God who hears our prayers, the Holy One of Israel, the Christ
who came among us. It is God Himself who is near, and it is our good.



(1) As excerpted from the Westminster Larger Catechism.

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