“For me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge that I may tell of all Your works.” –Psalm 73:28
The New Year is a time we think about new habits, new ideas, and new ways of improving our lives in the coming year. The great magnitude of blog posts on Bible reading plans alone reflect the craving for deeper spiritual habits. As your pastor, I strongly encourage you to find a good Bible reading plan and stick to it. Find a good rhythm for prayer time and, of course, regular Sunday attendance to be spiritually nourished by God’s ordinary means of grace.
What will make your spiritual habits more enduring and deeply satisfying is nearness to God. Notice the Psalmist is confident in this: it is good to be near God. Good! Literally, it is good to draw near to God. Good means pleasant or enjoyable. And near does not mean God is not present everywhere. Nearness is a trusting intimacy with God. By trusting, I mean by faith in Christ. In Christ, it is pleasant to intimately draw near to God.
To truly appreciate our approach to God in faith in Christ, we need to answer: who is God whom we desire to approach? He is a perfectly holy God and so fearful that even seraphim cover their faces and feet (Isaiah 6:2-3). Moses approached God and trembled with fear (Hebrews 12:21). God commands us to worship Him with fear and rejoice with trembling (Psalm 2:11). The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him (Psalm 147:11). God reveals to us that He is holy, a perfect judge with holy wrath, and He is scary beyond our overwhelmed senses of fear.
We cannot approach our holy God with any blot, any sinfulness, any wrongdoing or we would be judged according to God’s eternally holy law. Therefore, we as sinners are tempted to simply know a lot about God without truly knowing Him. We are tempted to study God without fearfully drawing near through Christ. Again, the Psalmist teaches us, it is good to draw near to God.
Does your study of God and spiritual habits draw your heart to greater affection for God? If not, all of your study of God will be a knowledge that puffs up rather than humbles you to love (I Corinthians 1:8). All of your spiritual habits such as prayer, Bible reading, and even church attendance will be reduced to a cold duty rather than a delightful treasure. You will find yourself sacrificing spiritual habits for worldly things rather than making time and sacrificing worldly things for deeply enjoyable spiritual habits drawing near to the Lord.
Beloved, look to the spiritual habits of drawing near to God as enjoyable, pleasant, good. Why? Because God is good and merciful. In Christ, every blemish of sin is cleansed and in exchange you receive the perfect righteousness of God. This wondrous spiritual truth of being reconciled to God means you can draw near to God and enjoy Him. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). Delight in God is the fuel which drives us to endure and be satisfied in our spiritual habits. Such intimacy with God will prevent you from falling out of healthy spiritual habits in this New Year.
Heavenly Father, draw us nearer to You and fill our hearts with a high affection for You. Teach us to forsake worldly things in favor of habits of grace to draw near to You, treasuring our God with such delight in our time with You. Bless us by Your needed mercies. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
