You Can Know GodSample

Day 2 - He Always Wanted to Be Closer

In the Old Testament, God’s presence on earth lived in a box—the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was placed in the center of the Israelites’ life—first in the center of their camp as they traveled through the wilderness to the Promised Land, and later in the center of the city.

Even under the Old Covenant, our God wasn’t a far-away God—He was a right-up-close God. He wanted to live right in the center of His people.

But even that wasn’t close enough for Him. In Jeremiah 31 He said, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer. 31:31,33 NKJV). 

In other words, God wanted to be even closer to His people—He wanted to live in us. And that’s just what He did, through Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself promised, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17 KJV).

And that’s exactly what happened. The Bible says that your body is now the temple of the Holy Spirit! (See 1 Corinthians 6:19.) He doesn’t live in a box anymore—He lives in you. You can’t get any closer than that. That’s how close He wants to be to us.

Isn’t that amazing? Of all the religions in the world, only one God lives inside His people. We don’t have a relationship with a religion or even with the Bible—we have a relationship with Him. He is our loving Father.

The Creator of heaven and earth, Almighty God, ruler of the universe, wants to be in you and known by you. That just thrills my heart every day, and I hope it thrills your heart too. When you know Him, it’s always fresh, never boring. It makes me want to be closer and closer to Him every day.