Intimacy With GodНамуна

We Are Created For Intimacy

The word “intimacy” has been abused in our day and age and is most often referred to as the closeness between two persons through physical and sexual affection. However, this meaning fails to capture the fullness and beauty of the word. Psychologists provide a much better and more accurate definition: intimacy is a state of being that is “marked by the consensual sharing of deeply personal information. It has cognitive, affective, and behavioural components. Intimates reveal themselves to one another, care deeply about one another, and are comfortable in close proximity” (Britannica, 2024). Essentially, intimacy is a unique relationship built through the bond and trust between two persons – and between us and God, but we’ll get back to that tomorrow.

I wonder how you feel reading that description of intimacy. Is it settling nicely in your heart and giving you a warm, fuzzy feeling? Or are you thinking, “I don’t need or want to be intimate with anyone.” Or maybe it’s even stirring up some apprehension, discomfort, or fear in you. If it is, I get it. Intimacy can be a scary thing for us because it requires openness, honesty, vulnerability, and trust. For many who have been hurt before, intimacy may have negative connotations and may frighten us. But I’d like to encourage you, dear friend, to open yourself up to seeing intimacy in a new way as we start this devotion series… to see that intimacy – the way God created it – is good and good for us. That starts by us understanding and acknowledging that we are created for intimacy.

We see evidence of this from the very beginnings of our lives on earth (Psalm 139:13-14). Have you ever wondered how infants at birth instinctively know who their mother is, although their eyes are shut and their senses aren’t fully developed? Studies show that this unique bond and trust is formed while the baby is in the mother’s womb, through hearing the mother’s voice and experiencing her touch.

Do you see, dear friend, that being intimate has been grafted into our very DNA? Intimacy is not a desire we intentionally stir up for ourselves. We have been innately created for intimacy – each and every one of us.

This was God’s perfect idea of creation. In Genesis 2:18-22, we read of how God didn’t want to subject man to loneliness, and so He created woman. The woman was not an afterthought but a necessity. This doesn’t mean that everyone must be in a marriage to be intimate, but that God didn’t want humans to be alone because it is not good for them. So, what is good for us is to be intimate with other people – to have a trustworthy friend or confidante to relate to, to confide in, to share deeply with, and to pour out our hearts to. Clearly, God created us for intimacy. None of us have been made to be alone but to experience intimacy with others and with God.

Let's Reflect
How do you feel about being created for intimacy?

Prayer

Lord God,

I come before You with all my fears and concerns about intimacy – between me and You and others. I ask that You transform my perspective and my heart this week as I explore Your intended design for me to live a life of intimacy with You. Bring freedom and growth, peace and fullness of joy for the life You want me to live with You.

In Jesus’ name, amen.