Precision Pursuit
Day 5 | Closest to the Father
A Scripture-centered reading from the Precision Pursuit devotional collection.
When I was in the Navy I remember walking up to the USS Wasp for the first time. I’ve seen ships but never an aircraft carrier. The sheer size was overwhelming just looking at it.
It reminds me of when we were in Washington DC and walked from one monument to the next. Due to its size, it is farther away than you realize. So, what appears to be a short walk is longer than you realize.
Judging distances can be a challenge when dealing with immense objects.
I can’t think of anything greater than the One who holds the whole world in His hands.
The challenge is we are not as close as we think.
It is easy to drift.
I heard an analogy once that completely changed how I see God as Father. Have you ever heard something that rubbed you the wrong way at first, only to realize later the Holy Spirit was using it to expose something in you?
A friend of mine named Eddie was teaching one night. He said whenever he needed to run to the store, he’d ask his three boys if they wanted to go. Some would go. Some would stay home.
When they got to the store, the boys who went with him got a treat. A drink. A snack. Whatever they wanted.
The boys who stayed home got nothing. Zilch.
Immediately I’m thinking: “What?! That’s not fair.”
I’m judging him in my head because that’s not how I handled things with my girls. If one got something, everybody got something.
Fair, right?
Then Eddie paused and said something I’ve never forgotten: “The closest to the father are the ones who get blessed.”
Ouch.
Sorry Eddie, but that one hit hard.
It challenged me.
It exposed me.
It shifted something in me.
My life, my growth, even my prayer life is directly connected to how close I choose to stay to my Heavenly Father.
This isn’t about God being unfair.
It’s not favoritism.
It’s proximity.
A provider gives because he must.
A father goes above and beyond when his children simply want to be near him.
The Holy Spirit used that moment to completely change how I viewed relationship with God.
The closest to the Father experience things others never will.
Precision Practice
You are as close to the Lord as you choose to be. Nobody prevents this pursuit other than you.
Stay planted.
Don’t forsake the assembly.
Read the Word.
Fast and pray.
Pursue Him daily.
Precision Passages
1 Chronicles 16:10-11 KJV
(10) Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
(11) Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.
Psalms 95:3-6 KJV
(3) For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
(4) In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
(5) The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
(6) O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
Hebrews 10:25 NLT
(25) And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.