Innate, Not Foreign

“No, it is something very near to you,
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out."

Deuteronomy 30:14

Sometimes it can feel as if God is far away and is someone who is distant and hard to grasp, especially when we are going through difficult times and trials. We may begin to doubt and question God and His existence and goodness because our suffering seems unjust or our trials too trying. When this happens the enemy will do all that he can to persuade us to stay in this state and wallow in our misery, driving us farther away from the Light, from God, from the One who calls us beloved. The enemy tries his best to tell us that God is foreign to us.

As he begins to prepare for his final moments, Moses once again encourages the Israelites. He reminds them of the commandment to love the Lord with their entire being, and that this commandment is not some lofty, idealistic imperative, but rather something very close to their hearts, something that is not foreign but rather innate.

Brothers and sisters, God is not neither far from us nor is He foreign. Every fiber of our being is connected to God, in whose image and likeness we are created. The command that Moses enjoined on the Israelites became flesh in Christ Jesus and in every way, inscribed upon our hearts and woven in our DNA. Truth, goodness, and beauty are not foreign to us. They are a part of us, they are that which draws us close to God and to one another. To know God and to be known by God is not something foreign to us, but rather innate. We were made by God, for God. So, when we find ourselves in a situation where we are tempted to pull away from God, let us always remember that deep down we know the true voice that speaks to us, the voice that says, “I am with you always. Just as the Father and I are one, so too are you one in us. Come to me, and I will give you rest.”