God. Period.

James 4:8-10

Come close.  Saddle up.  Nestle in.  I love this idea.  Me scooting over to rub shoulders with God.  Him putting an arm around me and offering me a box of chocolate.  Secrets told.  Eskimo kisses.  Affirmation given.
You're such a beautiful daughter.
Oh, God... I really like you, too.
Aww, shucks! 


Ummm... then why does James get all gloomy?  He's such a party pooper.  Grieve, mourn and wail?  Seriously!  What happen to the box of chocolates?  Surely if God doesn't have any chocolate He could manage a lolly pop.  Or at least He could tousle my hair.  


This is a passage of seriousness.  If we come to God wanting to get something: security, love, joy, peace, purpose, meaning, hope, answers,  healing... then we are going to come up short.  We have to come to God for God Himself.  Anything less is asking God - the Creator of the Universe - to be just a tool.


This is a passage of holiness.  This is a verse of a surgeon.  Come to God.  Lay yourself out on the table so that He can heal you.  You can try and try, but you are neither going to be clean enough nor pure enough.  Never Ever.  This passage is not about what I do but about who God is.  And only when we know God and see Him can we honestly be in a position of humility.


Which is why this is a song of grace.  He is allowing me to join Him.  He's allowing me to find him (2 Chronicles 15:2).   And in finding Him those other things ... the security, love, etc... Matthew 6:33 says that we will get the things of God, but we need God first.  We can't earn these things.  We can't manipulate ourselves to be in a position to grab them when the opportunity comes.  We can't climb high enough to reach them.  We will be given them.  And God will do the giving.

And that's what James is saying.  God will lift us up.  God will.  But that's not the point... how he lifts you up... the point is God.  The point is always God.