Making Space for the God Who Wants to Be With You

Last week, early one morning, I watched Josh floating on his back in the swimming pool. The water beneath him never stopped moving. Small ripples drifted across the surface, and sunlight danced in shifting patterns around him. Yet from where I stood, he looked completely at rest.

He wasn't trying to get anywhere. He wasn't checking his phone, tackling a project, or thinking about the next item on a to-do list. He was simply there.

The longer I watched, the more I realized how unfamiliar that kind of stillness has become for many of us.

Even during summer, a season we associate with vacations, longer evenings, and slower days, our attention is constantly being pulled in different directions. There is always another message to answer, another responsibility waiting for us, another reason to postpone rest until later.

This week on the podcast, Benjamin and I discussed a theme that runs throughout Scripture: God wants to be with His people.

From the garden in Genesis to the promise of God's dwelling place in Revelation, the Bible tells the story of a God who continually moves toward humanity. He is not distant. He is not reluctant. He is not waiting to be convinced to care.

He wants to be with us.

That truth raises a practical question.

What does it look like to spend time with a God we cannot physically see?

When Jesus visited the home of Mary and Martha, Mary sat at His feet and listened while Martha busied herself with preparations. Most readers are quick to identify with Mary. I find myself relating to Martha far more often.

Life requires our attention. There is work to do, people to care for, and responsibilities that cannot simply be ignored. Martha's problem was not that she cared about the wrong things. Her attention had become divided.

The story feels surprisingly modern.

Many of us love God deeply. We want His guidance. We want His peace. Yet our attention is scattered among so many competing voices that we struggle to recognize His presence in the middle of ordinary life.

Mary had an advantage we do not have. She sat in the same room as Jesus. She heard His voice. She watched Him teach.

We cannot sit beside Jesus in that way today.

What we have instead is His promise.

Before His death and resurrection, Jesus told His disciples:

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." — John 14:26 (ESV)

Jesus did not leave His followers alone.

The Holy Spirit comforts, teaches, guides, convicts, and reminds us of truth. Through Him, God's presence is no longer limited to a particular place. Scripture teaches that believers themselves have become temples of the Holy Spirit.

Yet knowing that truth and experiencing it are not always the same thing.

Learning to Pay Attention

For many years, I treated time with God as another task to complete.

Read the chapter.

Finish the devotional.

Check the box.

There is nothing wrong with spiritual disciplines. They matter deeply. The problem comes when we begin treating a relationship as though it were a performance review.

The Christian life is not about earning access to God.

Through Christ, access has already been given.

The challenge for many of us is not gaining God's attention.

The challenge is learning to give Him ours.

"The pace of modern life often makes communion with God difficult, not because He is absent, but because our attention is divided."

That sentence has lingered with me throughout the past few weeks.

When I think about the moments I have felt closest to God, they rarely happened during extraordinary experiences. More often, they occurred during ordinary moments when I finally slowed down enough to listen.

A walk through the neighborhood.

A quiet morning with coffee and Scripture.

Time spent journaling through a difficult question.

A few minutes outdoors watching God's creation without rushing to the next thing.

None of these activities are magical. They do not force God to speak. They simply create room.

Why Slowing Down Feels So Difficult

One reason many of us struggle to create room for God is that stillness has a way of revealing what constant activity can conceal.

Busyness can be surprisingly effective at keeping deeper matters out of sight. As long as we remain occupied, there is little need to examine what is happening beneath the surface. The moment life grows quiet, however, we are often confronted with thoughts and emotions that have been waiting for our attention all along.

That experience can be unsettling, which may explain why so many of us instinctively fill every spare moment. Silence is not always easy. Yet it is often within that silence that we become most receptive to God's presence and guidance.

For years, I assumed that if I could just get everything under control, then I would finally have the time and mental space to sit quietly with God. The problem, of course, is that life rarely reaches a point where everything feels finished.

Jesus never seemed to operate that way.

As you read the Gospels, you find Him walking from town to town, stopping for conversations, sharing meals, and withdrawing to pray. He was purposeful, yet He was never frantic. People received His full attention. Moments were not treated as obstacles standing between Him and something more important.

I often wonder how much we miss because our minds are already occupied with what comes next.

Our culture rewards speed, efficiency, and productivity. Communion with God unfolds at a different pace. It asks us to linger a little longer, listen a little more carefully, and resist the urge to rush through every moment on our way to the next one.

That may be one of the greatest invitations of a slower summer. Not simply to rest, but to recover the ability to pay attention.

Creating Room to Listen

Psalm 46:10 says:

"Be still, and know that I am God."

Stillness is difficult because it confronts us with everything we would rather avoid. The noise fades. The distractions lose their grip. We become aware of how accustomed we are to filling every empty space.

Stepping into the water, slowly immersing myself

Yet stillness creates opportunities for communion in ways that are easy to overlook.

Most of us are accustomed to looking for dramatic experiences. We imagine that if God speaks, it will arrive as a moment we cannot possibly miss. More often, His guidance seems to unfold quietly over time. A passage of Scripture begins to linger in the mind. A perspective shifts. A burden that felt heavy a few days ago no longer carries quite the same weight.

Those moments rarely announce themselves when they happen. Looking back, however, we can often see that God was at work all along.

Perhaps that is why slowing down matters.

Not because rest is an achievement in itself, but because a hurried life leaves little room for reflection. When every moment is filled, it becomes difficult to notice what God may be teaching us, where He may be leading us, or how He may already be at work in a situation we have been trying to control.

The invitation of this summer is not simply to do less. It is to make room for the kind of attention that allows a relationship to deepen.

The God who wants to be with us has not withdrawn. The question is whether we are willing to slow down long enough to listen.

A Prayer for the Week Ahead

Father,

Thank You for being a God who moves toward Your people. Thank You that Your presence is not reserved for church services or special occasions. Through Christ, You have drawn near to us, and through Your Spirit, You remain with us.

Teach us to listen.

In a world filled with noise and distraction, help us create room for communion with You. Give us the wisdom to recognize Your voice and the courage to respond when You speak.

As we move through this week, remind us that You are already present. Open our eyes to Your goodness, Your guidance, and Your care in both ordinary and unexpected places.

Amen.

Join the Conversation

What helps you create room to listen to God?

I'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

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You can also listen to this week's podcast episode, The God Who Wants to Be With You, where Benjamin and I explore this topic in greater depth.

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Next week, I'll be sharing some of the creative ways I spend time with God through journaling, photography, painting, and reflecting on Scripture.