Follow an amazing statement for just a moment...

James 4:8
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.
(from Holman Christian Standard Bible® Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers.)

For the child of God the invitation is issued, "Draw near..."

Quite different in the Middle World (fallen race of men)... the Middle World of groveling in desperate fear before the Separate One (HOLY), whose very Name "YHWH", when spoken... meant annihilation. The One whose elect nation stood at the base of the Mountain crying out to Moses to ascend into The Presence lest they be destroyed at not just The Vision... but slaughtered at the very Sound of The Voice of the Eternal One...

Now comes the distinction between Middle Earth and the Present Earth in which the child of God is the only citizen... listen... "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."

Do you hear the sound of fresh oil?

Before it was YHWH to be feared... now... when the howling storms of life assail... the beckon of heaven is "draw near."

Have you noticed the preceding words to our instruction today? Now this is fun...

James 4:7
"...Submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you."

In Middle Earth it was for us to flee from YHWH... now it is for the Devil to flee from us as we... submit... and...

draw near to YHWH.

Ahhhh... here is rest for the soul.

xtnyoda, shalomed