God Comes Down
by Katherine Harms
(Baltimore, MD)
The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent. Genesis 18:1
God comes down. I borrowed this phrase from Kelly Fryer after reading her book, "Reclaiming the L-word". It very graphically depicts how we come to be part of the church, part of Christ’s family, part of the fellowship that flourishes in the midst of agape love, the fellowship of the faithful who are saved by grace.
This statement is a reminder that we do not go forth and discover God, or even ourselves. God comes down to us, and he shows us ourselves. When we see ourselves as we really are – sinful, selfish, willful, and hateful – it is pretty discouraging. But God does not stop there. He forgives us and holds us close, and then he shows us who we can become. He does not leave us standing in open-mouthed dismay. He gives us work to do, and while we are busy obeying, we discover who we were meant to be.
When God came down to Abraham, he revealed himself by confirming that Abraham and Sarah would have a son. Abraham was reassured of God’s care by this promise, but as soon as Abraham had seen God revealed in the promise, Abraham had a chance to look at himself revealed in his response to God’s plan to punish Sodom. God saw in Abraham a man who would be the instrument of blessing for many, and in this moment Abraham took his first baby step down that road.
God came down to Moses.
The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush. Exodus 3:2
Moses was not looking for God. Moses was looking after sheep. But God came down, blessed Moses with a vision he would never forget, and gave him a surprise. The surprise was a command to do something very hard: go back to Egypt and bring out his family and all the rest of the Israelites. Moses saw himself for what he was at the moment: a man scared for his life, fearful of arrest if he returned to Egypt, and probably a bit settled in his ways after many years of the predictable, if not comfortable, routines of his life as a shepherd. God saw a man whom he had created for great things, and that is the man that he showed to Moses. God sought Moses out and led him to become what he was created to be.
Jonah was not looking for God, either. And when God came down to him, he took a look at himself and ran away.
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because the wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. Jonah 1:1-2
Like many of us, Jonah found the challenge of living up to his potential to be more than he wanted to cope with. Sometimes when God shows us what we could be, we think we want to be something else. But God did not stop because of Jonah’s refusal, and he does not let our refusals stop him, either. He is always reaching down to make one more effort to get our attention and to love us into obedience and fulfillment.
Jesus was God come down to earth, and he came one day to the woman at the well. Like most of us, she tried to put on a good front, hoping Jesus would simply not notice her. Instead, Jesus reached out to her and showed her who she really was. Then his love and forgiveness touched her, and she was changed forever. He did not have to tell her what her work was; she immediately went to get everyone in the village, bringing them to the place where God had sat down among them.
The woman went back into the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.”John 4:29
One day, God came down to me, too. I know that I didn’t deserve it. In fact, like the woman at the well, I was more or less turning away from him all the time, hoping he would not even notice me until I got my act together. I know he had been reaching out to me for a while before I paid any attention. He took the initiative, and he met me where I was. It is the greatest miracle of all that God comes down to meet each of us where we are, loves us just the way we are, and leads us into satisfying, fulfilled lives in the midst of his grace.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. John 1:14
© 2004 Katherine Harms
all rights reserved
