Intimacy is difficult to define and many of us struggle with understanding God's desire for intimacy with us.
There are some pretty awful definitions out there and one doing the rounds at minute is that intimacy can be described as "in-to-me-see." Many resort to some sort of soppy, "Jesus-is-my-boyfriend" equivalent.
But God's desire for intimacy with us can only be understood if we first appreciate who God is. This is God who created the universe, who flung the stars into space and spoke out light and life in the beginning.
Creation is God's footstool. He has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and weighed the mountains in scales. It is the God who marked off the heavens with a span and enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure.
It is also the God who created humanity to be in communion with Himself. Not content with perfect relationship within the Godhead, He extended the possibility of joy to us and invited us in.
He chose a people to be his own in order to bless the whole world and gave them a law to point them in the way to live a good life. Interestingly he chose a people and named them Israel meaning "one who wrestles with God." Over the next few centuries the Israelite people did exactly that. They ignored, abused and downright disobeyed God and rubbished the honour they had been given.
It is in this context that God demonstrated intimacy. It was after centuries of abuse and dishonour that the God of the universe then showed us the definition of what it means to be intimate.
The creator of humanity became human. Instead of turning his back on the people who had turned their back on him, he drew closer to them. He made himself nothing. He took on the nature of a servant and the one who was to obeyed became obedient himself. Even obedient to death on a cross. An infinite being became finite. An immortal being became mortal. A being outside of the mess and dirt of the world, wept. He experienced pain, suffering and isolation to a greater extent than we could ever imagine.
That is intimacy. In the face of hostility and rejection, God did not withdraw but came nearer. In the words of Paul, he came to us while we were still sinners.
That sounds much better to me than "in-to-me-see." Jesus is not my boyfriend. He is my King and God. But he is a king who went to extraordinary lengths to be with me. And in response I want to go to extraordinary lengths to be with him. That is intimacy.
