Return

 I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.
Hosea 5:15 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/hos.5.15.ESV

Does God ever seem distant? He might be omnipresent, but our sins can separate us from Him. How is the estrangement between us and God bridged?

Ultimately, it is Christ who bridges the gap between God and ourselves. This verse however tells us that we have to cross the bridge. We have to acknowledge the canyon of sin that separates us from God.

As long as we cringe away from God in shamefulness, we're never going to be reconciled to Him. Confession is the first step of a repentant heart, that's prepared to change its mind about all its assumptions about the allure of sin and the apparent intransigence of God.

God might not seem to care about our distress sometimes, but He allows us to go through it in the hopes that it causes us to earnestly seek Him. He doesn't want insincerity. He wants us to cross Christ's bridge back to Him.

'Almighty God, we pray that You would cause us to wake up to our need of You and Your salvation, in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whose name we pray, amen'

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