Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. — James 4:8
One of the most humbling experiences of my life came after we adopted our son.
There are moments in leadership where the days run long and travel is unavoidable. Overnight meetings. Early mornings. Late arrivals home. And when he was younger, something would happen when I returned that I have never forgotten and never will.
He would hear me come home. I say hear, but that is not quite right — our son is deaf. Before he got his cochlear implants, he would feel the vibration of the door. Sense the shift in the house. And before I had barely stepped inside, he would come running. Full speed. Arms open. Closing every inch of distance between us in seconds.
The humility of that moment hit me in layers. First, because he is deaf and found a way to know I had returned anyway. Second, because he is adopted, a child who had every reason to hold back and instead chose to run toward. And third, because in that moment, no matter how long I had been gone or how much distance the day had put between us, it was gone. Completely. The moment he ran and I caught him, it was as if the distance had never existed.
James writes one of the simplest and most significant promises in all of Scripture. Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you.
The condition is uncomplicated. Move toward Him. Take the step in His direction. And the promise on the other side of that step is not vague or conditional or distant. He will draw nigh to you. Not might. Not eventually, if conditions are right. Will. The moment you begin moving toward God, He is already moving toward you.
We often experience seasons where God feels far away and assume He has moved. But James places the movement on our side. God has not retreated in disappointment. He has not stepped back because of our failures or our inconsistency or the weeks that passed without meaningful time in His presence. The distance we feel is almost always the result of our own drift: small, gradual, often entirely unintentional, away from the consistent closeness He offers.
And the remedy is not a dramatic religious experience or a lengthy season of penance. It is a step. A deliberate movement in His direction. A prayer. An opened Bible. An honest conversation with the God who has been waiting for exactly this moment.
My son did not analyze the situation before he ran. He did not calculate how long I had been gone or weigh whether the reunion was worth the effort. He simply felt that I was home and ran toward me as fast as his legs would carry him.
That instinct, to run toward the One who loves us most rather than away from Him. is exactly what James is inviting us back to. The distance between you and God is never as large as it feels in the quiet or the difficult seasons. And closing it requires less than you think. You do not have to cover the whole distance on your own. You simply have to begin moving in the right direction.
He will close the rest. Draw near. He is already running toward you.
The moment you take one step toward God, He takes every step toward you. The distance is always shorter than it feels.
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