Don't have to Climb to the Top. God isn't that Far Away.

​How do we know that God is not very far to begin with?  We can start of by simply looking at Matthew 11:28 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
See, Jesus wants us to come to him when we have a problem.  Go back and notice the opening and what it says right away.  “Come unto me” which means come, I am waiting for you.  Who is Jesus waiting for? Us.  Jesus is waiting for whoever is in need. 
The next phrase makes that very clear. “All ye that labour and are heavy laden” which definitely represents anyone who is at their lowest.  Then Jesus will give us rest according to the last phrase “and I will give you rest”.  
Jesus doesn’t expect us to be at the mountain top when we are at our lowest point. The greatest thing about this ending is Jesus wants to give us rest from being in our lowest point.  The next thing is in John 4:13 “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”  We need to be confident that when we ask in his name it’s from the point which we are standing in.  Most generally it’s in our lowest point, but he really wants us to call on him at anytime.  We need to know without a doubt that it will be going straight to him. 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” Matthew 11:28 and 1 Peter 5:7 can seem easier sometimes when we’re at the top of the mountain and not under any pressure.  What I want to talk about is that God really isn’t that far away from us even though he seems miles and miles away, especially when stress and anxiety may be interfering with our outcome. 
The reality of it all is the distance between us and God is only an ear shot away.  This is why we need to know that we can go to Jesus when we are at our lowest. 
We must trust God to turn our situation around no matter whether we’re on the mountain or in the valley.  We are going to look at some situations that show it’s true we don’t have to be on the mountain top to know that God can hear us.  See, Jesus is the mountain top for us because he is the word. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” and Luke 22:69 “Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.”
Let’s start off with Jonah.  Jonah was in the belly of the whale when he needed God.  Jonah 2:2 “And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.”
Now verse three tells us just how far away he was from God.  Jonah 2:3 “For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.”  We even see it a deeper distance from Jonah 2:4 “Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.” 
Right here Jonah is trying to change his circumstances. We can see this at the end of this verse “yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.”  What is happening? Jonah is actually speaking out and trying to do what Matthew 11:28 says to do “Come unto me” which in turns says that Jonah knows there is no distance; all he has to do is speak and God is ready to listen.
Then Jonah speaks out and God delivers him.  Jonah 2:9-10 “9) But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. 10) And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”  I don’t know about you, but that was a long distance from being on the mountain top and God still wasn’t far away. 
The last time I checked, whales don’t jump out of the water that high either to even reach a mountain top, lol.
Now, let’s look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3:12 “There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” 
Where did they end up at Daniel 3:19 “Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.” Then we see the three speak out before going into the fire and then be delivered in Daniel 3:17 “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.”  Daniel 3:26, “Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.”
Again, being in a middle of a fire is not on the mountain top, but God wasn’t far away.  We can also see that being in that kind of a fire, it should have caused  instant death for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, as it did for the ones who tossed them in the fire from Daniel 3:22 “Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.”  God actually heard them right before they went into the fire.  Daniel 3:16-18 “16) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 17) If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 18) But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Remember God is only an ear shot away.
There are more places we can see this from such as Daniel in the lion’s den and when the disciples were in the boat when a storm came upon them and they called out on for Jesus.  Jesus then appeared before them walking on water.
We’re going to close out with this in mind.  It doesn’t matter where we are at; God isn’t very far from us in any situation we may be in, even if we’re not born again and need to come to the realization of just how much we need him to help us out of our sinful lives.  The best part is that this is good news. This means our salvation can take place at anytime and anywhere as long as we can confess that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead to give us eternal life. 
When we do this, when we call out to God, our prayers, our cries, are only an ear shot away because God can hear us right then and there. 
Most generally, we’re asking for salvation in our lowest point and even more so when we feel very distant from him than any other time. 
God’s love is always drawing us to him so be open to it. God is ready to deliver us from our sins and disasters that we’re about to face ahead of us.  We’re definitely not on top of any mountain at that point.  It’s usually in our weakest moment which is in our valley time. 
All we have to do is begin to speak out and acknowledge that we need Jesus, acknowledge that we need the help of the Holy Spirit. We need to get to that place where we are not afraid of God living on the inside, leading and guiding us through thick and thin, mountain tops or valleys. 
When we ask, Jesus will come to us and help us so that we can have that rest we need. 

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