"Be still and know that I Am God." 

Intimacy with the Almighty by Charles Swindoll – Book Review
14 December 2024

I found this little book amongst my mom's old things. She had received it years ago from a fellow passenger on a plane. I'm not sure if she's ever read the book, but I'd like to think I was the real recipient. I've read this book twice already and each time I felt a renewed hope to get to know the Lord on a deeper level.

Ironically, Charles doesn't need much time to explain how to get into God's presence. Although he rallies against busy schedules that make little time for God, he offers his advice and wisdom quickly, but in such a profound way.

So, I won't drag this along for too long either.

Intimacy with the Almighty... what does that mean? We live in a hurried society: The more you do, the better. The faster you can do all that, the better. The more results you can get, the better. We can't always escape life's demands and the unexpected turns it throws at us. Things needs to get done. Submissions need to be handed in on time. Children need to be picked up from school. A family member needs to be visited at the hospital. Before we know it, these hurried schedules and bulky to-do lists always leave us burnt out, drained and maybe even miserable.  Without a doubt, we sense that we have grown distant from God and unaware of His presence. Most of the time, spending time with God becomes a last resort instead of a first option. We skim over a chapter in the Bible or watch a quick YouTube short without really thinking deeply about the message. Spending time with God becomes another task on our to-do lists. Charles puts it this way, "Noise and words and frenzied, hectic schedules, dull our senses, closing our ears to His still, small voice and making us numb to His touch." But how do we navigate our demanding responsibilities and still be sensitive to God's voice and His leading?

Charles points us to the real desire that lives in all of us: the desire to know God and be known by Him (Philippians 3:10). He points out how God patiently waits for us to turn to Him and seek His face. God has deep truths for us to discover. And it is in these deep revelations that He hopes to reveal Himself to us. And in some way, we find that our hearts find the refreshment that it so dearly yearns for. 

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;
to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
Proverbs 25:2

With this in mind, Charles puts it plainly: If we want to be intimate with God, we have to decide to do it and follow through with it. We have to be intentional about it, knowing that this life is not going to hand it over to us on a silver platter. Charles gives four decisions that he believes will help the believer cultivate intimacy with God. He lists four accompanying disciplines along with those decisions:

The Decision: The Discipline:
1. to reorder one's private world - simplicity
2. to be still - silence
3. to cultivate serenity - solitude
4. to trust the Lord completely - surrender

One can add more to the list, but Charles believes there are at these four elements that can help the believer nurture their intimate moments with God. Below, I've written down a quick example of how I want to practice these decisions and disciplines in my own life.