When our son’s Doberman, Mira, wants something she is usually good at letting us know. She will moan, yelp and whine, paw the door, or push her head into our lap. She chomps her jaws loudly. This always happens around breakfast or dinner time. Sometimes she needs to go out or wants us to retrieve a bone she has pushed under some furniture.
But occasionally Mira puzzles us. Yesterday Teckla and I were in our room talking when Mira pushed between us and then just sat down, looking first at Teckla sitting on the bed and then at me in a chair near the bed. We wondered what she wanted. She didn’t make a sound but simply leaned heavily against my legs. As I scratched her neck, she pressed into my hand and I realized she wanted nothing but our nearness. She seemed supremely happy just to be with us.
I suspect that much of my relationship with God is like this. With moans, yelps and pathetic whimpers I let God know what I need—or at least what I want. And yes, God does care about this stuff and does answer prayer: dogs need chow and we should pray for our daily bread.
But sometimes I think we can delight the heart of God by just pressing into his presence, leaning on him. As it says in Psalm 73:28,“the nearness of God is my good.”
