From the very beginning, before the first bird sang or the first river ran to the sea, God had a purpose in mind when he made us. He formed us like a craftsman shapes clay, carefully and with great attention, breathing life into our nostrils. We are made in his image, carrying something like his shadow on our faces. And from that first evening in the garden, when God came walking to visit his creation, it is clear that he did not make us to be alone. He made us for friendship with himself.
But we have a habit, all of us, of drifting away. Like the people of Israel in the time of the judges, we forget who leads us, and we look for something easier, something we can see and touch. We ask for a king when we already have the King. And yet even then, God does not force his way back in. He invites. He waits. He pursues, but he does not push the door open if we bolt it shut from the inside.
Right in the middle of history, something wonderful happened. Jesus, the Son of God, stepped into our world and sat down with a confused man named Nicodemus late one night. He did not lecture a crowd. He talked with one person who had honest questions. That is the kind of friend Jesus is. He loves the whole world, and yet he has time for you, just you, with all your questions and all your doubts. He told Nicodemus that something like a new birth was needed, a heart made fresh and clean by the Spirit of God.
Looking ahead with the eyes of faith, we see where all of this is going. A new heaven and a new earth are coming, and God himself will live among his people there. No more tears, no more death, no more long nights of sorrow. The same God who walked in the garden of Eden, who waited through centuries of wandering, who sat with Nicodemus under starlight, will finally be with his people forever. That is not just a happy ending. That is the whole point of the story.
So the word for us today is simple and sure. God knows we are his, not just thinks it, knows it. Like a farmer who recognizes his own dog bounding out of the corn, God recognizes you and calls you his own. Let us reach out to him as Nicodemus did, with our questions and our longings, and trust that he will answer. Whether we are young or old, whether we are fathers trying to love our children well or children trying to understand the world, the answer is the same. Draw near to the God who has been drawing near to us since the beginning.