“My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 63:8

Soul Magnet

When I was a kid, I loved magnets. My little brother and I would take the little grey bar magnets outside and run them through the dirt, picking up tiny shards of metal. We would carefully pull them off and put them in a little cup, then run the magnet through the dirt again. It was even more fun at the beach, because there were even more little shards to find there. And—oh!—if we were lucky enough to get the little red U-shaped magnet, we had such fun! That one picked up bigger pieces of whatever was in the dirt (screws, nails, and lost toys).

The Lord is my soul’s magnet. Sometimes I just want to be close to Him. He draws me to Him until I feel that I’ll burst if I don’t get away with Him, with unlimited time to pray and meditate on His Word. I never had this sensation when I was busy with a young family, but now my kids are grown and my house is quiet most of the time.

However, it is easy to find distractions from within a quiet house. Singing birds are louder in a quiet house, and shining sun calls me outside; once I’m there, weeding strawberries, feeding roses, cleaning birdbaths, and sweeping patios feels more like play than work.

Today was one of those days. But today, I made up my mind to respond differently. I had in my mind A.W. Tozer’s words: “We must conquer distractions.” So today, I sat and waited with Jesus. (“Whistle, whistle.”) I prayed as long as I wanted. (“Chirp, chirp.”) I read His Word until I was satisfied. (“Tweet, tweet.”) I wrote every single thing I was thinking about in my journal. (“Bzzz, bzzz.”)

The time spent with my Beloved grew sweeter and stronger, more productive and fruitful. And the grand finale was this Word in Psalm 63:8: “My soul follows close behind You.” I took time to meditate on that, asking the Spirit to lead me into the truth of it. He showed me that the sense of being drawn into His presence is very real—a work of the Spirit within my innermost being. It is as if God is a magnet, which is probably an apt description, considering the Scriptures “In Him all things consist”—Colossians 1:17; and He “upholds all things by the word of His power”—Hebrews 1:3; and “In Him we live and move and have our being”—Acts 17:28. He is the center that everything is drawn toward. You might say, He is the gravity.

His pull on me is what keeps my soul close behind Him. Behind: following, not leading. Behind: going in the exact direction He is going. Behind: being close enough to hear Him say what to do, how to be, or to sense Him pointing me in a certain direction. “Behind” is purposeful on my part. I will stay right there. I will not stray. I will move when He moves, stop when He stops. That is just how it is with magnets.

Lord, may this desire to be near You spread to and grow in all of us that call ourselves followers of Christ. I pray that the hunger and thirst for You would be very real, irresistible, and satisfied only by Your presence. In the strong name of Jesus, who draws us by His Spirit within us, Amen.