• 诗篇 145:18-19

耶和华临近凡求告他的，
临近所有诚心求告他的人。
敬畏他的，他必成就他们的心愿，
也必听他们的呼求，拯救他们。

• 启示录 15:4

主啊，谁敢不敬畏你，
不把荣耀归于你的名？
因为只有你是神圣的。
万民都要来，
在你面前敬拜，
因你公义的作为已经彰显了。

上帝与敬畏祂的人相近；这实在不是什么复杂的事。但我们对祂的敬畏，并非是畏惧祂到不能向祂说话的地步。我们敬畏祂，是因祂伟大无比而让我们心生惊叹与敬意（也因尽管我们一团糟，祂仍然爱我们）！在诗篇145:18的后半段，我们进一步看到，若想与上帝亲近，就要花时间向祂祷告（“求告他”）和阅读祂的话语（译注：相关经文在某些英文圣经里直译为“在真理中求告他”，中文圣经则都译为“诚心／真诚求告他”）。换句话说，上帝的话语可以指教我们如何祷告——它帮助我们不只是求告祂，而是按照真理求告祂。我们的祷告得着上帝之智慧的指教，就会变得更有力量。

• Psalm 145:18-19

The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.

• Revelation 15:4

Who will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.

It's really not very complicated - God is near to those who fear Him. But we don't fear him in a way that we beome so scared of Him we can't talk to Him. We fear Him in the way that we end up with a sense of awe and respect for how great He is (and the fact that He still loves us, despite our mess)! Further in this first verse we see that if you want to get close to God, you spend time praying to Him [‘call on him’] and reading His Word [‘call on him in truth’]. In other words, God’s Word helps to inform our prayers – it helps us not just to call on Him, but to call on Him in truth. Our prayers become more powerful when they're informed by the wisdom of God.

当你阅读上帝的话语，向祂说话，从而开始与祂亲近时，祈求上帝也来与你亲近。

Ask God to come near to you as you begin to come near to him by reading His word and talking to Him.