Hiding is human. We’ve been doing it ever since Adam and Eve tried to hide from God in the Garden of Eden. Intimacy is scary and vulnerable. And it gets us into a lot of trouble.
It’s logical to wonder why God created us for intimacy. The lack of intimacy has led to frustration, anger, desperation, depression, loneliness, heartache, sickness and even death. The drive for intimacy has led to brokenness, abuse, illicit and dangerous sexual behavior, heartache, sickness and even death.
We’re talking about much more than physical intimacy, although that’s included. We’re talking about the need to be close, to be understood, to be No. 1 to someone, to communicate heart-to-heart, to share with, to need and be needed, to be with someone with no walls between.
Many of the great story lines that resonate so deeply in our souls have this need at their core, even from biblical times. Think Abraham, Jacob, David, and Hosea. Think Casa Blanca, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, Shreck or Pretty Woman.
The drive for intimacy can lead to love, war and a whole lot more.
One of the most devastating and excruciating things a person can experience is intimacy gone wrong. The soul wounds are deep, easily infected and slow to heal. Once wounded here, it’s easy to either close yourself off to any intimacy ever again or rush headlong from one relationship to another in a desperate attempt to find it.
Alternatively, there’s nothing like the nourishment and exhilaration true intimacy offers. Whether a healthy marriage, a true friend or a long-standing small group, such intimacy fosters physical and emotional health, provides amazing strength and resilience for tough times and enlivens the deepest parts of you to grow and thrive. You become more than you ever thought you could be.
As I told my husband many times and have engraved on his grave marker, “You are the wind beneath my wings!”
So what was God after in creating us this way? Surely He knew this need would cause us pain and get us into trouble. Was it worth it when God created us for intimacy?
The truth of the Bible, and the truth that makes our need for intimacy make sense, is this:
God created us for Himself.
Dr. Carol Peters-Tanksley is both a board-certified OB-GYN physician and an ordained doctor of ministry. As an author and speaker, she loves helping people discover the Fully Alive kind of life that Jesus came to bring us. Visit her website at drcarolministries.com.
This article originally appeared at drcarolministries.com.
