Does God ever move away from us?

There is a common saying, "If you are a long way from God, who has moved?" The implication of that question is that God is always right there, and we move away. But that is not always the case. In many cases, we are the ones who move away from God, but, Psalm 138:6 says, "Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly,but the proud he knows from afar." NIV

If we are proud, God looks at us from afar. In a quick concordance look at humble, over and over it is contrasted with the proud. God takes an active role in assisting the humble and in opposing the proud.

This week a group of church planting leaders has been discussing how to help leaders from failing. One common consensus is that a humble leader will fail far less often and is much more open to being restored if he does fall.

Henri Nouwen noted that we need more leaders like Abraham Lincoln, a leader with equal parts of confidence and humility.

I love what Numbers 12:3 says, Num 12:3
(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)NIV

Moses messes up many times in his life, yet, God always comes back to use him again and again. When we are humble, God has good maleable raw material from which to mold His masterpiece. When we are proud, we are like dried up Play Dough, unshapeable in the master's hand. It's no wonder that God actively seeks to humble us.