My Date with God!
I remember vividly when I was a student at Oakwood College (now Oakwood University) courting my now-wife, Danielle. While riding in my car on a date, like many others, Danielle asked, “Where are we going?”
I replied, “The golden arches.”
She then responded, “McDonalds?”
I said, “Oh, yes, baby, and you can ‘supersize’ your order!” She just looked at me and laughed!
After getting over the comedic reality that McDonald’s would be the selected restaurant for our evening’s time together, I escorted Danielle into the “golden arches.” We ordered and then sat down to talk and eat. While at McDonald’s on our date, my thoughts were focused solely on Danielle as I was looking intently at her and giving her my full attention. I wasn’t looking at others, talking to others or giving my attention to others. I was focused on my time with Danielle! Not only that, I looked my best and smelled my best because I wanted to be my best for my date with Danielle!
Each and every Sabbath, I have a date with my God! I talk with Him, listen to Him, spend time with Him, give my attention to Him and focus on Him as I seek to be my best for my date with God! Unlike my date with Danielle, my date with God is not in a restaurant or a place of amusement, but it’s in His house, His church, where I seek to look and smell my best and worship and praise Him in His sanctuary (Luke 4:16-20, Psalm 150), along with fellowshipping with others who seek to do the same (Hebrews 10:25).
Although a portion of my date with God is in His house, my date is not limited to a two- or three-hour period in a church building, but it encompasses a 24-hour day, beginning at sunset Friday and ending at sunset Saturday, when I rest from the “hustle and bustle” of life and reflect on God’s goodness and marvel at His nature. In fact, each Sabbath during our date, I’m reminded of God’s artistic, inventive and matchless power as reflected in His creation: the sun, moon, stars, rivers, lakes, trees, grass, mountains—and I could go on and on!
What a joy it is for me to be on a date with God as I’m reminded of who He is and whose I am! I love to see our date begin, and I hate to see it end! In harmony with Isaiah 58:13, the Sabbath is “a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and I [shalt] honor Him, not doing my own ways, nor finding my own pleasure, nor speaking my own words” (KJV). And the good news about my date with God is that it will never end! My weekly date currently takes place here on earth, but it will continue when I get to heaven! “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 66:22-23, KJV).
God, our Creator, knew that we would need time to commune and fellowship with Him. He was keenly aware that I would need respite from the cares of life, and exercise the privilege of celebrating Him in worship and praise! I praise and thank God for my weekly date with Him! I’m happy to be a Seventh-day Adventist Christian! I reserve my weekly date, the seventh-day Sabbath, on the calendar, and I’m looking forward to His soon advent to redeem me!
By Carlton P. Byrd, D.Min.
President
