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The King of the Universe Has Come Near
The King Who Comes Into the Field
In the last episode of the You Are My Witnesses podcast, we talked about the Hebrew month of Elul and the beautiful picture of the King in the field. Elul is a season of preparing our hearts for the coming of the King, and what I love about this picture is that the King doesn’t remain distant and unreachable, waiting for us to somehow find our way to Him. Instead, He comes out to where we are. He makes Himself accessible, and that is really what Jesus has done for us. The King who sits upon the throne of the universe stepped into His creation and came into our space so that we could know Him, encounter Him, and draw near to Him.
But there is another side to this beautiful picture that I want us to consider. The King who is near is also the King who is over everything. One of the names associated with Elul is Melech Ha’Olam, which means King of the Universe, and there is a Hebrew blessing that says, Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha’Olam, which means, “Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe.” When you really stop and think about what that means, it is overwhelming. God isn’t merely the King over your little corner of life, and He isn’t simply the God who helps you with your problems. He is the King of the entire universe, King over everything we can see and everything we cannot see.
“I Will Be With You”
Sometimes, though, the greatness of God can actually make Him feel distant. If He is the King of the Universe, ruling over everything that exists, how could someone like me possibly matter to Him? How could He possibly be concerned about my struggles, my fears, my unanswered prayers, or the details of my ordinary life? But this is where the Gospel becomes so beautiful, because the King of the Universe came into His universe.
Jesus didn’t remain far away from us. He became human, entered our world, walked among us, touched people, listened to people, and wept with people. The King came near, and He is still near. Jesus isn’t a distant God that you have to somehow convince to pay attention to you or persuade to care about what is happening in your life. He is accessible, and He is inviting you to draw near to Him.
I think this is something we see so clearly in the story of Moses. When God called Moses, Moses’ first response was essentially, “Who am I?” Isn’t that such a human question? Who am I to do this? Who am I to be called? Who am I to speak? Who am I to be used by God? Moses carried his failures, his insecurity, and his confusion about his identity, and yet I love how God responded to him. God didn’t give Moses a long list of reasons why he was qualified or explain why Moses was actually more capable than he thought. Instead, God simply said, “I will be with you.”
That is the answer to the question, “Who am I?” Your identity isn’t ultimately found in your accomplishments, your failures, your title, your vocation, or even your assignment. Your identity rests on the fact that you are a son or daughter of the King, and the King says, “I will be with you.” His presence is what gives you confidence in who you are and what He has called you to do.
Yud: The Hand That Reaches Toward Us
This brings me to something really beautiful about the Hebrew month of Elul: the Hebrew letter Yud. Every Hebrew month has a Hebrew letter associated with it, and Yud is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, but its small size doesn’t mean that it carries little significance. Hebrew letters are not simply letters; they also carry pictures and meaning, and the ancient pictograph associated with Yud is a hand or an arm reaching out.
When I think about that picture, I imagine a hand reaching toward you, a hand doing work, a hand offering something, and a hand extending itself. This is why I love connecting Yud with the theme of Elul, because what does the King in the field do? He reaches toward us. The King doesn’t simply remain on His throne and wait for us to somehow climb our way up to Him; He extends His hand. Jesus comes closer, He invites us deeper, and He invites us to come nearer to Him.
When I think about Jesus, I see the ultimate picture of that reaching hand because Jesus reached toward the broken, the sinner, the sick, and the outcast, reaching toward those who had been pushed away by the church and by the religious spirit. Ultimately, He stretched out His hands upon the cross, and in that moment, the King of the Universe extended His hands of mercy toward us.
So perhaps this is one of the invitations of Elul: Will you reach back? The King is reaching toward you, His presence is near, His mercy is available, and His invitation is open.
What If God Feels Distant?
Maybe you’ve been thinking that God is distant, or perhaps your circumstances seem to be telling you that He isn’t present. Maybe you’re in a season of confusion, wondering where He is because everything you’ve been hearing from Him in previous seasons doesn’t seem to be coming to pass, or maybe what He instructed you to do simply isn’t working out the way you expected. Perhaps you’ve prayed prayers that don’t seem to be answered in the way you asked, or you’re carrying fear about the future, uncertainty about your calling, or even shame about your past.
If that’s where you find yourself, I want you to remember that the King of the Universe is near. He is not intimidated by your weakness or your failure, and He isn’t surprised when you miss the mark. He isn’t waiting for you to become perfect before you can come close to Him. That is the voice of the religious spirit, not the voice of Jesus. If you feel as though you have to clean yourself up before you are allowed to approach God, I want you to recognize that this is not the Shepherd speaking to you. He is reaching toward you, and the invitation of Elul is simply to turn your heart toward Him, come back to your first love, draw near, listen, surrender, and receive His mercy.
Don’t Let Your Love for Jesus Grow Cold
I think that sometimes we can also get the wrong impression of what it means to be spiritually mature. The Bible tells us that one of the greatest signs of maturity is love, yet we can sometimes look back at the love we had for Jesus in the beginning, that excitement and almost childlike devotion, and think that it was immature. We can assume that as we mature, we need to become more practical and less emotional, but I don’t believe that is what Jesus is asking of us.
Jesus repeatedly talked about becoming like a child in order to enter His kingdom, and there is something beautiful about the way children trust and become excited. When you were a child and your dad told you that you were going to get ice cream, you didn’t immediately begin calculating whether the ice cream shop would actually be open or whether there would be enough money to pay for it. You were simply excited because you trusted your father and believed what he said. That is something of what our relationship with Jesus can look like.
Maybe you haven’t lost your first love, and maybe you are still just as excited about Jesus as you were in the beginning, but I think many of us, myself included, struggle with keeping our love on. Circumstances happen, disappointments come, prayers seem unanswered, life becomes complicated, and slowly our hearts can begin to grow cold. Scripture warns us that in the last days the love of many will grow cold, and we don’t want that to happen to us. Elul is an invitation to come near again, to receive from Him, and to return to our first love.
The Invitation to Reach Back
So here’s what I want to invite you to do during this season. Take just a few minutes each day to get alone with Jesus, put everything else aside, and simply pray something like, “Jesus, You are my King. I’m turning my heart toward You. Show me where I have become distracted. Show me where I have stopped reaching for You. Teach me how to receive Your mercy. Give me grace and make me fully devoted to You.”
That’s a prayer of surrender, and after you pray it, I want to encourage you to sit quietly for a moment rather than rushing to fill the silence. If you’re a verbal processor like I am, it can be difficult to simply sit and be quiet, but there is something important about taking the time to become aware that the King is already there. He is already near you, and you don’t have to work to make Him present.
As you sit with Him, ask yourself this question: Where is Jesus inviting me to reach back toward Him? Maybe it’s through prayer or repentance, perhaps there is something you need to surrender, or maybe He is inviting you into obedience to something He spoke to you in the past that you’ve been afraid to do. Whatever it is, don’t ignore the invitation of Elul. The King is in the field, and He is in your field. The King of the Universe, Yeshua HaMashiach, has come near you, and His hand is extended toward you.
The Picture of the Reaching Hand
There is another picture that has stayed with me for years, and it comes from Michelangelo’s famous painting of God and Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In the painting, God’s hand and finger are extended toward Adam, almost as though He is reaching toward His son. But when you look at Adam’s hand, his finger is pointed downward, creating the impression that Adam is holding back.
That image has always reminded me of the invitation of Elul because there are so many ways in which we can do the same thing. God is reaching toward us, but we hold back because we’re afraid, disappointed, distracted, uncertain, or simply unwilling to surrender control. Yet God continues to extend His hand toward us.
There is a door open for you, and there is an invitation to reach back for God. The question is whether you will take it.
A Guide for the Coming Season
If you want to go deeper with your family into this season, I’ve created a Fall Feasts Guide for Families—an easy-to-follow ebook that walks you through the meaning and beauty of the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).
This guide is designed to help you not just learn about the feasts, but to experience them together as a family in a meaningful, Christ-centered way.
Grab the guide and step into the rhythm of God’s appointed times with intention and joy. Make sure you listen to this episode of the podcast to get your discount code for 40% off this guide!
Your Love for Him is a Witness!
My prayer for you during this month of Elul is that you would experience Jesus not simply as the King who reigns over everything, but as the King who has come near to you. He is Melech HaOlam, the King of the Universe, and He is also the King in the field. He is near, He is accessible, He is merciful toward you, and He is calling you back to your first love.
The King is reaching toward you, and His hand is extended in mercy. The invitation is before you, and the question is simply this: Will you reach back?
Until next time, remember that you are fully loved by Him, and your love toward Jesus is a witness.
Discovering the Hebrew Months Newsletter
Understanding the Times and Seasons
Become a Steward of Time
Discovering the Hebrew months helps you see how the Old Testament points to Jesus and discern God’s timing, so you can stay aligned with His Spirit.
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Janell Kremer 
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