קָרַב: What it means to draw near to God

Qarab (kaw-rab'): To come near, approach, draw near

I love it when Scripture surprises you — when a word you've glossed over a hundred times suddenly has something profound to say. This week's Hebrew word is qarab and it might just reframe the way you think about coming to God entirely.

Qarab means to draw near or to approach and it runs all through the Old Testament.

Priests drawing near to the altar.

Sacrifices being brought near to God.

People approaching the sanctuary.

And every single time, the underlying assumption is the same: access to God is not a given. It is granted.

In the Levitical system, ordinary Israelites could not just walk into God's presence. There were boundaries, priests, sacrifices, rituals — all of it pointing to one sobering truth: holiness matters, and approach requires mediation. The fact that anyone could draw near at all was an act of grace.

And this is what gets me every time — we live on the other side of the torn veil (Matt. 27:51). The boldness we have to approach God wasn't something we earned. It was something we were given. Every time you sit down to pray, every time you open your Bible, not just when you walk through the doors of a church... you are qarab-ing. And the fact that you can do that at all is the grace of God on full display.

What would change about your prayer life if you approached God not as a right you'd earned, but as an invitation you'd been graciously given?

Scriptures where we find "qarab":

Psalm 65:4 — "Blessed are those You choose and bring near to live in Your courts!"

Psalm 73:28 — "But as for me, it is good to draw near to God..."

Leviticus 1:2 — "to the LORD, you shall bring your offering."