Experiencing God’s presence . . .

 

I usually forget what time my hubby leaves to have breakfast with a friend or to go golfing, but I always know he has gone — there is no sense of his presence. It’s the same if he steps out for a walk, to water the yard, or to talk to a neighbor. I’m not sure why I know he is away.

On the other hand, when it comes to God, I cannot see Him yet am usually intensely aware of His presence. In one author’s book (It may have been Andrew Murray) I read that the presence of God is like the air around us, unseen yet always there. Since that, it takes very little to sense He is with me.

Sometimes knowing God is near makes me tremble. The psalmist wrote: “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.” (Psalm 114:7) At times His presence is a great comfort, or a delight, or a reassurance. Whatever my reaction, it is seldom that He just shows up but that wonderful sense that He is always here, always with me. He knows what I am doing, even what I am thinking.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. (Psalm 139:1–10)

At times, my husband or other people can be right beside me, but I am not thinking about them and may not be consciously aware of their physical presence. It is not the same as God. I can think about other things (sometimes to my shame) but when I think about God, that sense of Him being with Him increases and my heart rejoices. Praise comes, or prayers about needs, or that wonder of Him being near and no words need to be said.

Years ago, I read about a spiritual exercise that changed my life. Because I was sick as a child and often alone in a hospital room, I grew up with the fear of being abandoned. Then God had me reading Henri Nouwen. He suggested to go into a room where I would not be disturbed and think about whatever I feared the most. Let that fear wash over me and experience it fully. I did that, and the sense of being abandoned was so strong that I felt empty. This was painful, even terrible. Nouwen said this would happen and I should make no effort to avoid it, but let those emotions have control. I felt as if I would die and, in a sense, I did.

Then the surprise — a powerful sense of God’s presence came into that room, as if He were physically present and completely there — with me, never to go away or abandon me.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5–6)

That experience of God’s promise stuck. He is here. I’ve no need to pray, “God, be with me” either for His presence or the sense of His presence. I might not think about it at times, but usually do, and in all kinds of situations. Not focusing on His presence is dangerous and can ruin my life!

PRAY: Lord Jesus, even knowing You are always with me, I’ve still not reached the perfection of making You an integral part of my daily decisions and activities. However, I love You and long to see You even though I know that You are as close to me as anyone can be. You are teaching me to talk to You easily and often, and You are answering prayer in surprising and delightful ways. Keep my heart focused on the reality that You are walking with me and holding my hand all the time, no matter what else is happening. What great delight in knowing You are with me, always!

READ John 14:1–31. What did Jesus say about my part in how He manifests Himself to His people? What does the Holy Spirit do for God’s people now that Jesus is physically absent?

 

 

Worship and rabbit trails

My Uncle Edward was a storyteller who at the same time built patience in those who listened. His stories were worth hearing to the end, but he had a habit of going down rabbit trails. That is, parts of his story would remind him of events or people somewhat related to the story, but he had to put them in. A yarn that could be told in five minutes might require an hour.

This morning’s devotional verse seemed at first to take me down a rabbit trail. It is the same verse as yesterday and the reading is about worship. My Bible has “cross references” which means there are numbers on words and phrases with corresponding links to other verses with the same or similar words and ideas. God seemed to prod the reading of them, and one thing led to another. This is the path that I followed…

Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! (Psalm 96:9)

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. (Psalm 29:2)

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob. (Psalm 114:7)

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:2)

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)

After reading these together, I’m wondering about the connections in my head. How did I get from the first verse to the last? What does God want me to understand from these verses?

The reading asks, “What is worship?” Its answer is “prostration, bowing down” with the attitude that recognizes His throne and superiority, and that takes the low place of reverence in the presence of God. It is also speaking from that attitude in words that ascribe to God what is due Him. He is splendid in holiness (and so I am to be as I worship). That is the bridge from the first verse to the second.

Both were in mind when I read verse three. Worship is about trembling in the presence of God, and the Bible calls the whole earth to this act of reverence. Why tremble? There is something about the majesty of God that is so awesome, so beyond all else, that my trembling can be related to sheer amazement and delight.

But there is another reason to tremble in worship. As I realize my sinfulness and total lack of anything in me that I should even be able to worship this Holy God, I know that it is by mercy that I am in this place. I stand before God because of Jesus Christ, with no other reason or claim. He died that I can be brought into a saving relationship with my Creator, and for this I tremble.

Again, the whole earth is called to tremble at the presence of God. All these things His hand has made, yet all can see that not all people in the earth are in that saving relationship with their Creator. This relationship is enjoyed by those to whom God has revealed Himself. He has shown us our sinfulness and we have responded with “Yes, God” to truth about ourselves and our need of grace. The rest of the world shakes its fist at God. Only the contrite who are brokenhearted over sin and crushed in spirit will feel the eyes of the Lord upon them and sense His presence near them.

This runs full circle back to the first verse. Holiness is about being set apart for God. This happens when God opens our eyes to His great love for us and when we respond to that love by giving ourselves back to Him in humility and with a contrite spirit. The reading describes how I feel as the Spirit mixes these thoughts into my mind.

I worship in the presence of God as I recognize that in him I find everything that my life demands, that in myself I am incomplete. A sense of my need and his resource, a sense that my life finds its heights and its best and fulfills itself in relation to him produces the act and the attitude of worship. The attitude of worship is the attitude of a subject bent before a monarch; the attitude of a child yielding all its love to a parent; the attitude of the sheep that follows the shepherd and is content in all the pasturage that the shepherd appoints. It is the attitude of saying yes to everything that God says.