Do You Feel God’s Presence?
Good Morning Friends,
God is so ubiquitous that some have come to think God ordinary. The obvious has become the overlooked for way too many. Thankfully for me no one has pinched the Paraclete from my experience. Out of silence I have learned to pray and out of prayer I have experienced faith and out of faith, love and that love has prompted service and that service a peace and comfortable purpose that passes understanding. Unfortunately for some, they do not sense the Presence of the Perfect. Odd when God is so close as home even though we do not look into His face. Thankfully we can experience the embrace of the divine as God looks on us and surrounds us but never seems to face us. Do You Feel God’s Presence?
Scripture: Moses said to the LORD, “See, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people’; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.” The LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
Exodus 33:12-17 (NRSV)
Am I a God nearby, says the Lord, and not a God far off? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:23-24 (NRSV)
Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
Exodus 33.18-23 (NRSV)
Message: Fear is a great illness for many of us. To experience the power to overcome this condition we need to experience the daily presence of God and I would argue as Moses did for just a little bit more. You see Moses led a cantankerous and frightened people that tested his confidence, just as our confidence is tested, so he asks God to make it easier for him to trust Him. Moses asked God for more certainty. He talked to God like they were face to face and then He, in verse 18, prays that God show him His glory. But God is a God of History. We get to see only His hand in our face and then His back but not His face. The future remains a mystery as it should be and then came Jesus becoming History and offering grace. But too many have trouble with truth. For too many submitting to grace is difficult. But grace is the very thing that allows us into the presence of God. We have been invited into His loving arms. So more people need to learn to appreciate the presence of God…to appreciate His shadow and protection in the storms of life. In practicing the presence of God in my life through prayer and meditation on the Word of God, and in exploring what I am learning in small groups and daily devotionals, I am frankly surprised at how little I need to do in this journey of faith and how much God is doing for me through our developing relationship. Today we are quite comfortable with a God who shows Himself to men. We think nothing of asking God to reveal Himself to us. But can man see God and live? Scripture would suggest we cannot. Friends to see the Shekhinah glory was unimaginable for the Jew. To see God was certain death. That is why the religious leaders we so perplexed with Jesus. The problem comes with the claim that to see the face of Jesus is to see the face of God. Oh my that did just blow everything out of the water. And yet that is what Moses is asking for in today’s scripture. He wants the presence of God in his life each day for that is how we are meant to live but ask for just a little bit more. He wants to see God’s glory that comes when Jesus came into the world. Here everything changed. Here God left the sinful forgiven. He left the lame leaping for joy. He left the blind seeing. He left the hungry full. He left the poor rich. He left the mourner consoled. He gave us that little bit more that Moses was asking for…He became our antidote to fear…a presence that makes us feel at home.
Pray that we never feel alone. Pray that though we are in God’s presence we not be fearful. Pray that we rejoice in the power and the promise of Jesus. Pray that the presence of God shows up in our lives like the fire and wind of Mt. Sinai. Pray that now not just one person would share in the presence of God’s power, purity and presence but that the New Covenant would be in each of us. Pray that Jesus bring an intimacy with God into our lives. Pray all God’s goodness pass before us. Pray we hear His name. Pray we experience grace and mercy. Pray that the promise of God’s presence be a powerful antidote to fear in our lives. Pray we live in the presence of God. Pray we live to please God. Pray we live in the glory of God. Pray that Jesus and His Story be part of our History even as we seek to see the face of God. Pray we realize that God knows no limits. Pray therefor that we find God’s favor and presence. Pray we experience the face of Jesus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 