“By this I KNOW that you favor and delight in me, because my enemy does not triumph over me. And as for me you have upheld me in my integrity and SET ME IN YOUR PRESENCE forever. Psalms 45:11
God spoke all of creation into existence. He spoke and SET the sun, moon, and stars in there place. He spoke and SET the boundaries for the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and everything in between. Everything was meticulously set in its proper place with no details left out. So what about man? God SET man in the garden. It’s was a place where man and God walked together. This was mans proper place, in the presence of God. This was and is where we are called to remain!
Their is no substitute for the genuine power and presence of God. Moses realized that, which gave him the courage to refuse protection and promise without presence. He declared, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” (Ex 33:15) He and the Israelites were still in the wilderness. It was not a comfortable place, yet he was willing to be wherever God’s presence was even if that meant never entering into the promise land. Many often become discouraged because of difficulties in life. The frustration arises because we often equate promise with presence, but here we find a completely different picture put on display. The presence of God was his greatest treasure not merely the good life found in the land of promised. Can we say the same? In sickness, in lack, and in betrayal can we still stand so boldly as Moses did to declare I only want to be where You are?
It’s also important to understand, the measure of presence one carries isn’t dependent on God. This measurement is given to us. God is limitless, so the boundaries of His manifested presence on our lives are the boundaries we ourselves set. So the measure of presence we are willing to jealously guard will be the measure of presence we carry.
Questions/prayer
- What does living in presence mean to you? Explain a time where you encountered God’s presence in a tangible way.
- Have you ever become frustrated because of unfilled promises? What should our greatest aim be- presence or promise?
- How do we jealously guard God’s presence in our lives? If we don’t sense presence in our lives today how should we position ourselves?
