08/30/2020
We can’t see the wind, and yet we feel it all around us, and see the sand it carries when it is strengthened. We see the mountains moved, and the trees uprooted when storm winds are angered, and we feel the cool evening breeze as our skin rises to meet it after a long hot day is forgotten. The breath of our God is like this, and though we don’t see Him with our eyes, we feel Him with our heart, and our soul. Our spirit is refreshed by His constant presence. He is always with us, always surrounding us, and never are we without Him. Even when He is perfectly still, and we can’t feel Him... we breathe Him in, and He sustains us.
““Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away?”
Jeremiah 23:23 ESV
When I was young I used to turn God off and on during the course of my day. I thought that if I didn’t acknowledge His presence then He wasn’t there, but when I thought of Him then He returned, and came near. I was an outdoorsman, and loved to fish, so when I would sit in my boat in the early morning stillness, when there wasn’t a ripple on the water, I would witness the glory of His handiwork, and be overcome with awe, I would praise His name, but once the sun had cleared the horizon I would turn my attention away from Him and go about my day... catching fish, and, sometimes not. Oh, I would call out to Him if a sudden storm came upon me, and I was forced to drop to my hands and knees in the bottom of my boat while lightning struck around me, but for the most part I went about my day, doing what I liked, and left Him to occupy the memory of my morning... waiting to be with Him once again in the cool of the evening.
“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”
Genesis 3:8 ESV
Is this how we are accustomed to being with the Lord? Is this a true depiction of how God desires to interact with us? Do we want God near when we are comfortable being in His presence, but think He is somewhere far away when we are stripped to our nakedness? Adam and Eve felt this way when they attempted to cover themselves, and God humored them by asking the rhetorical question... “Where are you?”
“But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.””
Genesis 3:9-10 ESV
God wasn’t absent when they ate the fruit. The question wasn’t actually where were they physically, no, God was asking them the same question He asks us today, and every day... where have we taken ourselves when we are convinced we are separated from Him. When we sin, when we traipse about in our world, when we do the absolutely human things such as bathing, making love, or are wantIng to be alone, this is when we hear Him ask us... “Where are you?”
“Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!”
1 Chronicles 16:11 ESV
To better understand this concept, read this scripture again, and replace the word “seek” with the word “acknowledge”. It will read like this...
“Acknowledge the Lord and his strength; acknowledge his presence continually!”
1 Chronicles 16:11 ESV
Of how about this verse...
“But acknowledge first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Matthew 6:33 ESV
We see the world, and for the most part, God, through physical eyes, we seek and find, or touch and feel. Our senses are physical ones, but God is spirit, and He touches us in a very different way... He can abide in us, and not physically displace us. He loves, and allows us to love, and He can do this without adding fingers, noses, or tongues to accomplish it. So even though our physical eyes don’t see Him, He is with us, but we must seek, or rather acknowledge, Him there.
““Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.”
Isaiah 55:6-8 ESV
By understanding His nature in this way, we know that we can pray without ceasing, not be embarrassed before Him by our nakedness, and make love to our spouse while not feeling the discomfort of being in His presence. All that makes us human He knows, and has created. So, in each moment of life He is there with us... this is how we praise Him, and worship Him... in this way we never have to answer the question “Where are you?”, because He is with us always, and in all the days of our lives. Can we acknowledge Him in all we are, and all we do?
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17 ESV
Pray:
Father, thank you for being with us always, and for knowing our hearts, and everything there is to know about us. Help us Lord to acknowledge you at all times, and to find your presence in everything we do, and in all the days of our lives. Take away the blush, and guilt, of Adam and Eve as we go about our days as your children, and teach us to obey you always so that as you watch over us we will not disappoint you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God whose Word is truth, and who witnesses our most intimate moments without interruption, or causing us embarrassment. We praise you Lord, and our bodies are your temple from which we worship you in all we say and do. You are merciful and full of grace, for you know our most tightly held thoughts, and see us in our most extreme nakedness, and yet you remain with us, and call us to repentance. Open our eyes, and circumcise our hearts, so that we come to acknowledge you always, and can please you with the entirety of our lives. Replace the question “Where are you?” With the bold statement “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased!”, and seat us at your heavenly table for all eternity with you.
“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.””
Deuteronomy 31:8 ESV
“And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”
Genesis 2:25 ESV
Rich Forbes