12/03/2021
God is with us always, and Jesus says He is with us “till the end of the age.” Can we comprehend the magnitude of this? Is the idea of omnipresence even something we are capable of fully understanding? When Jesus says that He abides in us, and we in Him, do we realize the extent to which He is with us? Do we grasp the fact that He is also telling us that we are with Him? In life, and even in death He is with us, and we are with Him. In believing we realize that we are never without His presence… even in death.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
Matthew 28:19-20 ESV
As I was doing my devotional reading this morning I came upon a poem by Henry Ward Beecher that summed up life and death in Christ, how even though we don’t see him He is with us, and it comforted me in the loss of those I loved. Listen to his words regarding God’s presence on both sides of the wall, or veil, that separates heaven and earth …
“E’en for the dead I will not bind my soul to grief;
Death cannot long divide.
For is it not as though the rose that climbed my garden wall
Has bloomed on the other side?
Death does hide,
But not divide;
You are but on Christ’s other side!
You are with Christ, and Christ with me;
In Christ united still are we.”
God is with us always, as is His Son Jesus. We should go nowhere, or do anything without the realization that He is with us always. Whether awake, or asleep God is with us. As we walk into our business, or our church, Jesus is with us. There is no hiding, and no escape, from the divine eyes, and constant presence of God. Eternity can’t separate us from the world, any more than closing our own eyes, or turning our own head, can hide us from God.
“Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.””
Haggai 1:13 ESV
As a boy I would occasionally get frightened in the night, and my imagination would cause me to see things in the dark that weren’t actually there. When this would happen I would pull the bed covers over my head, thinking that if I couldn’t see the monsters then they couldn’t see me. This worked because they were only figments of my imagination, but had they been real monsters I would have certainly been devoured by them. It is the same with God’s presence… turning away, or pulling the bed covers of life over us never hides us from His sight, because He is true, and He is there always. Pretending He doesn’t see us as we sin is futile indeed because God is not imagined… even when our sins make us wish He were.
“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. 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.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?””
Genesis 3:8-11 ESV
So as much as God, and Jesus, are present with us always, trust in our belief that joins us with them, and not only are they with us, but in our earthly death we will be with them… even in eternity. Do we need to pull back the bed covers, and begin to believe? Are we ready to be comforted by realizing the truth of their ever present nature?
“(for we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 5:7-8 KJV
Prayer:
Father thank you for your presence with us always. Thank you for revealing to us that to be absent from this body is still to be present with you, because you have told us that you are with us always. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who surrounds us, and never leaves us alone. Praised be your name for being with us in the darkest of nights, and for reassuring us in the times of our sorrowful mourning. Merciful are you Lord, for you see our sins, and forgive them knowingly as we pray in contrition, and remorse. Your grace abounds and flows over us even as Jesus abides in us… always, even unto the end of the age. Wash us clean in the blood of Christ, and let His presence guard our souls. In that moment when we are judged, we pray that you see only the image of Jesus in us, and find us worthy of eternity with you. Holy Father we pray for the souls of those who think that they can hide their sins from you, and who haven’t begun to understand your omnipresent nature. Lord, have mercy on them.
“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. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”
Psalm 139:7-12 ESV
Rich Forbes