I've been thinking a lot about God's
presence lately. In this new season of Life Groups at my church, our
Life Group Coordinator told all of us leaders that our main focus
will be on “God-consiousness.” Being aware of and acknowledging
with our head, heart and actions that God is ever-present. Knowing
that God the Father is above all, through all, and living in all.
So I've been thinking about what it
really looks like to be in the presence of the Creator of the
Universe. In Genesis, it doesn't just say that Adam and Eve hid from
The Lord, it says they hid from THE PRESENCE of the Lord. Also, Cain
went out from the PRESENCE of the Lord.
I recently watched Beyonce's
self-directed documentary, “Life Is But A Dream.” Now look, I
love Beyonce. I love everything about her. I'd like to be her. And
I'm not saying I am Beyonce, I'm just saying you'll never see us in
the same room together and my friends had trouble finding me during
the Superbowl half-time show... so... I'll let you decide for
yourself. But one recurring thing I noticed as this documentary was
on were the clips where she steps out of her car, or out of a
building, or onto the stage and after about .5 seconds of silence,
this overwhelming roar takes place. AND THIS IS BEFORE SHE EVEN OPENS
HER MOUTH TO SING. So I started thinking about how strong just the
presence of Beyonce is. It is dead silent until she shows up and all
the sudden everyone is loosing their freaking minds. I know for a
fact that when Beyonce is not around, not one fan is walking the
streets of the city, or riding in their car, or sitting in class, or
at their office shouting with tears streaming down their face,
“Beyonce, I love you! I'm your number one fan! Please sign my
forehead! I'd do anything for you! I swear when you wrote 'Crazy in
Love' you were channeling me and my boyfriend! Dump Jay-Z! Marry Me!”
No, none of that happens until Beyonce is present.
And then for 2 hours, during her
concert, those fans are all in. They do not stop letting Beyonce know
how much they adore her. I don't think they could stop if they tried.
Every time she make a move, sings a note, gives that strangely fierce
stare thingy, they go NUTS.
And just as quickly as the roar starts
when Beyonce is present is how quickly it goes away once the door
closes or she heads backstage. When she is not present, when the fans
at her concerts grab their things and leave the amphitheater, they
aren't screaming and shouting for Beyonce anymore. They're just
thinking about how hoarse they are going to be the next day and how
“Halo” will be stuck in their heads for the next 2 weeks.
So I take a step back and look at
myself, my life, my relationship with Jesus and examine how I might
just be a Beyonce fan. Because let's stop talking about Beyonce for a
second and shift our eyes to the King of Kings. Here's what I've had
to remind myself of: God does not show up in His fancy limo for our
Sunday morning worship services, put on a show for two hours, then
spend the rest of the week hiding out in his mansion in Heaven.
There are countless verses proclaiming
the truth that He is near, He is at hand, He is with us, He will not
leave us, He will not forget us, He will not forsake us, He will not
fail us, He will keep us. His son was to be called “Immanuel”
which LITERALLY translates to “God with us.”
And there is POWER in that
never-ending, unfailing, non-fleeting presence. We're promised things
like help and strength, rest and calmness, protection and security.
You want to know the funny thing. I
don't even own the super popular devotion “Jesus Calling.” But in
my office we have some new ones that we'll be putting on the
merchandise table of our church this week and something in me told me
to read the one for today. It starts out, “February 18th,
'I AM WITH YOU.” The entire devotion for this day is about trusting
in, resting in, and relying on the truth that God is present.
I feel like I'm dealing with a lot of
different things in my life right now. I'm trying to juggle a lot of
things, make plans and decisions and on Saturday night I had a
complete and total meltdown. I felt weak and scared, I felt exhausted
and worn down, I felt like a screw up, I felt like a failure, I felt
like I didn't even know who I was anymore. It's taken me a weekend to
look back at my life and say, “maybe it's because I treat Sunday
mornings like a Beyonce concert where I get excited and loud about my
how strong my God is because I know He's there and I can feel him.
But then I leave as if He's already on His private jet to some
getaway island and already forgotten about me. I don't treat myself
like God is present. I don't handle my situations as if God is
present. I don't treat the people around me as if God is present. And
I certainly don't treat the God that I know and love as if He is
standing right in front of me.
I remember a lot of promises that God
has made me. Whether personally and specifically to me, or to His
body as a whole through His Word. But it seems that the promise I
most easily forget is the promise of His presence.
So I realize there's not much else to
do about how I haven't acknowledged His presence in the past. But
today I choose to walk in the promise of His presence. I choose to
walk in the promise that He is near, He is at hand, He is with me, He
will not leave me, He will not forget me, He will not forsake me, He
will not fail me, He will keep me. So this means I get to remember
that no situations or circumstances will be handled by me and me
alone. Which in turn means they no longer get to rob my joy and
excitement for life and all that comes with it.
I'll leave you with these:
“You
make known to me the
path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy...” -
Psalm 16:11
“Even
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I
will fear no evil,
for you are with me” - Psalm 23:4
"And
he said, 'My
presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'" - Exodus
33:14
"God
is our refuge and
strength,
an ever-present help in trouble." – Psalm 46:1
"Don’t
be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your
God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with
my victorious right hand." - Isaiah 41:10
"What’s
more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go..."- Genesis 28:15(a)
"When
you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go
through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk
through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the
flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God." Isaiah
43:2-3(a)
"For
God has said, 'I will never
fail you.
I will never abandon you.'" - Hebrews 13:5(a)
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