In His Presence

 His presence- Is it really enough? 

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 16.

I especially love Psalm 16:11

In His presence is fullness of joy & at your right hand pleasures forever more. 

I have a client I have helped for over 5 years.

She is dear to me. 

I have prayed with her & for her.

I have stood in front of the judge advocating for her.

She tells me often that I’m like her “bestie.”

We often drive to court together for hearings and trial.

On one occasion I needed to drive separately ….

We always drove together- ALWAYS.

We prayed in the car & then drove to court and battled in court.

Since we could not drive together she shared with me that not driving together made her very anxious.

“I like driving with you & talking with you on the way, your presence brings me comfort.”

It reminded me of something Chuck would say when the kids were little.

“Everyone wants to be by momma”

It got me thinking…

Is His presence really enough?  

What I mean is : 

“Am I allowing His presence to comfort me?” 

There are many songs we sing about the Lord’s presence.

Here is one:

I love Your Presence

By Bethel

In the glory of Your presence

I find rest for my soul

And in the depths of Your love

I find peace, makes me whole

And I love, I love, I love Your presence

I love, I love, I love Your presence

I love, I love, I love You Jesus

I love, I love, I love Your presence

After David sinned with Bathsheba he was informed by Nathan the baby growing in Bathsheba’s womb was not going to make it. 

David knew that God was a God of mercy therefore he prayed and fasted for the child.

2 Sam 12:16

The child died.

2 Samuel 12:20 reveals David’s genuine love for God’s presence. 

“When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions, and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate.”

‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭12:19-20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David wrestled with God. After the child died, David did not stop enjoying God’s presence. 

He worshipped

Wow

God’s presence comforts me now and His promised presence in heaven comforts me too… the reality that David would see his baby in heaven also comforted him.

In America, we don’t comfort ourselves with God’s presence.

We try to enjoy Him from a distance.

We go to church but forget to wrestle with God.

We ask for prayer, but we talk about the prayer need with a friend more than we tell God about it.

We eat at a friend’s house and call it fellowship but we dont truly feel Gods presence.

We read a 5 minute devotional and thank God for our meal but we dont feast with Him & let Him open our eyes like He did the disciples on the road to Emmaus.   

We take a pill instead of prayer and fasting.

We wrestle with our spouses call up a marriage counselor instead of letting God be the third chord in the marriage.

We look on instagram instead of looking to     the cross.

We cry into our pillow instead of burying our face into Christ’s arms.

We fill our calendars with activity instead of filling our brain with scripture.

We ask people not God what to do in any given situation .

We are frail (wrought with fear) yet we do not yield to the One who calms all fears.

We eat drink and think we are merry when really we are empty inside.

We neglect to pray for our prodigals and hide our light under a bushel because we don’t want others to think we aren’t Christian or in sin and we don’t want the world to think we are weird.

We aren’t like David.

We aren’t lovers of His presence.

Lord help! 

If David can wash his face and worship God after God said “no” to his prayer request we can too.

We need to cultivate a love for His presence and a longing for intimacy.

If we long for His presence NOW and seek His face NOW and repent NOW I believe we’ll see revival.

We need to find in our joy in Jesus again.

Lord pour out the fire again! 

We do love your presence God.

We crave you.

We miss you.

Please God make us uncomfortable so we’ll delight in your presence again!